In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
We pick up the narrative of the Book of Acts just before Paul’s conversion. At this point, he is still Saul the Pharisee, the terror of all Christians in Jerusalem. He was a kind of one-man secret police, “entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” This is the peak period of acrimony between the Jewish establishment and the upstart Christian church. For St. Stephen had just been spontaneously lynched by the Council (Acts 8). It was a lynching because it was an extrajudicial execution by the provincial Judean government: the Council. As their own leaders had acknowledged before Pilate: “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death” (John 18:31).
But in the midst of the “scattering” that resulted from both Stephen’s execution and Saul’s “ravaging the church,” the faith moved from Jerusalem and Judea into Samaria – following Jesus’ marching orders (Acts 1:8). And Samaria proves to be fertile ground for the emerging Christian church. In response to St. Philip’s “preaching the Word” and “proclama[tion] of the Christ,” the crowds listened “with one accord.” And just as with our Lord’s preaching, great signs accompanied the apostolic proclamation: the exorcism of demons and the healing of diseases. “So there was much joy in the city.”
But the Christian movement encounters other dangers besides the Jewish Council and Saul. For the Samaritans were already theologically confused. They were part Jewish and part Pagan – a remnant of the Babylonian displacement. They saw themselves as worshiping the God of the Jews, but the Jews looked upon them as Gentiles. They had some of the Scriptures, but also a lot of bad interpretations of the Word of God. The apostles’ testimony – not only of Philip, but also of Peter and John – filled in a lot of the gaps in their understanding. For they had heard Jesus preach, but lacking the Jewish scriptural tradition, they had a lot of strange and false doctrines to be corrected.
The fountainhead of a lot of heresies – both in these days and afterwards – came from “a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city,” purporting to be “somebody great.” He will seemingly convert to Christianity for a time, but his own understanding of what it means to follow Christ was flawed. He saw the power of the apostles, and instead of seeking the gifts that God offered to all by grace and through faith (Eph 2:9), Simon wanted the power to perform the signs that the apostles did – and was willing to pay for this ability. The church historian Eusebius reports that Simon had a long and wicked career as a religious scammer, even enjoying fame in Rome, before dying a terrible death.
But in spite of the opposition of persecutions from without and heresy from within, the faith continued to spread “to many villages of the Samaritans.” This happened by the apostles doing just what our Lord charged them to do: baptizing and teaching, proclaiming, and showing love to their neighbors who were in dire need for the good news of Jesus. “Now when they had testified and spoken the Word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem.” They will reconvene in the Son of David’s Royal City – in the apostolic headquarters of Jerusalem, to rejoice in the church’s gains, to strategize for the church’s future missionary endeavors, and soon, to welcome Saul into not only the church, but also into the apostolic band of preachers – who, as St. Paul, will complete the Lord’s command to be His witnesses, not only in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, but also “to the end of the earth.”
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.