Why was Peter so mean to Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11?

Jesus showed mercy to Peter many times, especially when Peter did the awful thing of denying Jesus three times. We know Peter had a temper. He blurted out things. Jesus even told him to shut up in Mark 8:33, when he said "Get behind me Satan!" Peter was being an opponent. But each time he was forgiven by Jesus. So why was Peter so mean to Ananias and Sapphira who then dropped dead? No mercy was shown to them, even though their crime was so much less. This was only a few weeks after Jesus had shown him mercy. It is so out of character for Peter and the grace of God. Something else is going on here. In Acts 2:44-45 and Acts 4:32-47, people sold everything and gave it to the apostles.  There are several strange clues in Acts 5 that the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira were likely about enforcing the rules, certainly by punishment or even murder. There is always a story behind the stories in the Bible. The early church was struggling with who they were. I this intriguing episode, I describe why this looks like it could have been a coverup rather than God's judgment. 

Transcript

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Welcome to the Real Bible Rum Teamcast. We're going to talk about Peter today and what kind of person Peter was, and one of the strangest stories about Peter in the New Testament in the book of Acts. And there's always some a backstory to lots of Bible stories. Whenever you look at it, you go, well, you read it and then you go, well, that just doesn't make sense. Well, this is one of those stories, Acts chapter 5. And you have to ask the question, why was Peter so mean to Ananias and Sapphira, this married couple, in Acts chapter 5? And why is that so different than the way Peter probably should have acted, or the way Peter was treated by Jesus or others? So let's start with that, just talking about who Peter was. Now, Peter is one of these characters in the in the New Testament that we probably we know a lot about, and we can see his personality coming through in uh in the way he talks and the way he acts. And he's one of those kinds of people that we probably know. You know, uh, somebody who is energetic, um, who is passionate, who blurts out stupid things from time to time and keeps sticking himself in the in the wrong place. But um Jesus saw something in Peter uh that was really important. He said to Peter, I'm gonna build the church. In fact, his Peter's name means rock. I'm gonna build the church on this rock. I'm gonna build this on basically on your work, Peter. And um, so there was something very special about Peter, but Peter also had this habit of doing bad things or being um uh or having a temper and saying things, dumb things. One of the most important one of ones of these is uh when he he's when Jesus says talks about how he's going to be punished, he's gonna die, he's gonna be crucified, and Peter defends him and say, No, and rebukes Jesus and says, No, you're not going to. We're gonna protect you, we're gonna keep you this from happening to you, Jesus. Peter probably thought he was doing a good thing, but then Jesus comes back with the most strong rebuke, the most strong response. He basically told Peter to shut up and he says, Get behind me, Satan, in response. And you go, why was Jesus so mean to Peter? Now, you have to understand that what Peter was doing was getting in the way of Jesus and the most important thing that Jesus was going to do. And um so, but even with that strong statement, and you always have to remember Satan necessarily isn't you know a guy with pitchfork and horns, Satan just means an opponent, uh an adversary, somebody against uh what Jesus once wanted to do. And he's saying Peter, in that moment, by um pushing back on Jesus uh being arrested and uh and being crucified, Peter was acting like the opponent of Jesus. He was getting in the way. So that is like the strongest thing possible, and then even worse, Peter denies Jesus three times, uh just as Jesus is on trial, just as he's about to be crucified. We also know that Peter, uh, we're told that Peter um took out a sword and uh and cut the ear of one of the soldiers that was arresting Jesus. Again, Peter was getting in the way. So Peter did a lot of stuff that um that was like this, but every time Jesus showed mercy, Jesus forgave Peter because he realized the importance of Peter. And you think about this only happened um, you know, and maybe uh only a few weeks or maybe a few months afterwards, what we read about in Acts happens. And you go, okay, so Peter's been shown mercy, been forgiven many times, um, and so forth. And then later in Acts, um, he does something that's very out of character. We we have this image of the early church. We hear about this early church being um very loving. Everybody was selling their things, everybody was being taken care of, um, they were selling all of their land, they were selling all of possessions and giving them um the money, pardon me, to the pop to the apostles, so they could give it to the poor and they could um carry on with their mission that way. Um and uh so you think, wow, this is great. Everybody's being taken care of, everybody's coming uh to Jesus, uh being converted, all this wonderful stuff is happening. And then suddenly in um Acts chapter five, we get this