The Word Made Fresh
1Saul approved of what they had done, and that same day a terrible persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. Everyone except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judah and Samaria. 2Good and righteous men buried Stephen and lamented over him loudly. 3But Saul was persecuting the church, entering houses, and dragging away men and women to prison.
4The other followers scattered, and went from place to place proclaiming the Good News. 5Philip went to a city in Samaria and told them about the Messiah. 6The crowds listened eagerly to what Philip said. They heard his words and witnessed the signs he performed. 7Unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying and shrieking loudly. Others who were paralyzed or lame were healed, 8and there was great joy in that city.
9There was a man named Simon who had been practicing magic there, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be somebody. 10All the people, both young and old, listened eagerly to him because they believed he had great powers from God. 11They hung on to his every word because his magic amazed them.
12But then they believed Philip also, who was telling them the good news about the kingdom of God and praising the name of Jesus Christ, and they were baptized, both men and women. 13Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized he stayed with Philip constantly, amazed at the signs he gave and the great miracles he performed.
14When those apostles still in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted God’s word, they sent Peter and John to them. 15When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16Until then the Spirit had not fallen upon them because they were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
18When Simon saw that the Spirit was being bestowed on people through the apostles’ hands, he offered to pay them. 19He said, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I place my hands will receive the Holy Spirit.”
20But Peter told him, “May your money perish with you because you thought you could buy God’s gift! 21You can’t be part of this if your heart isn’t right before God. 22Repent of your mistakes, and ask the Lord if your heart’s intentions might be forgiven. 23It’s obvious that you have the bitter audacity to be controlled by the chains of wickedness.”
24“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon answered, “so that what you have said might not happen to me.”
25Peter and John returned to Jerusalem after having proclaimed the spoken word of the Lord, spreading the good news among the people in many of the villages of Samaria.
26Then an angel of the Lord told Philip to leave at noon and go down the road that runs between Gaza and Jerusalem, the wilderness road. 27He left immediately. There was an Ethiopian eunuch, an official in the court of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, and in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28and was returning home. He was seated in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah. 29The Spirit told Philip to walk beside his chariot. 30Philip ran up to it and heard him reading aloud from Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31The eunuch replied, “How can I understand if no one explains it to me?” He invited Philip to sit beside him in the chariot. 32The passage he was reading was this:
“Like sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and was silent as a lamb being sheared,
not opening his mouth.
33He was humiliated and denied justice.
Who can describe his generation?
His life was taken from the earth.”
34The eunuch asked Philip, “Who is the prophet speaking of; himself or someone else?”
35So, Philip began to explain the scriptures, starting with these words from Isaiah he told him the good news about Jesus. 36They came to some water beside the road and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! Is there any reason I cannot be baptized?”
37Philip replied, “If you believe with all you heart you can be baptized.”
He replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!” 38Then he brought his chariot to a stop and they both went down to the water where Philip baptized him. 39When they came out of the water the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him again, but he went on his way rejoicing.
40Philip found himself at Azotus, and he proclaimed the good news to all the towns he passed through until he came to Caesarea.
Commentary
1: We meet Saul, soon to be the main character of the book.
2-3: A picture is painted of the first persecution of the church. The stoning of Stephen begins a firestorm of rage, and the Jewish authorities are determined to wipe out what they see as a serious threat to what little authority and autonomy they have left. New converts flee the city, leaving the apostles to face the mobs alone. Saul takes the lead in finding and incarcerating men and women alike who have embraced the teaching of and about Jesus.
4-8: But, as has often been the case in the church’s history, the persecution actually presents an opportunity for the new faith to spread and gain even more followers. We are not told why Philip goes to Samaria, but he becomes the first Christian missionary evangelist, and his efforts there are rewarded with miracles of healing and many conversions to the faith.
9-13: A popular magician named Simon is enamored of Philip and seems to embrace Philip’s message, but really is simply overly impressed with Philip’s “magic tricks.”
14-24: Word gets back to Jerusalem, catching the attention of the apostles. They send Peter and John to Samaria to shore up the work, for they have heard that the Samarians have not received the Holy Spirit — their conversion has not been evidenced by outward expression. They pray for the new converts who exhibit visible changes in their behavior, though precisely what changed is not described. Simon the magician is impressed. He wants the power Peter and John have and offers to pay for it. Peter roundly denounces him. Simon responds by asking Peter to pray for him, but you get the impression he still doesn’t quite get it.
25-40: Peter and John return to Jerusalem. Philip, however, at the urging of an angel, heads down the road between Jerusalem and Gaza on the Mediterranean coast. He encounters an Ethiopian official riding along in a chariot reading from a scroll which contains the book of the prophet Isaiah. He is described as a eunuch; many Middle Eastern monarchs castrated the officials who might have access to the royal harem. He could very well have nonetheless been an official of some high standing. Having been sent there by an angel, we are now told that the Spirit orders Philip to go over to the Ethiopian. It turns out the man is a religious devotee of Judaism, though not himself Jewish. He invites Philip to ride with him and asks him about a passage in the scroll (Isaiah 53:7). Philip thus has an opportunity to tell the man about Jesus, and he responds by asking Philip to baptize him. Philip is then “snatched” away, a description that has resulted in all kinds of extraordinary explanations; in any case, he leaves the Ethiopian official singing on his way back to Ethiopia, and the gospel has now spread from Jerusalem to Samaria to the continent of Africa. Philip, meanwhile, is next seen passing through Azotus (Ashdod — between Jerusalem and the coast) on his way up the coast to Caesarea, a Mediterranean port named after the ruler of Rome and located west-northwest of Samaria.
Takeaway
Pray today that people in your life – family, friends, work mates, others you bump into during the course of the day – might experience the power of the presence of the Holy Spirit.