Acts 4:32-5:11
April 14
David A. Davis
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“With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” Great grace. Great grace. A unique choice of words that occurs only here as Luke describes the first days of the Christian community. You will remember that the poetic prologue to John’s gospel tells that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us….from his fullness we have received, grace upon grace.” For Luke it is great grace. By far the majority of English translations, including the King James, stick with “great grace.” The NIV offers a helpful explanatory take: “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all.” Great power and great grace. “With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” When the resurrection power of God in and through Jesus Christ is set loose in the community of faith, God’s great grace is at work.
Professor Barreto has pointed out that the eyes of the tradition, as well as our eyes, tend to be drawn to Luke’s description of the economic practice of the community. To use an analogy from reading and studying your bible over the years, these are the common verses to underline: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions but everything they owned was held in common….There was not a need person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” This is the part that catches the attention of those of us trying to discern our own generosity and yearning to be faithful when the need all around is so enormous.
If you underlined those verses in chapter 3, then you would have underlined these verse in chapter 2 in Luke’s description of the growing community of disciples immediately after Pentecost: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings and fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer…Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” Sharing of possessions, descriptions of a not a needy person being among them, and Joseph the Levite from Cyprus selling a field and bringing the money to the apostles’ feet are part of Luke’s painting the picture of the earliest church. But only one part among healings and being the temple every day and breaking bread and praying and having the goodwill of all the people. Luke’s description of that community is something of an oasis of human relationship and behavior.
Dr. Barreto suggests that all of us are so taken (not always in a good way) by the parts we underline, especially those that might impact our possessions and our money, that it is far too easy to skip over the mention of great power and great grace. In fact, to continue with the example of underlining your study bible, I think Dr. Barreto would argue that this is the most important verse, maybe the only verse to underline here in the second half of chapter 3: “With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” An oasis of human relationship and behavior defined, inspired, created by the resurrection power of God.
Right about here is where some are thinking that he’s not really going to talk about Ananias and Sapphira being struck dead on the spot and the young men making two trips to the graveyard. It wouldn’t be the first time that the church’s proclamation glossed over and even denied the reality and pain and grief of death. So much of this account of the encounter between Sapphira, Ananias, Peter, the Holy Spirit and God raises questions not answers. I don’t have an interpretation wrapped in a bow, an explanation for the apparent divine punishment of death for the sin of lying to the Holy Spirit and failing to fully participate in the prescribed economic practice of this particular faith community.
It is probably best not to explain it away either. But that’s not unique to death in the faith context, is it? That’s how death is. More often than not, when death comes suddenly, tragically, violently there often are no answers. Yes, there are “cause of death” kind of answers. But when death interrupts life in the community of faith, love, silence, and just being there is more powerful, more comforting, more meaningful than answers. Maybe rather than the described death of Ananias and Sapphira and their sin saying something about them, or saying something about that first Christian community, or saying something about God, maybe it more likely is just saying something about death.
Let’s not try to explain it all away or try to force ourselves to feel better about. To just sit with it is to come to acknowledge that it is part of the arc of a larger story here in these first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. It begins with Luke affirming that after the suffering of death of Jesus, for forty days there were “many convincing proofs” from the Risen Christ. Interesting word, proofs. Before he was lifted up on a cloud, the Risen Christ promised the Holy Spirit and told them they would be his witnesses in “all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth”. There were 120 people listening to Peter’s first sermon according to Luke. I wonder who counted. Judas took the money he earned betraying Jesus and bought a field. “With the reward of his wickedness”, Luke writes, “he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.” Everyone in Jerusalem knew about it. Everyone. Absolutely everyone.
Then the Day of Pentecost comes. The church knows the story of the rush of the violent wind and the divided tongues as of fire, the many languages being spoken yet everyone understanding each other, Peter’s next sermon. Everyone was cut to heart and asking what they should so. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Luke reports that about 3,000 people were added that day but I wonder who counted. Then, yes, “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings and fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer…Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people…Day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
Peter healed a lame man and again preaches to the crowds. The priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees were annoyed with all this resurrection power talk and arrested Peter and John but, according to the bible, “many who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand”. I wonder who counted. There was more preaching and more signs and wonders and more healings all in and through the name of Jesus. “When they had prayed”, Luke tells, “the place in which they gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.”
Luke tells of the creation, the birth, the ideal days of this resurrection power-infused community of faith with the same urgent, dramatic, overly-descriptive language that he uses to tell of the death of Ananias and Sapphira. The pace of these first few chapters of Acts is almost exhausting. And as quickly as the reader gets to great power and great grace at work in the community of faith, great fear comes even more quickly. “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things.” Luke tells of the rise of an oasis-like, aspirational community of faith that in the blink of an eye begins to experience death’s intrusions, and the powers of the empire at work, and persecutions. 120, 3000, 5000 and just like that Stephen is being stoned to death as the soon to be Apostle Paul holds the coats of the stone throwing mob and the Risen Christ in heaven stands out of respect to greet Stephen upon his arrival.
A resurrection power-infused community of faith is still a fragile community of faith. A community of faith always being pecked at and threatened by the world and our humanity. The church can celebrate and trumpet resurrection hope in grand fashion and then be torn apart by the divisive politics of the day and that now too common yearning to demonize or ridicule or harm anyone who disagrees or is different. A congregation’s glimpse of the grace-filled care and love for one another can so easily be clouded when disagreement comes or forgiveness leaves the building. The genuine desire in the Body of Christ to reflect the very hospitality of the Risen Christ himself falls short every time someone new stands in the fellowship hour with those who should be welcoming them enjoying conversations with only those they know and see pretty much every week. The church’s proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the call for justice and righteousness and peace can be muted by the fears and push back of any who would rather not be challenged in their discipleship but rather only be affirmed and comforted. A community of faith can go from great power and great grace to great fear in the twinkling of an eye (to use an expression of the Apostle Paul).
Our son Ben lives in New York City and told us when he was home for Easter about the reading clubs that have popped up around the city. It’s not the kind of reading club you think: read a book, get together, talk about it. Folks pay a monthly fee to gather in a certain room somewhere, bring their own beverage, bring their own book. People sit around in silence and read their respective books. For ten minutes every hour a bell chimes and people chat with each other. The bell chimes again. People go back to reading. Ben explained it started when folks could be together again in the pandemic and it has become very popular. People looking for community. We all know people write about, blog about, podcast about all kinds of ways folks find community. At the risk of sounding old school, naïve, our just a stubborn church employed professional, there is no community like a faith community. No, not the institution. The community.
One of the take-aways that Eric Barreto shared with us about this account of Ananias and Sapphira is the crucial importance of what happens when the community of faith gathers together. In other words, the gathered community filled with great grace is pleasing to God. The body of Christ gathered together in the light of resurrection power is precious in the sight of the Risen Christ. The Holy Spirit blows again and again among the gathered faithful leaning into that aspirational oasis of human relationship and behavior.
And speaking only for myself, I don’t know how I could look at and live in this broken world, and rise to face another day, and look to the coming months, I’m not sure how I could do it without you. Without knowing we will all be together again. Living and breathing and doing what the Risen Christ told us to do.