terrible story about Ananias and Sapphira being struck dead. And the reason why this is important is that Peter does something that's very out of character, and also you could say, like hypocritical. He he was shown mercy, but he doesn't show any mercy to this couple. So I'm going to give you an idea that maybe this has a backstory to it. There's more to it than what you see there. And a lot of times, people in the Bible, and we know this especially from the Old Testament, but we see it in the New Testament too, is they blame God for things that they do. And uh we don't know if that is what happened here, but it kind of seems like it's pretty likely that maybe they punished Anias and Sapphira and that they blamed it on God. Uh, it kind of makes more sense that way. We don't know, like I said, if it happens true, but it's uh for true for sure, but it's important to understand that a lot of times the Bible tells stories in order to help people or to get them to act in a certain way. And that's certainly what the story does. So we'll talk about that a little bit. So I'll tell you about the story. First of all, um, in um Acts chapter 2, 44 through 45, this is where we get this idea um that all believed who believed um together and held had things in common. They would sell their possessions, their goods, they would distribute the money that came from that to everybody who had uh need. So the community of Christians was very giving and they were putting their money uh all together, like this maybe this like ideal society, right? Where people um are taking care of each other in that way. And then it happens again in Acts chapter four, and it says, Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed uh the ownership of their own things, but everyone, but everything they owned they had together, they held in common, and with great power of the apostles, they gave their testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the great um grace given to all. There wasn't a neat needy person, there wasn't a person who was poor among them, because a lot of people who owned land or houses sold them and then brought the money of what was sold, and they laid that money at the feet of the apostles. And then they use an example of one, his name uh is Joseph, but then he was given the name Barnabas, which means to be uh a son of encouragement, somebody to encourage. He sold a field. So this means that he was a rich man. Only people who had some wealth owned their land there in that time. So he had some money, um, but he sold that and he um and then he brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. So this is a clear story expectation story that people who were Christians had to go and sell their stuff and then bring the money to the apostles. But then we go into chapter five. So we think of Barnabas being a good guy, right? He's doing what he what he's being generous, he's doing what he's supposed to do. But then in Acts 5, it says, But a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold their property, a piece of property, and he sold it with Sapphira's knowledge, and he kept some of the money, and he brought only a part of the money from selling the property to the apostles' feet. And so, you know, this isn't a good thing, right? He he lied, he he pretended that he um that he's bringing all the money to the apostles' feet. Now, Paul or Peter comes and says, listen to this, this is the strongest thing. It sounds just like kind of like Jesus um rebuking him about Satan. He says, Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and you keep part of the money of the land? He said, and then while it was unsold, did you um did it not be your own? And then after you sold it, were not them wasn't the money yours to at your at your hand? Then how is it that you decided to keep it for yourself? And why did you lie to us? You not only lied to us, but you lied to God. And then as soon as um Ananias heard this um from Peter, he drops dead. And um, so uh, you know, so maybe Peter's words are um you know are important because he did lie that uh Ananias lied and he um and he should have said the right thing. But boy, this is a harsh treatment, isn't it? Now we're told that um he fell down and he died, and a great fear seized all who heard about it. And they so in other words, everybody in the church was uh really scared because one of their own had just died for basically just for telling a lie, right? Seems like a very, very harsh thing to do. We're not told who um killed him, but we assume that it's God that killed him or a spirit or something like that, because he just drops dead, like miraculously, right? Well, a lot of times, like I said, we tend to blame a lot of characters in the Bible tend to blame God for things that they do. So we don't know how they were killed, uh, how he was killed. But then think about this. So, first of all, Peter was very harsh. Instead of just saying, Hey, come on, Ananias, you know, we know you lied. Um, just repent of your lie. Let uh let's uh you you you need you know that would have been a more reasonable response to Ananias's um uh lie, right? Well, then comes something even worse. Think about this. Ananias is dead, Sapphira, her husband, is dead. This is a terrible thing for for for her. And you know, you would think that Peter would show, even though Sapphira um also lied, you you would think that