A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.... Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word.
Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ.... But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city and amazed the people of Samaria... Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.
Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God. Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.”
Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus. As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”
O: Saul and the others were persecuting believers. This was an evil thing. Yet a result was that the believers, who had not yet obeyed God’s command to go into the rest of the world beyond Jerusalem, were forced to go. And as a result, they started sharing the Gospel in other places as well. So, just like it was with Joseph and his brothers, what people meant for evil, God used for good.
Simon the Sorcerer genuinely received Christ, but he still had a lot of his old way of thinking, which is why he tried to buy the ability to convey the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. When people first get saved, although they are now a new creation, they still have a lot of the old to transform, and growth takes time.
Finally, Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch illustrates how Jesus was prophesied long before, in the Old Testament scriptures. That’s how Philip was able to lead him to Jesus via his reading of the book of Isaiah.
A: We can take comfort when bad things happen, that God can nonetheless use those to do good.
And while we do know that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come, but still, they will take time to grow. Their old bad habits that gave us grief might not disappear immediately. -It takes time for the fruit of the Spirit to come to fruition in their lives. So we must not lose heart, but keep encouraging them to grow in their faith and not give up on them.
Finally, we can put our trust in Jesus, for His coming had been foretold centuries earlier in the Old Testament, for example, in this Isaiah passage.
P: Father, help us to take heart when we encounter trials and tribulations. And also help us to show grace and forgiveness when new Christians continue in their old ways and disappoint us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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