Daily Bread 2011 - Acts 5

Ananias and Sapphira
1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

What Does This Mean?
For me this qualifies as one of the hardest passages to interpret/understand in the bible. We have Old Testament passages that portray God’s judgment on the nations (and their children) when they did not repent which are troublesome; but this is the New Testament and so this passage is difficult for us to understand.

Of course, we would all agree lying is wrong, especially lying in the name of the Lord. But that they (Ananias and Sapphira) both dropped dead on this occasion makes one wonder if the punishment fits the crime. I have done some reading on this passage since it is so troubling, and though there are no easy answers, but here are some thoughts. 1.) The major sin here is lying or deceiving the Holy Spirit, who is God. I.e God cannot be mocked! 2.) The sin was also against the community and if it was not dealt with, it could have encouraged similar deception thus fracturing their fellowship and unity. 3.) It mirrored the original sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden who had everything but wanted more and tried to deceive God and take more than they needed.

Finally, this text reminds us of the holiness of God. Though God’s desires intimacy and a close personal relationship with us, He is wholly other and should be feared in a healthy way. The two biggest concepts/ideas of God’s essence we must hold in tension are his (transcendence/holiness/otherness) and (imminence/closeness/intimacy). We saw some of this in the Old Testament when the worship assistants were too casual handling the ark of God’s presence and also died.

What Does This Mean For Us?
Though it is important for us to know God’s desire to know us and for us to know him on a personal level (i.e. when Jesus prayed “Abba Father-our Daddy”) we mustn’t forget the holiness of God. The wisdom of the Proverbs says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”. (Proverbs 9:10)

The passage also reminds us to not get too comfortable with words like, “The Spirit told me to do this.” Or to use our relationship with God/Jesus/Spirit as a means for our personal gain through dishonesty/deceit. This gets back to the 2nd commandment which tells us to “not use the Lord’s name in vain”.

Luther gives this explanation to the 2nd commandment in the Small Catechism, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.”

Heavenly Father we praise you because you are holy, just and loving. We fear you and want to use Your name in properly as we call on you in prayer, praise and thanksgiving through Jesus Christ Your Son and our Lord, Amen.