The Life Journal reading this morning was in Acts Chapter 5. I’ve read this account of Ananias and Sapphira before but this morning it raised some questions or uneasiness or something…don’t know what. I decided to dig in and see what some others had to say about this. I found an article that I thought was good and one part of that article really struck me.
Here’s a long section about miracles that he writes. If you want to read the whole thing here’s a link. I’ll mark a couple places that got my attention…
What are miracles? In essence a miracle is a restoration back to the way things are supposed to be. They are a sign of God’s “shalom”, his peace and restoration coming upon an individual or situation which is broken by the Fall. It is interesting to note that before and after our text, Luke tells us about miraculous healings which the apostles and in particular Peter, were enabled to perform. In Acts 3 we read an account in which Peter healed a man who had been crippled from birth. Immediately after the incident in our text it says in Acts 5:15 that the apostles healed so many others that people brought their sick into the streets so that “at least Peter’s shadow might fall on them” as they lay in the street. Miracles should not be regarded as “extraordinary” signs. They are reaffirmations of the normativity of the good creation order which is restored in Christ.
Kind of interesting, eh? What do you think?
BL
