Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5:1-11 tells the story of Ananias and Sapphira, a married couple who owned a piece of land and sold it for the purpose of donating the money to charity. The early Christian church was undergoing persecution and, as a result, there appeared to be financial hardships for a number of families. As a means of offsetting the financial hardships, some of the better off Christians provided financial support to the apostles with the understanding the apostles would distribute the money as needed to the less fortunate believers. Barnabas, the man who would eventually go on missionary journeys with Paul, sets an example of this in Acts 4:36. He sold some a piece of land and gave the money to the apostles.

Enter Ananias and Sapphira, a married Christian couple apparently with no children, who also decided to sell some land and make a donation to the apostles. Unfortunately, when Ananias presented the donation he told the apostles that the money he was presenting was all the money he received from the land. Wrongo! The couple actually kept some of the money for themselves. Ananias had every right to keep as much of the money as he wanted, it was his to do so. The simple fact is they could have kept all the money for themselves and have done no wrong (Acts 5:4) that notwithstanding, they decided to give some of the money away apparently to look good to their fellow believers.

Then Peter, apparently guided by the Holy Spirit, confronts Ananias about the transaction prompting Ananias to cover his original deceit with another lie. This results in an apparent stroke and his sudden death. Then some young men come and bury Ananias. When his wife enters the room some time later, Peter confronts her and asks the same questions about the amount of money they received for the land. She, like her husband, tells a lie and falls dead at Peter’s feet. The young men return and bury her as well.

The problem is the story of Ananias and Sapphira caused the Christians of the day to be very fearful of God. Yes, that is a problem. After the word got out about A and S there was great fear in the community (5:13). I’ll bet! Some of those people were probably changing their pants when they began thinking about some of the things they may not have been too honest about in the past.

Think about what I am saying. Let’s say that I am alive in the first century A. D. and I know Peter and some of the other Christian Big Wigs of the day. I see Peter right after a church service and I say, “Hi Pete, how’s it going?” Peter says, “Yo dude, how are things going between you and the Mrs?” Now the Mrs. and I were engaged in a fifteen-minute brouhaha about our latest phone bill right before the church service. That notwithstanding I say to Peter, “The Mrs. and I are doing great, it’s like were on a second honeymoon.” I ask, “How are you and Mrs. Peter doing? In a vain attempt to change the subject and he tells me he just bought her a new dress. I say, “That’s great” and make haste getting out of there.

You may have noticed that there is a slight variation between what I said about how my wife and I are doing and the actual truth. Does that mean that the feet of the young men who buried A and S are going to bury me as well?

So now I got a real problem. You see I have to decide whether or not I can ever tell even the slightest lie. When Peter’s wife sees me in the church parking lot and asks how I like her new dress do I tell her the truth and insult her, or tell her a little lie so as not to hurt her feelings? Yet, if I tell her a lie the young men who buried A and S may be working the shovels again this time for me. All this because I tried to spare a woman the pain of being insulted.

All humor aside, Ananias and Sapphira are not mentioned again in scripture. Neither is the act of selling things and giving them to the apostles for distribution. Well, so much for socialism. Like everywhere else, socialism failed in the first century as well. To be clear on the subject of giving, Paul does mention the support he has received from churches and encourages churches in more prosperous provinces to be generous to churches in area where poverty is more prevalent.

This lesson here is not about giving, it is about giving for the purpose of being noticed as apparently, A and S felt that Barnabas had received some recognition for his generous gift and they wanted some kudos for themselves. The gift presented by A and S was accepted, as there is no indication the money was returned to whoever survived them. So the gift was honorable, but the attempt at gaining recognition was not.

As Paul points out in 2 Corinthians 9:7` we need to be cheerful givers. Our actions need to be seasoned with unconditional love. Unconditional love is love without expectations.