he would show some compassion toward her, especially since Peter himself was forgiven uh, you know, just a few months before this by Jesus. So why is Peter so different? But here's what this is the really hard part of thing. Peter says to Sapphira, he says, Tell me whether you and your husband sold the land for such and such a price. So he's tricking her, he's trying to trap her. He goes, Tell me what happened, Sapphira. And she said, Well, yes, that was the price. And then Peter says, How is it that you have agreed together to put the Lord to test and the spirit of the Lord to the test? Look, he says, The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they're gonna carry you out too. And then she drops dead and she gets taken out. But I just think, think about the cruelty of this. First of all, he tries to trap her, and then he shows again, he shows no mercy whatsoever. Um, it says immediately she fell down at his feet and died, and then she was taken away. And a a great fear seized the whole church and all who heard these things. Now, when we look at this, we go, why is the punishment so harsh? Why is Peter not trying to guide them toward um forgiveness, repentance, and so forth? And why then does everybody become so fearful? Well, that's part of the problem here. And this is maybe this is the story behind the story. Whenever you have people um in a community, especially where there are no rules or you're making the rules up, and this is what was happening. Remember, this is very early. The church was brand new at this point. They were trying to figure everything out, and they were trying to figure out how to live together. Um, and if somebody cheats, uh, especially about, you know, giving up everything, then um the whole system will fall apart. And this is always the problem with these like ideal communities. And there are a lot of people talk about that, you know. I really just wished in I lived in a place where everybody would just be so generous and give to each other and all of that, and everything would be great. But what we find is that in order to make that uh, because people are imperfect, they're selfish, they do terrible things sometimes, without rules, which they didn't have here, they um the the you you have to have an authority, you have to have um somebody who, like a policeman, you know, like enforce the rules and sometimes terribly cruelly. This is what it was meant when they brought the money to the apostles and laid it at their feet. What they're really meaning is that the apostles, uh, apostles means, you know, people like Peter, you know, the leaders of the church, they're the ones that have to enforce the rules. They have to make sure those rules are followed. And that's that's what's implied there. So when they're afraid, uh, and they say it says a great fear seized all who heard it, and a great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things. Well, this was a story to to the fear was the point, you could say, is that they were saying, Don't be like an ananias and sapphira. This was a lesson for them. Um, now I think everybody agrees with that, whether you believe that they're they're them dying is you know a miraculous thing, that God struck them dead or not. Everybody agrees that the reason why the story is there, and the reason why everybody was afraid from it is because the story was put there for a reason to get people to make sure that they did not lie, that they complied to these new rules that they had, in order for the community to work together. But this is where it kind of becomes difficult because I told uh in a sermon that I was preaching, I told this story, and I told about how when when you have these communities without rules or when you know, sharing things is that um having the law and having the kind of society and structures that we have can really help us. Because if our neighbor cheats us, we can't just go out and kill them, right? That would be illegal, that would be wrong, that would be immoral. We shouldn't do it, even if we blame God on it, you know. Well, God told me to go kill him. Well, you know, would we believe that? No. But in this case, the rules hadn't been there yet, so they were um trying to figure everything out. So the the fear that it says that the people in the church had had a point. It was there in order to keep them in line and make sure that they followed the rules. Well, that doesn't sound very loving, does it? It's it's out of character for the kind of things that we believe and what we hear about in these stories about the early church being. It also is very out of character about Peter, because Peter had been shown mercy. Peter was willing to learn and listen before, and we know that afterwards, that later stories about Peter in Acts and also, you know, in the uh letters of 1 Peter and 2 Peter, we see that Peter is um not a super judgmental guy. You know, of course he has he's judgmental, but not like giving people no chance to explain themselves, like Ananias and Sapphira. It seems this story seems very out of character for Peter. So you have to ask, what happened here? This so when I preached about this, I said not every scholar, but some scholars um believe that this is a story about murder, that um the people in the early church did a bad thing, essentially, is that to enforce the rules, they got so angry that they killed Ananias and