Looking for grace in the story of Ananias and Sapphira
The story poses a question for me about God’s mercy. His grace and His judgment come into a dramatic conflict.
A couple sells a property of theirs, they want to do like the Christians are doing and contribute the proceedings from the sales to the church. Nobody is asking them for it, but apparently out of vain glory, they both connive to claim they sold it for a lesser price than the actual figure, so they can keep the rest and still be praised for having given all their gains.
God is not pleased with their attempt to make a fool of the church and His omniscience. Their plot is revealed to Peter by the Holy Spirit, who condemns their act as a lie to God and not to man, he even pronounces the judgment that followed right after. And instantly, the husband Ananias, and his wife Sapphira drop dead, one after the other, right in the church. (Narrated in Acts 5:1-10)
Now, I’ve never been able to read this passage in Acts 5 without cold shivers and questions popping out all over my mind. Questions like where is grace in this story? Did Ananias and Sapphira, have a chance to repent? And where they the only ones lying or sinning in church to have been singled out for such swift retribution or Did God deal with all sinning people in church that way then? Would He still judge me just like that? I’ve always felt futile and like I’m missing the point trying to find these answers, but then, I’ve learnt some lessons from the passage.
What lessons? The grace in divine Judgment
Sin kills, whether instantly like dangerous driving, or slowly like soft poison, the soul that sins shall die. God’s standards have not changed, the wages of sin is still death, whether for the unbeliever or the professing Christian. As far as God is concerned, the person who out-rightly rejects Christ and the one who who acknowledges Christ but doesn’t reject sin, have both rejected His forgiveness and His grace and may get the same end, the wages of sin.
I’m afraid this doesn’t sound gracious to me either. God is a God of forgiveness, Christianity is a religion of Grace! But then I wonder, if God permits to let all sin go unpunished, will it make the world a better place? Will it make the church more graceful to be in? Would it have made Him a better God? If all of us could get away with cheating on each other, telling lies and killing, then there would be no need for a judicial system or any form of law, there would be no justice or a sense of right, and consequently, no fundamental human rights too. The Holy God hates any form of sin, He will bring all sins to judgment. However, His own righteousness and justice is the fundamental strength and basis for righteousness whether in the church, our society or the secular judiciary.
I find grace in the fact that God doesn’t put his hatred for sin first before us, but puts His love for the sinner first. He has sent Christ to die and to give us an opportunity to claim forgiveness, through His death on our behalf, so we can escape the ultimate retribution for our sins.
