Acts 9:36-43
This text is used for the Lectionary Year C on April 17, 2016.
The title given this book by our tradition is Acts, or more precisely, The Acts of the Apostles, and it is a story of that for sure, but not just that. One could also say it is a story of the Acts of God, which would have been a fine heading as well. Actually the best and most accurate title would have been, The Acts of the Apostles in Response to and in Synchronicity with, the Acts of God. The early Christians likely knew this was the case, but this dissertation-like title would have taken way too much papyrus, so… Acts it was and Acts it remains.
However short the title, the larger emphasis is important because on every page of this work there is a story where someone… an apostle, a believer, a seeker, an adversary, or the Holy Spirit is acting and acting in response to some other action or incident or imitative or hunch or conversation or crisis. Everything and everyone seems connected (because, of course, it is). Chapter upon connected chapter, there is a mystical unfolding where the Church must surely say over and again, “well, how ‘bout that!!!!” It is surprise upon surprise and new thing upon new thing. God is at work but so too are the awakened ones, each responding to the other or… THE OTHER.