So now we are introduced to Paul,  still named Saul at the moment, and we see that he was instrumental in the persecution of the Christians of the early church.  The way Luke records it, “entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committing them to prison” makes it sound personal, not just as a part of his role as a devout Jew.   We then see Philip emerge from Stephen’s legacy and begin his ministry by preaching to the Samaritans.  As a side note, the Samaritans  were mixed group of partly Jewish and partly Gentile ancestry that was disliked by both Jews and non-Jews in the region (this was a very fractious society and world at the time - lots of in-crowds).  They were Greek-speaking, and they believed in Israel’s God but they had their own expectations of a Messiah to come named “Teheb”.  I just find that interesting.  At any rate, we then see the first larger section for this chapter, which is where I wanted to camp out this morning - the story about Simon the Magician.

So Simon was this guy who was doing all sorts of magic, which we can’t really relate to but apparently was more common at this time (or perhaps there were people that were trained in the art of deception, not exactly sure on that).  But people apparently could clearly differentiate between Philip’s teaching and miracles vs. Simon’s.  There was something clearly divine about Philip’s teaching - so much so that Simon himself was baptized.  I think that, in a subtle way, this illustrates a difference between having power or magic that is for your own gain and having power that is leveraged for God’s gain.  We can see this different illustrated when Peter and John actually come down to visit Philip as the chapter continues because we get a peak into what Simon was apparently really after in being baptized...he wanted to get in on the power.  Simon, in some way, could see the power of the Holy Spirit falling upon these people who’d been baptized  and he offered to PAY the disciples for some of this power.   I love this interchange because it gets to the heart of an issue that I think we all struggle with in one way or another - we want to leverage God for our own benefit.

Sometimes this is really overt - like in Simon’s case.  Sometimes it is much more subtle - for instance, the person who behaves according to God’s will and expects God to give  them extra protection, or the person who tithes because they believe that they will receive more blessing from God, or really just the ‘fairness’ doctrine in general - these all fall along the same lines.  If we pursue God for anything other than the relationship itself, we are committing the same sin as Simon.

Today, I am reminded that relationship is the reason - it is the reason for engaging God.  The relationship will reward me, sure, but if I want to get the most out of my relationship, it should be viewed similarly to how a healthy relationship works with anyone else on this earth - time together, enjoying each other, understanding each other, and pursuing each other > the journey will reveal things about me, it will shape me, and it will grow me.  That’s the reward in-and-of-itself.  What a great reminder from Simon today!