In my last post, I spoke of one of the New Testament’s truly good guys, who was full of faith and the Holy Spirit. However, not everyone in the New Testament is like Barnabas. Meet a Samaritan named Simon, and don’t expect The Good Samaritan.(1)
In Acts 1:8, Jesus commissioned His Apostles to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Samaria was an important mid-step between the Jews and the Gentile world to which the Gospel was going. This step was not the result of strategic apostolic planning, but rather because of persecution initiated by Saul of Tarsus (you may have heard of him).(2)
The church was scattered, but not silenced! They preached the Good News of Jesus wherever they went. Philip, one of the seven in Acts 6, went to Samaria, and preached. He was gifted by the Holy Spirit to heal others, including driving out demons from sufferers. Luke tells us that the demons shrieked as they were evicted. This prepares us to meet Simon.
We are first told that, “… for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria,” (Acts 8:9 NIV). For Luke, magic is not innocent, entertaining trickery. The Gospel’s conflict with magic runs all through Acts. That kind of magic is not pulling a rabbit out of a hat but putting Satan in a heart. This connection is made clearer in Acts 13, when Paul and Barnabas encounter one Bar Jesus, also known as Elymas, which means sorcerer. Paul tells him, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right!” (Acts 13:10 NIV)(3)
Our secularized society can blind us to the Bible’s insistence that we live in a universe inhabited by very real spirit entities and forces. The evil ones should be taken seriously, and shunned. The fact that I don’t understand the mystery of Satan, doesn’t mean I don’t believe in him. Ouija boards have no power, but inviting dark powers in is both dangerous and foolish. Simon, who we are told believes, is a warning that combining faith and prayer with ideas of magic can also be a dangerous, foolish invitation. We end prayer with “Amen,” in the name and power of Jesus, not Abracadabra (4)
The other aspect of Simon I wish to briefly discuss is that, “He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, ‘This man is rightly called the Great Power of God’” (Acts 8:9-10 NIV). This virtually defines “antichrist.” “The Great Power,” is a reference to God, Himself. So, not only is this hubris, it’s also blasphemous. Prayer is not magic, and neither is baptism. After he was baptized, Simon still seems completely self-absorbed as he tries to buy the power to confer the Holy Spirit on others. Such narcissism is a very unholy spirit. Seeking popularity in order to have power is a sadly human trait, and one exhibited by too many politicians. We should beware of “Simons” when we vote.
Even sadder, too many church leaders have displayed the spirit of Simon. Loving praise and power is not one of the qualifications for bishop or minister. Many congregations were broken and divided in the wake of such leaders. In this regard, those of us at the Littleton church are blessed, and such a blessing should not be taken for granted.
The warning by Peter, another but very different Simon, was powerful and stark. We insult God by thinking our wealth can influence His favor. “To hell with you and your money (my paraphrase),” got Simon’s attention. We’re left to speculate whether Simon’s repentance was genuine and stuck. We need not speculate whether it was needed. The opportunity to repent is a precious gift we dare not squander!
We can learn from the Bible’s good guys. Harder, but perhaps more needed lessons come from its bad guys. I pray my heart is open to these lessons.
Tim Kelley
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(1 ) He is often called Simon Magus, and has a long legacy in early church history as a Gnostic heretic. I will confine my remarks to Acts. See, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Magus.
(2) Luke combines many of his themes in single stories. This is an example. I will not deal here with the confirmation of the Samaritan mission by the withholding of the gift of the Holy Spirit until Peter and John lay their hands on the baptized Samaritans, except as it relates to the story of Simon the Sorcerer.
(3) There may be a play on words here, suggesting he was not the son of Jesus, but the Devil.
(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abracadabra#