A man named Ananias, however, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. 2 He retained for himself, with his wife’s knowledge, some of the purchase price, took the remainder, and put it at the feet of the apostles. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you lied to the holy Spirit and retained part of the price of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain yours? And when it was sold, was it not still under your control? Why did you contrive this deed? You have lied not to human beings, but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men came and wrapped him up, then carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, unaware of what had happened. 8 Peter said to her, “Tell me, did you sell the land for this amount?” She answered, “Yes, for that amount.” 9 Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen, the footsteps of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 At once, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men entered they found her dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
Even though the Christian community described in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-37 seemed idyllic, there were some followers of the Way (Acts 9:2) whose hearts had turned away from God (Heb. 6:4-6). Ananias and Sapphira tried to imitate Barnabas who voluntarily sold property and gave the money to the apostles to distribute (Acts 4:36-37). There was no obligation for members of the community to sell their property and give all or part of the proceeds to support the community (v. 4). Through avarice Ananias and Sapphira withheld part of the purchase price and tried to deceive the apostles and the Holy Spirit that they had donated all of the proceeds.
The community and the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and Peter saw Ananias’ attempt to deceive as a test of the Holy Spirit by Satan, “The father of lies (Jn. 8:44).” Satan’s evil spirit was acting through both Ananias and Sapphira and Peter asked Ananias, “Why has Satan filled your heart so that you lied to the holy Spirit and retained part of the price of the land (v. 3)?" At that Ananias dropped down dead (vv. 5-6) and fear came over the community. The dead were often buried quickly in early Christian communities as an expression of their faith and belief in the resurrection. Sapphira was unaware of what happened to her husband, and Peter gave her the opportunity to turn away from the evil in her heart and tell the truth. When she lied to Peter who was Spirit-filled, she suffered the same fate as her husband. It was not Peter who judged and sentenced her but God. The term church was first used by Jesus in reference to his followers in Matthew (Mt. 16:18). The community in Jerusalem was first referred to as a church in Acts, v. 11. The Church was being persecuted from the outside (Acts 8:1-3) but it was being shaped and preserved internally by the Spirit.
Almighty and ever-living God, look with mercy upon our lack of understanding and let your Spirit enlighten our minds and hearts so that we may serve you in Spirit and truth. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
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