1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. Acts 5:1–5
Read Acts 5:1-16, the full sobering account of Ananias and Sapphira.
This has never been my favorite passage of scripture. Many times I’ve set out to be generous and changed course or had a change of heart or “had something come up.” I would assume that we’ve all been there, or maybe it’s only me. Whatever the case, this story strikes fear, and it’s meant to.
What’s more, Peter notes that Ananias allowed Satan to influence him, and that he lied to the Holy Spirit! Am I capable of doing this? Now his wife Sapphira did indeed lie to Peter, which appears more egregious to me because it was so blatant (verse 8). I’m hoping this happened only once to get our attention. Following Jesus is serious business.
There must have been something off with these two. We don’t want to think it, but were they simply seeing membership in this burgeoning new body called the “church” a thing to do? Was the sale of the land designed to put their “spirituality” on the map? Satan was involved you know. Still the whole account seems to lack mercy and grace. “He who is without sin cast the first stone.”
I choose to believe the pair were authentic believers and singled out to make a point. Yet I’ve been around long enough in churches big enough to watch superstars of the faith disappear and never again darken the door. But I want to hope they weren’t cast into outer darkness for all eternity for this ill-conceived stupid plan. The point may be Peter was given divine knowledge in this case to ferret out the bad actors so that the body of Christ was kept pure, and it had to be done dramatically at the outset. If they were true believers and temporarily misguided, the judgment is not so stark and merciless when considering they undoubtedly changed their tunes upon full exoneration in heaven.
Certainly, as we read on, the apostles, while feared, were more highly revered and respected, and the growth of the church was not stunted but spurred onwards. It’s a good thing to expose ourselves to these two on occasion to check our motives and recalibrate our commitment to the Lord. It is interesting and ironical to note that the name “Ananias” means “God is gracious.” In Ananias’ case, we surely hope so.
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