justice & mercy
But a man named Ananias—his wife, Sapphira, conniving in this with him—sold a piece of land, secretly kept part of the price for himself, and then brought the rest to the apostles and made an offering of it.
Peter said, “Ananias, how did Satan get you to lie to the Holy Spirit and secretly keep back part of the price of the field? Before you sold it, it was all yours, and after you sold it, the money was yours to do with as you wished. So what got into you to pull a trick like this? You didn’t lie to men but to God.”
Ananias, when he heard those words, fell down dead. That put the fear of God into everyone who heard of it. The younger men went right to work and wrapped him up, then carried him out and buried him.
Not more than three hours later, his wife, knowing nothing of what had happened, came in.
Peter said, “Tell me, were you given this price for your field?” “Yes,” she said, “that price.”
Peter responded, “What’s going on here that you connived to conspire against the Spirit of the Master? The men who buried your husband are at the door, and you’re next.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than she also fell down, dead. When the young men returned they found her body. They carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
By this time the whole church and, in fact, everyone who heard of these things had a healthy respect for God. They knew God was not to be trifled with. (Acts 5:1–11)
Questions fill my heart:
- Why did A&S fall down dead? Shock at being discovered? Or, more directly, did the Holy Spirit take their lives?
- Would Jesus call them his own?
- Was this execution punishment for their lying and deception? Discipline of a terminal nature?
- Why wasn't every sin in the church dealt with in such summary manner?
- What happened to mercy? Did justice and wrath prevail?
- Were A&S's sin settled completely and comprehensively on the cross? If so, what justifies this execution?
- How do we read Romans 8:1 with this story as backdrop? Galatians 6:1-2?
- How do mercy and justice work, this side of the cross?
- Is the gift of mercy simply to be hoped for, but not expected, in every failure?
- What light does this throw on Jesus?
and he died
This is the kind of phrase that simply stops you in your tracks. And he died...
And then, right before the end, we find: And then one day he was simply gone. God took him...
When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was just like him, his very spirit and image, and named him Seth. After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Adam lived a total of 930 years. And he died.
When Seth was 105 years old, he had Enosh. After Seth had Enosh, he lived another 807 years, having more sons and daughters. Seth lived a total of 912 years. And he died.
When Enosh was ninety years old, he had Kenan. After he had Kenan, he lived another 815 years, having more sons and daughters. Enosh lived a total of 905 years. And he died.
When Kenan was seventy years old, he had Mahalalel. After he had Mahalalel, he lived another 840 years, having more sons and daughters. Kenan lived a total of 910 years. And he died.
When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he had Jared. After he had Jared, he lived another 830 years, having more sons and daughters. Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years. And he died.
When Jared was 162 years old, he had Enoch. After he had Enoch, he lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Jared lived a total of 962 years. And he died.
When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he had Methuselah. Enoch walked steadily with God. After he had Methuselah, he lived another 300 years, having more sons and daughters. Enoch lived a total of 365 years.
Enoch walked steadily with God. And then one day he was simply gone: God took him.
When Methuselah was 187 years old, he had Lamech. After he had Lamech, he lived another 782 years. Methuselah lived a total of 969 years. And he died.
When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. He named him Noah, saying, “This one will give us a break from the hard work of farming the ground that GOD cursed.” After Lamech had Noah, he lived another 595 years, having more sons and daughters. Lamech lived a total of 777 years. And he died. (Genesis 5:3–31)
sotm
Eugene's take on the sermon-on-the-mount made me stop and reflect.
When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘carefull,’ you find yourselves cared for.
“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom." (Matthew 5:1–10)
wodehouse
Meticulous plotting was central to the Wodehouse method, and before writing each of his books he would work out its convolutions on a staggering scale. “I have done a twenty thousand word scenario of a new novel, and shall be starting it soon,” he wrote to his friend Denis Mackail, a novelist, in 1931. “I find that if one has the energy to make a long scenario, it makes the actual writing much easier.” More than four decades later, he told the Paris Review, “Before I start a book I’ve usually got four hundred pages of notes. Most of them are almost incoherent. But there’s always a moment when you feel you’ve got a novel started. You can more or less see how it’s going to work out. After that it’s just a question of detail.”
Sheer genius, incredible talent, meticulous planning...
m'cheyne
I've been using the same arrangement for my daily reading for perhaps 25 years now - originally put together by M'Cheyne in the early 19th century.
This year, I'm going to use Eugene Peterson's The Message.
First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see.
Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. (Genesis 1:1–2)
I liked that.
Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced. (Matthew 1:19)
Not so much. Chagrined, but noble?
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—this fulfilled the Message of GOD preached by Jeremiah—GOD prodded Cyrus king of Persia to make an official announcement throughout his kingdom. (Ezra 1:1)
Very nice! God prods...
“As you know, he took the evil bribe money and bought a small farm. There he came to a bad end, rupturing his belly and spilling his guts.
Everybody in Jerusalem knows this by now; they call the place Murder Meadow." (Acts 1:18–19)
Still thinking this one over...
childless
Six months ago, a friend asked me if I regretted not having children and it was like a great dam bursting from the bottom of my soul, and I said "yes, yes, it was the biggest mistake of my life!" There it was. The secret wrenched from my gut. Or so it seemed. I do regret it in some ways. We would have been good parents. We wouldn't have screwed up the kids as badly as we thought we would have. Maybe they only would have needed five years of therapy and not 10. I'll never know.
surreal
That isn’t to say, thought, that things weren’t weird. Because they definitely were. Like the time Neil Patrick Harris, old Doogie Howser himself, called our house to talk to Larry (character motivation, I guess). Or the fact that we all sat together as a family and watched that made for TV movie -- I’m pretty sure the dictionary definition for meta-surreal is something like "Watch the scene where Doogie Howser, playing your adopted brother, brutally kills his parents on TV, as the real killer, your actual brother, eats popcorn in your living room."