In Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria

Acts 6-12

            Lest we think that everything was perfect in the earliest church, Luke sprinkles in several stories of conflict. In chapter 5, we read about the dishonesty of spotlight-seeking Ananias and Sapphira. In chapter 6, we read about a squabble in the church’s social ministry. Several things stand out. First, as I’ve already noted, prejudices exist. Second, the apostles don’t want the day-to-day responsibility for it. Third, in its freedom, the church creates a whole new order, commonly called the diaconate. The word deacon comes literally from the Greek word for servant. Deacons are not what we would call an ordained ministry, but they are a recognized order in the church (Philippians 1:1). While they seem to have been predominantly men (1 Timothy 3:8-10), women were also counted among them (Romans 16:1): in a similar way, our church body trains woman for service in an order called deaconesses.

            Stephen was one of the deacons, although he was certainly qualified to be what the New Testament calls an overseer, what we would call a pastor. He was full of grace, power, and wisdom. Opposition to Stephen in particular rose up in the Synagogue of the Freedmen. Perhaps Stephen was himself a former slave who had been raised in the Jewish Diaspora. Whatever the circumstances, Stephen acquitted himself well, reciting the history of Israel from Abraham to Moses. His argument was, at least in part, that the story of salvation included people who were from outside the narrow boundaries Stephen’s contemporaries had defined: he suggests that Abraham, Joseph, and Moses might not have made the cut by their rules. But when he says that his Jewish contemporaries did not actually follow the law, he went too far, and he was stoned to death.

            In chapter 8, the church finally moves out of Jerusalem, and it does it because of the great persecution that broke out. A number of things to note. First, the apostles stayed behind, and my study Bible suggests that it was primarily the Hellenistic Jewish Christians who were the object of the violence. That fits. In that day, Judaism was very narrowly defined by its most conservative practitioners, namely, the Pharisees. A Greek Jew would have been something that they tolerated without loving, but all their worst suspicions would have been confirmed if a Greek Jew started to follow Jesus! You can imagine young Saul saying, “See! I knew they couldn’t be trusted!” Second, the early church had a saying, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” When Tertullian said that two hundred years after the events of Acts, he meant that the more the Romans persecuted the Christians, the more people came to believe. In this context, persecution gives the impetus for taking the next step: to Judea and Samaria (Acts 1:8).

            So, we read about Philip (not the apostle, but the deacon) who went literally to a city in Samaria and then, at the Spirit’s prompting, to the road to Gaza, an historically Philistine city, where he witnessed to an Ethiopian eunuch. I love the question the eunuch asks. Philip wonders if he understands the Scriptures, and eunuch wonders how he could understand without someone to explain it. We confess that the Bible is clear, that it’s main message of salvation is obvious. That does not mean the Bible is simple. There are some difficult things, and, as we’ve discovered in Today’s Light, the thread of the story is easy to lose in the details—of Moses’ law, of the lists of names, of the obscure prophets. So, there is always a place for a man in my position, whose calling is in part to explain the Scriptures to God’s people, lest they misunderstand and go astray.

            In chapter 9, Luke gives a preview of the second half of the story by introducing Saul’s conversion. I can just imagine the tailspin that put young Saul into! Paul says in Galatians that he spent 3 years thinking about it (Galatians 1:18). We’ll pick up his story in chapter 13.

            Chapters 10 and 11 tells us about Peter’s long road to accepting that Gentiles could really become followers of the Way in the story of Cornelius. Peter demonstrates himself a good Jew by refusing—even in a dream!—to eat unclean animals. He is admonished the Lord not to call unclean what the Lord has made clean. Then, he summoned to the house of a Roman centurion! There he is surprised when his testimony is confirmed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a manner reminiscent of Pentecost. Then, Peter has to explain himself to the church in Jerusalem.

            It’s hard for us to fully comprehend the prejudice that existed in 1^st century Judaism against the Gentiles, and because the first believers were all faithful Jews that prejudice afflicted them, too. I’m searching for an analogy, and the best I can come up with is the prejudice that many Christians feel against Muslims. I’d like to think that if a Muslim converted we’d be thrilled, if for no other reason than that it’s a rebuke of Islam. But if we’re honest, there’s a lot of prejudice there that might prevent us from witnessing in the first place.

            The main point of chapter 8-12 is that the church carried the Word beyond Jerusalem into the surrounding region. Chapter 13 will send Paul and Barnabas to the ends of the earth.

            One last note, though, a thing that makes me laugh every time I read it. In chapter 12, an angel springs Peter out of prison (again) and he heads for the house where the church typically meets. A servant named Rhoda opens the door, sees Peter, and leaves him sitting outside! She tries to tell the others, who don’t believer her. And there’s poor Peter, a fugitive, on a dark street, knocking! It’s one of my favorite little stories in Acts!