There is no other book in the Bible like the Acts of the Apostles or Acts for short. The Wesley Study Bible commentary says that Acts provides “a bridge between the Gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Here one finds fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel, which also extends to all nations. The result is a redefinition of the ‘people of God,’ so that all peoples are included in God’s work of salvation.”

Dr. Matthew L. Skinner wrote a book about Acts and gave it this title: Intrusive God, Disruptive Gospel. That gives you an idea of what we’ll encounter while reading this book.

Jesus ascends into heaven in chapter 1 and chapter 2 is the story of Pentecost- the giving of the Holy Spirit. The rest of the book is about what the followers of “the Way” of Jesus do as they spread the message of Jesus.  Skinner writes, “Frequently those who announce the gospel of Jesus Christ do things that create or lead to large-scale disturbances. In one instance, a complaint ominously accuses them of ‘turning the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6). What they teach about Jesus Christ asks people to embrace new religious, social, political, and economic values, sometimes putting both the proclaimers and their audiences at odds with the established social order.”

Acts is the second of two books written by Luke.  Luke writes both his gospel and Acts to “Theophilus” which means lover of God. I chose Acts for the season of Easter (the 50 days after Easter Sunday) because Acts happens after the resurrection of Jesus.  I also chose Acts because the stories contained in this book are often unfamiliar to us.  Acts doesn’t come up often in the Lectionary and very few of the stories in Acts are covered by children’s curriculum or vacation Bible school.

Skinner gives us an idea of what the situation for the church was like when Acts was written: “During the final decade or two of the first century CE, more than fifty years after the ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, many churches were thriving, even as most of them were navigating fresh and conceivably worrisome challenges…

“By and large the church had become mostly a gentile phenomenon.  Jews were largely unpersuaded by its messianic preaching, and in some settings strains and even contempt were intensifying between this emerging movement with Jewish origins and Jews who did not embrace Jesus as the Christ.

“Finally, Jesus had not returned in glory, despite traditions that taught believers to expect he would soon.  The perceived delay might have stoked confusion, disillusionment, or attrition.  Just one of those dynamics carried, at the very least, a potential to undermine the convictions and outlooks held by people committed to following Jesus.

“In that environment of change, discernment, and possible instability, the author of the Gospel according to Luke wrote a second narrative that might bolster the faith of his fellow believers, just as he expected his previous Gospel would. Eventually the wider church came to call this second narrative the Acts of the Apostles.”

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