In Acts 5, we read; 12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people, and with one accord the believers gathered together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 Although the people regarded them highly, no one else dared to join them. 14 Yet more and more believers were brought to the Lord—large numbers of both men and women.
15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.
If you are like me, you are amazed by Luke’s descriptions of amazing growth and incredible power present in the infant Church of Jesus. We can see that even though the sudden deaths of Annanias and Sapphira were tragic and horrifying, it brought the fear of the Lord among them all, and no one else dared join them. And yet we are told that more and more believers were brought to the Lord, large numbers of both men and women. Dr Luke seems to be contradicting himself in v. 13 and 14, but I think he is expressing a very profound thought.
At this point, gone were the days when “people” joined the Church without being “believers.” Again, we don’t know if Annanias and Sapphira were or were not believers, but we do see that they conspired to lie to the Church and to the Holy Spirit, and they paid the price. Conspiring, for appearance sake and perhaps out of greed, to do what they did requires a certain kind of calculated premeditation. It also shows a fundamental lack of belief in God’s all seeing eyes and holiness.
A holy fearful reverence fell not only on the Church, but on all the “people” as well. From those days on, I imagine the believers were “treading lightly”, but they were walking in step with the Spirit of God, to be sure. And the evidence was the dramatic increase in healings and deliverances.
In the ancient world, the shadow was considered a part of the body in many ways. So when Luke says people that could get close enough to be overshadowed by Peter were healed, he is saying that the power of God was radiating out from him. One scholar said that the streets in Jerusalem were most commonly as narrow as eight feet in width, so all the sick people waiting for Peter and the other Apostles to pass by definitely got the attention of the Priestly leaders. They were jealous, but also, perhaps just annoyed. After all, Jesus Himself talked about how the Pharisees, Scribes and Priests loved to be greeted in the marketplace with their lofty titles. They loved being recognized and lauded for their position and authority.
But in the same way that Jesus was recognized as being different from the religious leaders of the day because he “spoke with authority” and “healed the sick, cleansed the leper and raised the dead”, the infant Christian Church was being differentiated from the priests and the temple system in the same way.
I wonder if people feel anything different when they are in our presence. Do they feel any “virtue” radiating from us? Do they feel compelled to get in our path so that they can receive some of what they perceive us to possess? That is a challenging thought for you and me. And that is what we should pray about now and probably for all of our days.
PRN: Thank you Lord for the signs and wonders You promise to provide to confirm the Gospel you have commissioned us to share with the world. You said, “And these signs will accompany those who believe…they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” Because You are the same yesterday, today and forever, we earnestly desire that you would fill us with the same power you touched the first Apostles with and use us as You will. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.
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