Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common. With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them. For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas (which is translated Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. – Acts 4:32-37 (CSB)
Ever since the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) the Church has been growing by leaps and bounds. Even opposition from the Jewish religious leaders causes more and more people to come to faith in Jesus. In the passage above you see all the believers coming together to make sure no one is in need. At the forefront of this benevolence movement is a man named Joseph. We know him better by his nickname Barnabas. His act of selflessness encourages others to follow suit but it doesn’t take long before people try to find a way to cheat the system.
But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge, and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
“Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land? Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.” When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard. The young men got up, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him.
About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. “Tell me,” Peter asked her, “did you sell the land for this price?”
“Yes,” she said, “for that price.”
Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband. Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things. – Acts 5:1-11 (CSB)
This passage has stuck with me every since the first time I encountered it. I am not sure how old I was but my introduction to this tale of divine retribution came through a song. I tried to find the song on YouTube but was unsuccessful. Here are the lyrics.
Ananias and Sapphira got together to conspire a plot, to cheat, the church and get ahead. They knew God’s power but did not fear it, tried to cheat the Holy Spirit, Peter prophesied it and they both drop dead!
God loves a cheerful giver, give it all you’ve got. He loves to see you laughing when you’re in an awful spot. So when the odds are up against you and you cannot do a thing, praise God, to praise Him is a joyous thing.
I know, that’s a pretty weird song to teach kids. The music is upbeat and peppy which is even more odd considering the dark nature of that verse. The chorus (which I assume is based around 2 Corinthians 9:7) does fits the tune but when connected with the fate of Ananias and Sapphira seems to sugges that if you are happy when you put your offering in the plate that God may just smite you. It’s probably a good thing that we aren’t teaching this one to our kids in children’s church these days but I digress.
I do believe there is a lesson to be learned here. Notice that Ananias and Sapphira (there goes that stupid tune in my head again) are not punished for holding back part of the proceeds from the sale of their land. Peter tells Ananias that not only was the land theirs but the money received was theirs to do with as they pleased. There was no pressure to give anything. We can safely assume that they could have given any amount and the Apostles would have gladly accepted it. So what went wrong?
This is just my personal take on it but I believe they saw the praise Barnabas got and wanted the same thing. There was a bit of jealousy on their part. I mean, the Apostles gave him the name Son of Encouragement. That had to have been pretty cool and you know that everyone was talking about it. My guess is that they wanted the attention without the same commitment. They assumed they could keep back part of the money and no one would ever know. Unfortunately for them, God revealed their scheme to Peter beforehand.
What is really crazy about this even is that the two of them come before Peter separately. It seems as if Peter confronts Ananias as he is bringing the gift. We don’t know why Sapphira isn’t there but we know that she is in on it. I am amazed by the immediate pronouncement of guilt. Ananais drops dead right then and there. It doesn’t seem that he is given a chance to try and explain himself. Boom! He’s gone.
Three hours later Sapphira shows up and we get a repeat performance. We’re not sure why she comes. I have seen some speculate that she was curious as to why her husband had not returned. I even saw one person suggest that she came because she was afraid Ananias would take all the credit. Whatever her motivation she repeated the lie and God judged her on the spot.
Why such a harsh penalty? Notice that Peter says they were lying to the Holy Spirit. This wasn’t simply a matter of pulling the wool over the Apostles’ eyes. This was more than trying to impress others and receive praise. This was intentional deception and God was having none of it. One of my Bible College professors suggested that the harsh penalty was necessary because this was the very beginning of the Church. The Apostles were preaching and God was growing His Church exponentially. Any false teaching or deception could have potentially harmed the spread of the Gospel. God made sure that was not going to happen.
This passage ends by saying GREAT FEAR came over the entire Church. That may be one of the biggest understatements ever. I would imagine that anyone considering the same sort of thing immediately changed their mind once this story spread. I have a pretty active imagination so I can see people walking past the graves on their way to the assembly. I can imagine the nods and the pointing as people whispered, “That’s where they buried them.” Perhaps they even made up little songs about it and taught them to their children. What I do know is that we don’t see this happen again in the book of Acts. Apparently once was enough.
Grace and peace.
That 80s Pastor Dude 
Back in the 80s when i was a y.m., we sang the mess outta that song.
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