Sapphira, and um, and that they used this story to say that that just dropped dead as a um as a cover-up a little bit, um, or to blame it on God when it was really them that was doing it. Now, like I said, we don't know if that's true or not, but this is one of those ways when you're reading the Bible, and if a story doesn't make sense, you kind of have to explore what it is that makes this, because it does not at all say that God struck them dead or the spirit struck them dead. It doesn't say that God punished them, it just says that they died. So it could have been the people, and most likely, uh in my opinion, when I look at it, it looks like the people did the punishing, that they killed them. When I said that, I had uh one or two people in my uh in my church get really mad at me for saying that because they're saying, you don't know that, you know, and they had been taught in Sunday school, or as you know, uh they've been taught that no, this is God's doing. I said, Well, this is where it's important to look at it. And then I go, I'm sorry, I did not mean to say that it was absolutely this way or absolutely that way. I'm just saying what uh some people believe. And um, and I and then I asked some other people, because uh some of the people that wanted or that were very upset about this, they have an ideal view of the Bible only being a certain thing, and they don't see that it is a collect it is a collection of stories or stories that go together. I talked to other people about it. I said, were you offended by it? And a lot of people go, well, no, because that's just you're right. I mean, Peter's acting out of character, the people they they talk about how the people were um I, you know, lived in this great community and everyone was being taken care of. But here's an example of maybe where that wasn't true. Maybe this is an example where the people did wrong. Um, even if the even if the punishment was deserved, the fact that there are we it looks like maybe it was the people that did the punishing. So I know that this can be very difficult for people, but this is a if you kind of go to that next level of Bible reading, is you can understand how God works with us, that God does work. Through people. We learn about God through stories. And we also just kind of see: well, this is how churches work. Later in Paul's letters to the church, to churches, you can see there's lots of fighting. There's lots of people having trouble getting along. This is why when we look at the Bible, we think that these are like ideal churches. This is the way we should be. We want our churches to be like those churches in um uh in, you know, just soon after Jesus uh was raised. But the answer, the truth is, is we don't. Is that the church um back then was just as filled with um anger, just as filled with arguing as it is today, maybe even more so. So every generation has to seek God themselves. Every everybody has to learn uh from uh themselves and work with the scripture, pray to God, listen to the Holy Spirit themselves, and work within their society. And churches have trouble, the um people these are um people have trouble getting along together. So we have to work hard. We can't just say this is the way it is, or that we should be like that first century church, you know, right after Pentecost. Well, I I know that you may hear that a lot, is that you know, the church was perfect after Pentecost, but I wanted to show you that it isn't. That every church, every time that we get together to um to be the church and to um pray and listen to God, every time we do this, we have to always seek the grace, the love, and the uh witness of the Holy Spirit every time. That we shouldn't try to say, oh, it was better then and we're terrible now. No, every time that this is the this is the way it is. So I was Peter really mean to them? Well, he certainly is in this story, but do we we know that that was Peter, or is it the storyteller that's blaming it on Peter? Um, do we know uh what the people did and why they did what they did? Well, it kind of makes sense when you have this society that requires people to not lie and they do, and you know, there's punishment involved. You know, it's messy. So that's that's what's so important to understand here is that maybe they're blaming God and maybe they're blaming Peter in order to kind of cover up their own bad behavior. Um, you like I said, you can see that a lot in the Old Testament. You can see how real people act in real situations, but even then, we must always look to Jesus. We must always look to the wisdom of Jesus and uh of the wisdom in the Old Testament of God, and we must always find ways to work together. That's the main message of this. So, with that, I thank you so much for listening to me. I hope that you can see this in a new way. That you know, uh don't be too challenged by it. I'm not saying that the scriptures are bad or wrong or anything like that. I'm just saying that the stories in the Bible always have to be questioned and looked at in different ways in order to truly understand them. And also that um the church has always been uh uh had problems. The church was never perfect, and that we always look to Jesus to guide us and the Holy Spirit to be our witness, and uh we look to God and ask God to take care of our churches and bring us together. With that, I say thank you and thanks for listening.