The magician is schooled

After Acts 8: 14-25

The apostles hear of Samaria’s

rebirth, and two are sent to pray,

to teach, the call upon the holy wind

to descend. They lay their hands

on the people, the holy wind begins 

to blow, the holy fire begins to burn, 

and the magician sees the hands,

sees the power transferred, and 

wants that power, offering money

to buy whatever it is they have.

The magician is told the good news

is not for sale, that if he thinks it is

a commodity to be bought and sold

he doesn’t understand, he doesn’t

get it, and more, he doesn’t have it,

his heart doesn’t get it, he is still

chained by wickedness, saturated 

in gall, and your magic will do you

no good. The way is found and 

followed not by money but 

by the repentance of the heart.

The magician asks for prayer.

Photograph by Jr Korpa via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The magician is confounded

After Acts 8:9-13

A conjurer of signs, a magician

of wonders, doing far more than

pulling rabbits from hats, or so

it appeared, a celebrity who

so amazes and so dazzles that

even he calls himself great,

his magic renowned across

the city, across the region, 

hailed as the power of God.

But on the day the visitor

speaks and preaches, the day

the visitor heals the lame and

exorcises the spirits, the day

when the joy erupts across

the city, he sees a power

greater than his own, and he,

too, believes; he, too, is 

of one accord with the crowd;

he, too, is washed in the water

of forgiveness and a new birth.

Photograph by Gage Walker via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Joy in Samaria

After Acts 8:4-8

Forced to flee, he finds himself

in that place where the one met

the woman at the well. It remains

a halfway kind of place, believing

half of this and half of that,

a hodgepodge of scrolls and idols

and superstition. Even in his fear

and his near brush with chains,

he speaks, he preaches, he performs

signs. And they listen, as if they

are one body, in one accord, and

they see the unclean spirits 

screaming in the pain of discovery

and identification, abandon 

the human habitats, and they see

the paralyzed and lame suddenly

healed, and the crowd in one accord

knows what they are seeing is

not of this earth, and the idols

and the superstitions fall and

melt away, replaced by great joy.

Photograph by Pablo Heimplatz via Unsplash. Used with permission.