One Way Or Another

Acts 8:14-25

One of the more interesting details to emerge from Acts is the fact that there is no set pattern by which individuals come to full inclusion in the faith. Our reading today is a good example. “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus)” (Acts 8:14-16). Elsewhere we read that the Spirit is received at the time of baptism, and occasionally the Spirit comes before baptism, but here the Spirit does not arrive until well after baptism. What then shall we say about these things?

What we can say is that faith is a fluid thing, not bound by human understanding or expectations. God has spoken to God’s people in many ways and in many circumstances, sometimes directly, sometimes in dreams or visions, sometimes by way of angles or a burning bush, sometimes through a heightened sense of awareness. When Jesus healed the sick he did not always do so in the same way; sometimes he touched the one in need of healing and sometimes he simply spoke to them, but sometimes he was not even in their presence at all. The church has never come to a definitive understanding on how it is to baptize men and women, or at what age it is appropriate to receive the sacrament, some believing that a person must be “of age” and able to profess the faith, while others believe that it is appropriate at any point in life.

The good news is that with such fluidity God is never out of touch, never left behind, never without recourse. God always has the appropriate response to humanity and we are blessed by God’s actions.

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for your presence in our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.