Day 6 - But First, a Little Old Business

Today we started reading Acts, the second volume of Lukes works.  Jesus has died on the cross and risen again.  Acts tells of the first church and we get to see how it grows from only a few followers to thousands of men and women.  We see the apostles performing miracles and preaching the good news.

But First, A Little Old Business
I had always wondered what happened to Judas Iscariot after Jesus was crucified.  Acts tells us that he bought a field with the money he received for betraying Jesus and then fell (a good ways, I'm assuming) to his death where "his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out".  Wow.  That takes care of that, huh?

The First Church
We see the church grow from a few, to three thousand and then to five thousand.  That's a pretty good start, no?  Luke says these people had "...everything in common.  They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need."  "No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had." "...God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them."

No needy persons.  Can you imagine what that looks like?  We are in such a day and age where greed, needs and possessions is almost embedded in our beings.  What would it take to get back to this level of community?

Original Sin
I took a moment today to look more into the story of Ananias and Sapphira to see if there was more to it than what appears at first glance.  One author compares this story to the story of the fall in Genesis 3.  In both stories, the couples sin is first, not obeying God and second, not being honest with Him.

The author writes "Conclusion of the story of Acts 5: the ekklesia is a community whose members are weakened, but whose project of communion is saved by the judgment of God."

http://www.cjd.org/paper/ananias.html

Gamaliel the Wise
He's not called that in the Bible, but I thought what he said was pretty wise, if not a little tricky.  When trying to decide what to do with Peter and the apostles, Gamaliel, a Pharisee says something to the effect, "Remember these other two guys a while back that were trying to do something similar.  When they were killed their followers scattered."  Here I expected him to say "So lets just kill them!", but instead he says "Lets let them go!"  I was a little surprised at this.  It didn't make any sense to me, especially with the sentences leading up to this statement.

What he says next is why I called him "wise".  He says "For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.  But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."  That's some good, logical stuff.  Apparently, it was enough for them to let the apostles go with a flogging (btw, was a "flogging" the whipping on the back with the sharp boney flails?), to which the apostles rejoiced for being able to suffer in the name of Jesus.

Enough Already
Good reading this morning.  I didn't take as many notes as I did the first four days of reading.  I think that's because I have so many questions when Jesus is speaking.  I'm sure that's by design.  More Acts tomorrow!