Acts 5-10
And you thought early church history wasn't exciting!
We are now hearing the stories, the legends, maybe even the urban legends that grew up around the early church. By early we are talking about those years right after Jesus. Did they happen like this? Probably not! This is not modern journalism, where we learn the who, what, when and where!
You can only imagine how the stories spread—as people were forced out of Jerusalem, as a man told his cousin who was passing through who then told his sister-in-law who then told the women at the market who told their husbands who passed the word on at the synagogue.
But what stories they are! You have by far the greatest stewardship sermon in the history of the church! A family sells a piece of land, promising that they will give the proceeds to the church but then keep a portion (a large portion) for themselves. The result is that the husband and the wife are struck dead! Just imagine that next year at pledge time! My guess is that the congregation would meet its budget or be much smaller in membership!
We can get caught up in the story and miss the point! Will we do what we promise God? This is serious stuff.
The first deacons are chosen. And once again the ancient sexism wins out. That hit me when the disciples chose a replacement for Judas. Using their “requirements” shouldn’t they have chosen one of the women who stuck around at the cross, who cared for Jesus all the way? Here again they are looking for someone to serve at the table. When was there a man mentioned as serving—other than Jesus? It was always the women—remember Mary and Martha!
One of the great “What if’s!” What if the early church has lived out their creed “there is no male or female” and chosen a woman as a deacon? As an apostle? How different would the church be? How different would our world be? What if we lived it out today? Just asking!
We have one of the longest sermons in the Bible, as Stephen gives us the first “Salvation history” tracing the Jesus story all the way back to the Abraham. Maybe his stoning should serve as an example to long-winded preachers! But it also serves to introduce us to Saul—soon to be Paul.
Without reciting the whole stories (you have listened to them, haven’t you?) I do want to mention the willingness of individuals to go against the expected. Annaias goes to see Saul, who had been looking to kill him; a Roman centurion goes looking for Peter to learn from him; Peter is willing to go and stay with Gentiles! All go against the norm! They step WAY OUT of their comfort zone.
That is the challenge that came to me this morning. How often do I try to stay in the straight and narrow and miss out on the real mission God has in mind? How far are we willing to go to follow Jesus?
A word of personal privilege! Acts is the story of a changing world. This is being posted as I fly across the country to attend a conference “Theology after Google.” How is our theology being affected by this new world? How is our theology affecting this world?
Never been to California before and still don’t know where this goes once I post it online! Talk about outside your comfort zone!
2 comments:
Today, as we enjoyed some spring weather, I took advantage of a day out of the office to get some exercise and to listen to the Bible as I did so. I really like this idea of adding something during Lent instead of giving something up. I decided this year to add running - I've missed it, and though I cannot run like I did in my younger years, it feels good to move that way again.
I am also enjoying the discipline of listening to the sections in their entirity - when I read, I skim past the historic "stuff" and then go much more slowly and thoughtfully through the "deeper" content. When listening, I don't have that option, and it has been interesting to realize both how much I miss the first time through - especially in the parts that sounds like philosophy class - and how much I miss by skimming the parts that bore me.
I must admit philosophy was NOT my strength in school! Thankfully, pet animals don't care much about that sort of thing. But I do find in my career, I spend a LOT of time in philosophical discussions - purely to determine how I can use a pet owner's philosophy to meet their needs when it comes to pet care.
On my run today, I thought about similarities in the church. I've always heard the saying "meet them where they are" when it comes to evangelism, and I basically adopted that attitude in my veterinary practice. Not every pet owner wants to pursue every option available to keep their animal family members healthy - whether due to financial or philosophical constraints. As a young veterinary graduate, that may be one of the most difficult adjustments - treating pets with "less than ideal" medicine - because the owner is not willing or able to pursue the "best care."
How much does God feel that way about us? What amazing grace that He accepts us not only where we are, but how we are - and that Jesus Christ was willing to die for us, even though the bell curve puts the majority of mankind in the middle - where our efforts toward spiritual maturity are rather mediocre. Sure there are extremes on either end - I suppose the Saints in the extreme positive direction and those who pursue a relationship with evil in the extreme negative direction. Don't you think the majority of us are in the middle?
After spending eight years in college and veterinary school, it is really hard to adjust to practicing mediocre medicine - but that is where the majority of pet owners want to be. It is fascinating to think that every other profession has the same adjustment coming out of school and learning to function in the "real world" where "good enough" becomes the standard.
What would happen if we could get the bell curve weighted in the Saints direction? What would the world look like? What would I feel like if I were able to move a bit in that direction?
All these long, preachy passages have resulted in my mind wandering - and these are the resulting thoughts. What have yours been?
Thank you, Don, for pointing out what has always bugged me -- why women were not even considered for these jobs! Yes, they were the ones who stayed with Jesus at the crucifixion, the ones who first learned of his resurrection and spread the word (even though the men didn't believe them in some of the accounts), and the ones who ministered to Jesus physically and financially, as especially Luke points out. There are definitely women leaders in the early church who are mentioned later: Phoebe, Lydia, Junia. But why are women not even on the list as far as the apostles are concerned? It's so frustrating.
I'd forgotten how long Stephen's speech is! It's basically Old Testament 101, a pretty extensive summary. And I've always loved the ominous introduction of Saul at the end of the story. I always heard "bad guy" music playing even when I was reading it.
Another thing that struck me was how much power the story gives to the apostles, especially Peter. He's healing people, raising the dead (a female disciple, at least that's something), and it sounds as if even his shadow falling across someone could heal them. That wasn't said even about Jesus! So, what do we make of that? Is this the writer going to extremes to prove Peter's authority? Or is it what Jesus talked about when he told them while still on earth that they would be able to do even greater things than he did after he sent them the Holy Spirit?
I like the inclusion of outsiders, and the specific details in the stories. Tabitha/Dorcas who made clothes for the widows, the Roman Centurion seeking knowledge, and the Ethiopian eunuch trying to understand the scriptures (I loved his voice here). Interesting that we don't really hear much about Phillip other than this story, at least I don't remember much else that he did. Maybe I'll hear more of him later that I had overlooked!
You're right, Don, there are lots of stories here of folks going outside their comfort zones, even as you go outside yours! (And I'm super impressed that you are finding time to keep writing this from your conference in California!) We are definitely doing "Theology 2.0" on the ProvBlog -- no expert answers here, but lots of chances to make our own contributions and wrestle with our own discomfort. What a great way to use technology to help us do church! Maybe this is one way we avoid the "good enough" syndrome Lynne mentioned, by challenging ourselves and each other in these discussions. This has been such a rich Lenten discipline for me already, and I'll admit I was not really excited about it at first! Now I'm thinking I will miss it after Easter.
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