Reading: Acts 5-6, Psalm 121

Well, so much for the utopia. The story today opens with lies that lead to death, and ends with what amounts to an angry mob intent on committing murder. Just a couple of chapters ago we had humans gathering together daily, learning from one another, eating together, and breaking down all kinds of barriers. This seemed like the beginning of a new world, with a new kind of human living in it. What do we do with the fact that it lasted all of a few verses before collapsing into conflict, violence, and death?

One thing we can do is remember that this was predicted. Jesus tells his disciples that not all who say to me “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. There is a new society of Christians, living by the Spirit of God and the words of Scripture as they lead us to Jesus. That does not mean everyone living among that new society is really a part of it. Jesus seemed to think that behavior indicates heart condition, and heart condition is the entry requirement for the Kingdom. Not new heart, no Kingdom of God. The incident with Annanias and Sapphira appears to be in this category. They are trying to be part of the community and gain its benefits, but without being all in. Note that their sin is not withholding resources. They were not required to give anything to the disciples. They claimed they were giving something, but lied about it, withholding something they claimed to have surrendered. And it killed them. I don’t think this story is about the danger of not giving enough, but the danger of pretending to have surrendered what you continue to hold onto.

Jesus also said if the world hated me, it will hate you. No servant is greater than his master. Jesus died on a Roman cross after being subject to a kangaroo court, beaten, mocked, and abused. It is hardly surprising that this would start to happen to his followers. They are not greater than their master.

Of course, there are also less extreme conflicts forming in the new community of faith. We see the Hellenist believers and the ones native to Jerusalem get in conflict. These we culturally distinct groups of Jewish people. The Hellenists were exiles who either never returned or for some reason left again. They were part of the crowd that Peter preached to at Pentecost. Now there arose some conflict about being treated equally and fairly. Glad we’ve solved that one today. The disciples hear about it and realize something should be done to ensure everyone is being taken care of, but that it should not be them. They recognize they are gifted in preaching and teaching. So they appoint some social administrators. Doers of good things. Guys who run around giving food and money away to those who need it. It is actually a pretty cool job, I imagine. You get to spend all day making sure other people have what they need to survive. No worries about doing meaningful work in that job.

But this is where we run into the old, ugly world. The same power brokers who wanted Jesus out of the way are no happier about this new movement of Jesus followers. They plot and scheme as to how to deal with them. Threats do not work- these people believe they are doing the work of God, and that their leader rose from the dead. They are not afraid of dying. They try imprisoning them but they show up free the next day. What to do? One of their prominent teachers, a guy named Gamaliel, says to just wait and see. Look, he says, this sort of thing happens from time to time. Generally it either peters out or gets crushed by Rome, so let us just watch it takes its course. If it is truly from God we can’t do anything about it anyway. Some of them were apparently convinced, but not all.

Those others decide to go after Stephen, one of those social administrators the disciples had appointed. Think about that. They decide to go after the guy whose job is running around helping the poor and needy. Their target is a professional doer of good things. I think there is a lesson in here about mob mentality and the gross miscarriage of good intentions. Anyway, they decide Stephen has to go. They start by arguing with him, but he is too smart for them and is making too much sense. Can’t have that. So they decide that his words mean blasphemy against God and Moses. They accuse him of threatening to destroy the temple. Does this sound familiar? It should, as these are exactly the accusations leveled at Jesus. No servant is greater than his master. Things are playing out just like Jesus said they would. Living in the new world of the people of God is not safe. It is marvelous, and it ends in resurrection, but it also contains a cross. Stephen appears to have understood this full well, and as we will see tomorrow, has a few things to say about how this all came about.