Perspective: No Pretending Allowed

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No Pretending Allowed

"Ananias," Peter asked, "why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land?  While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?  And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal?  How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?  You did not lie to us but to God!"

Acts 5:3-4 (NRSV)

It's your life

What you gonna do?

The world is watching you

Every day the choices you make

Say what you are and who

Your heart beats for

It's an open door

It's your life

From "It's Your Life" by Francesca Battistelli

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that the earliest Christians adopted not just a new set of beliefs but a new way of life.  They lived lives of fellowship and prayer, shared meals together, and strove to follow the teachings of the Apostles, who had been Jesus' original disciples.¹  The early Christians claimed ownership of nothing but rather held all things in common so that nobody in their community was ever in need.  Many sold their property and brought the proceeds to the Apostles to distribute as needed.  One man, who was known to his friends as Barnabas, sold a plot of land that belonged to him and laid the money from the sale at the Apostles' feet.²

Following suit, a couple named Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property that belonged to them, but they secretly stashed away some of the money from the sale.³  Ananias brought the remainder of the money to the Apostles, under the pretense that he had brought them the entire amount from the sale.  The Apostle Peter said to him, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land?  ...  You did not lie to us but to God!"

Upon hearing Peter's rebuke, Ananias immediately fell over dead.

A few hours later, after Ananias' body had been buried, Sapphira arrived, and Peter asked her whether or not she knew that her husband had kept part of the proceeds of the land they had sold.  She confirmed that she did indeed know.  Peter rebuked her and told her that the men who had just buried her husband had returned to carry her out of the house as well.

Sapphria, like her husband, fell over dead upon hearing Peter's words.

Fear spread throughout the community.

Before I continue, I would like to address the elephant in the room.  Typically, when we read this story, we are quick to assume that God struck Ananias and Sapphria dead because of their sin, but it is possible that they were both struck dead by their own fear.  Scholar William Barclay suggests that, given the mindset of the day and the high esteem in which the community held Peter and the other Apostles, it is possible that Peter's rebuke evoked a deadly terror in Ananias and Sapphira's hearts.⁴  It is quite possible that heart attacks can be brought on by terror.⁵

In the picture St. Luke paints of the early church in Acts, we can see a culture of radical interdependence.  People trusted not in themselves solely but in one another, and this trust gave them the freedom to give fully of themselves.  In What is the Bible?, Rob Bell observes,
It's interesting to note that of all the things Luke could tell us about the early church, one of the most important things he wants us to know is that in the early church, you weren't on your own.  There were other people looking out for you, others had your back, others would step in and make sure you had what you needed.⁶

Barnabas's act of generosity was also an act of faith, for Barnabas had put all of his faith in Christ and in the Church that Christ had come to build.  He gave fully for the sake of others in his community, because he fully trusted the others in his community to do the same.  Ananias and Sapphria wanted to be a part of the community of faith, but they had not given themselves to the way of life of the community.  They weren't "all in," so to speak.  They still trusted in money, so they had to make sure that they kept some for a rainy day.

Was it so wrong that Ananias and Sapphira wanted to keep for themselves some of the money from the sale of their own property.  Was it so wrong that they did not want to give up everything they owned?  Was it so wrong that they actually wanted some money to their name?  Maybe Ananias and Sapphria were wrong to hold back some of the money, but that was not the reason Peter rebuked them.  When Peter confronted Ananias about his deception, he said to him, "While [the land] remained unsold, did it not remain your own?  And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal?  How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?"

The problem was not that Ananias and Sapphria kept some of the money from the sale of their land but that they pretended that they gave all of it.  In other words, they were hypocrites.  A hypocrite is an actor, someone who makes a life of pretending to be someone he or she is not.⁷  Rob Bell notes that "few things will kill the life of a community faster than pretending."⁸

Hypocrisy is one of the most common accusations lobbed at the Church, and the story of Ananias and Sapphira shows us that the Church has been dealing with hypocrisy since its earliest days.  I would wager a guess that a vast majority of those of us who call ourselves Christians are not quite where we know we ought to be on the journey of faith, but that is no reason for us to pretend we are something we are not.  The world is watching us, and, though we are not expected to be perfect, we are expected to be honest.

If, like Ananias and Sapphira, you know that you're not quite where you ought to be - that you're not "all in" - be honest about it.  Don't pretend to be something you're not.  I can assure you that you're not alone.  Remember that we participate in the Church to become more Christlike, not to pretend that we are more Christlike.


Notes:

1. Acts 2:41-47
2. Acts 4:32-37
3. A majority of this perspective is based on Acts 5:1-11 (NRSV).
4. William Barclay.  The Daily Study Bible Series: The Acts of the Apostles, Revised Edition.  1976, The Westminster Press.  p. 44
5. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scared-to-death-heart-attack/
6. Rob Bell.  What Is the Bible?: How an Ancient Library of Poems, Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think and Feel About Everything.  2017, Harper One.  p. 236
7. The Greek word hupokritḗs, from which we derive the English word hypocrite, literally means "actor."  (Wiktionary: "Hypocrite")
8. Bell, p. 237

The Death of Ananias was painted by Raphael in 1515.