Slices
Prepare
‘Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth’ (Psalm 96:9). Take time to follow this command, beginning in silence and moving to open-hearted praise.
Bible passage
Ananias and Sapphira
5 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.
Explore
Two gifts are brought to God, both placed at the apostles’ feet. But, as in the case of Cain and Abel, one gift is acceptable, the other questionable, and catastrophe ensues. Barnabas gave freely, holding nothing back. Ananias and Sapphira sold property but were under no obligation to give all the proceeds to the community (v 4). To pretend they were giving everything in a public show at the apostles’ feet lacked integrity. That might seem a minor offence, but not in a community where ‘behind its public affairs spiritual forces of incalculable power’* are operating. The deceit was not just fooling the church, it was opening a space for Satan to fill (v 3), lying to God (v 4), testing out the Spirit of the Lord (v 9). The future of the new Christian community was at stake. Would it be a place that took holiness seriously? A community where fear of offending God guided their every action?
Followers of Jesus are called to be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48), to root out sin and refuse it entry. A lackadaisical attitude to sin corrupts the whole community of believers. Adam and Eve’s sin had a devastating effect on humanity. This story echoes that rebellion and warns of dire consequences.
* James DG Dunn, The Acts of the Apostles, Eerdmans, 1996,p97
Respond
‘Without holiness no one will see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12:14). Does that frighten or motivate you?
Deeper Bible study
Before reading this note, meditate for a moment on Hebrews 12:28,29.
A first reading of this text may leave us with a sense of shock and alarm. The sudden death of a man and his wife within the believing community is disturbing, and the event created ‘great fear’ at the time (see v 11). The sin of this couple was not the fact that they withheld some of the proceeds of the sale of their land, but that they concealed this from the apostles and, as Peter says, lied to God (v 4).
Perhaps we should hear this tragic and disturbing story as a sobering commentary on Jesus’ warning that we ‘cannot serve both God and Money’.1 This is precisely what Ananias and Sapphira attempted to do and their calm determination to compromise their loyalty led them into deception and hypocrisy. Is this incident really as strange and remote from the reality of our churches’ practices as it might seem at first glance? Justo Gonzalez comments that if everyone in our churches who lies were to drop dead ‘our membership would be reduced drastically’!2 His statement applies in general to the absence of truth in many of our superficial conversations, but it is especially relevant to the way in which we handle money and talk about it. In fact, do we ever talk about this subject?
The issue raised by this tragic incident is perhaps not as remote from our reality as we might have assumed. Indeed, in a world in bondage to the idolatry of Mammon we may need the shock of this passage to awaken us to the peril of deceiving our brothers and sisters and forgetting the holiness of the God who demands truth in every sphere of life.
Make Frances Ridley Havergal’s hymn, ‘Take my life, and let it be’, your prayer.
1 Matt 6:24; Luke 16:13 2 Justo Gonzalez, Acts: The Gospel of the Spirit, Orbis Books, 2001, p78
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Chronicles 1–3; 2 Corinthians 10
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for Faith Guides, Local Mission Partners and others as they reach out into their communities using A Community Summer, a new resource packed with ideas gathered from experienced Scripture Union staff and volunteers who have a passion for reaching the 95.
