Good News in Samaria

“So there was great joy in that city.” — Acts 8:8

After Stephen died, the believers in Jerusalem were in great danger. Saul and others were hunting them down and putting them in prison. So many of them ran away from Jerusalem and scattered to towns and villages all over the country.

That sounds like bad news for the church, doesn’t it? The believers had to leave their homes. They were scattered far and wide.

But here’s what the Bible says happened next: “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”

Everywhere they went, they told people about Jesus! The persecution was meant to stop the good news. Instead, it spread the good news further than ever.

Philip, another of the seven helpers, went to a city in Samaria.

Do you remember the Samaritans? The Jews and the Samaritans didn’t like each other at all. But Jesus had talked with the Samaritan woman at the well. He had told the story of the Good Samaritan. And He had said His followers would be witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria.” Now it was happening.

Philip told the people in Samaria about Jesus, the Christ. And the crowds listened carefully to everything he said. God did amazing miracles through Philip. People who were sick were healed. People who couldn’t walk got up and walked. Evil spirits came out of people with a loud cry.

So there was great joy in that city!

Many people in Samaria believed in Jesus and were baptised, both men and women.

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had accepted God’s word, they sent Peter and John to them. Peter and John prayed for the new believers, and they received the Holy Spirit, just as the believers in Jerusalem had.

The Samaritans weren’t second-class Christians. They were part of the same family, with the same Holy Spirit.

The people who scattered the believers thought they were stopping God’s work. But God used it to spread the good news further. Even when bad things happen, God can use them for good. Do you remember Joseph, in the first book? “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

Read it in your Bible: Acts 8:1–17

Dear God, thank you that you can use even bad things for good. Thank you that the good news about Jesus is for everyone, everywhere. Help me to tell people about Jesus wherever I go. Amen.