Today's Devotion

Friday, June 26, 2026 - Acts 8:1-25

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Just three verses earlier, St. Luke introduces the main character of his Book of the Acts of the Apostles: the sequel to his Gospel and the earliest history of the Christian church. It was during the lynching of St. Stephen (Acts 7:54-60). We learn that St. Paul was there for the execution, and that at the time, he was known as “Saul,” and that he was a “young man” (Acts 7:58).

And now we learn that Saul “approved of the execution” and participated actively in the “great persecution of the church in Jerusalem.” This caused the Christians to be “scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria” while the apostles themselves remained in Jerusalem. This persecution pushed forward the instructions of our Lord to spread the Gospel, beginning at Jerusalem, then to Judea and Samaria, and finally, “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Yet unbeknownst to Saul, he will play a large part in that endeavor – being led personally by the very Jesus that he was persecuting (Acts 9:4). After introducing us to Saul, Luke will focus mainly on Peter’s ministry in Jerusalem. But the bulk of the Book of Acts will be the post-conversion Saul (known then as Paul) who will indeed lead three missionary journeys to the extremities of the empire. In time, the emperor himself will become a Christian. The empire will fall, but the Christian faith will persevere. The countries that emerged from the empire will send explorers on ships to the extremities of the world itself, spreading Christianity to the whole world, to “all nations” (Matt 28:19) according to our Lord’s mandate.

But for now, we see Saul “ravaging the church, and entering house by house,” and “he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” We also see the results of this early Christian diaspora, as St. Philip (the deacon, not the apostle) “went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.” The ministry of Jesus continues through the apostles and also through the men ordained by the apostles: preaching, doing signs, and casting out demons.

And we see a famous confrontation with a convert named Simon Magus (whose name means a practitioner of magic). Simon “believed” and was “baptized,” but he also lusted after the vocation of preaching that was not given to him, believing it would grant him magical powers. He believed he could buy the office of the ministry with money. Peter called him to repentance. The church historian Eusebius (c. 260-339) called Simon “the father and author of all heresy” and chronicles his mischief that is not recorded in Scripture. In time, Simon’s name would give us the term “simony” – which was a common vice in the middle ages: the purchasing of powerful church offices for money.

For with the spread of the Gospel comes opposition – from both without and within. This is a big theme of the Book of Acts, and it has plagued the church ever since, even to this day. But in the Acts of the Apostles we see the ongoing acts of Jesus and the acts of the Holy Spirit to empower the church to continue our Lord’s ministry of preaching the Word, the Good News, and for people of every nationality to come to faith, to confess the Christ that they will encounter in the apostolic preaching, and building the church, living stone by living stone (1 Pet 2:4-5).

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.