Overshadowed

Fifteenth Saturday after Pentecost

Thanks to Chris for his perceptive comment. As always, I would love to hear more comments from all of you, either on the comment section of the blog or in an email to me.

Our continuing of study of Acts today focuses on Acts 5:12-16. It's a summary statement from Luke about healings in the Temple precincts. By "summary statement" we mean that this is not a specific story but a general statement about the healings that went on during an unspecified time period after the resurrection.

Here's brief commentary on the individual verses. Read the verse first in your Bible and then read the commentary:

v. 12--"signs and wonders" is a standard NT term for miracles. We don't know exactly where Solomon's portico was. The Roman destruction of the Temple in AD 70 obliterated much of our knowledge. 

v. 13--The phrase "none of the rest" is not entirely clear. The verse implies that the Apostles' healing activity did put them in some danger from the priestly authorities and the Roman Temple guards. Perhaps "none of the rest" means none of the earliest Christians other than the Apostles. That "the people held [the Apostles] in high esteem" implies that the Temple authorities did not.

v. 14--Luke stresses that this early growth of Christianity included at least as many women as men. In contrast a number of the pagan religions of the time did not allow women at all. (n.b. the word pagan in our historical usage means any religion or religious practice that is not either Jewish or Christian).

v. 15--Peter appears to be the lead Apostle at this time. News of the healings traveled fast and brought more and more people to be healed. Apparently it was too many people for Peter to heal individually. They were healed in his shadow as he walked by. This is strange, a bit too close to "magic" for me to be comfortable with. A literal translation would be that "Peter's shadow overshadowed them." The word "overshadow" (episkiazo in Greek) is the same word that the angel Gabriel uses when telling the Virgin Mary that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the "power of the Most High" will overshadow her and thereby she will conceive (Luke 1:35). I'm not at all sure that there is any connection here, but it does seem that overshadow implies something miraculous.

v. 16--As the news of these healings spread, people began to come not just from Jerusalem but from places farther away to find healing. As we shall see, the growing crowds arouse the suspicions of the priests. 

Luke probably knew more stories of specific healings but chose not to tell them in order to more the narrative forward. The priests and the Sadducee religious/political party that they led worried about any new movement that might challenge their power. These early glory days of the Apostles unobstructed in their Jerusalem mission were about to end, as we'll see in our next Bible study.

Faithfully,

Christian