Acts 8:5-8, 14-17

Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed the Christ to them.
With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.
For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice,
came out of many possessed people,
and many paralyzed or crippled people were cured.
There was great joy in that city.

Now when the apostles in Jerusalem
heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God,
they sent them Peter and John,
who went down and prayed for them,
that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
for it had not yet fallen upon any of them;
they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then they laid hands on them

and they received the Holy Spirit.

Backgrounder

Jesus promised that Christians would be born again, “of Water and the Holy Spirit” (John 3). Christians who give their life to Jesus receive his life through baptism. The visible sign of water doesn’t just have a visible effect: through our faith we are made, “new creations in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5). Yet we cannot receive anything from Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit.
The power of what we receive remains dormant until the Holy Spirit sets us on fire. This is what the people of Samaria experience. By going into Samaria, Philip fulfills Jesus’s command to preach the Gospel beyond the Jewish people. The people of Samaria welcome Philip, and his preaching of the Gospel. There are signs and wonders, healings and exorcisms. The power of God is active among the Samaritans too, just as it had been in Jerusalem.

This is such an important step: the first step of the Kingdom beyond the Jewish people. The Samaritans were not only neighbours of the Jewish people, they were hated rivals. When Jesus had spoken with a Samaritan woman some time before, she had questioned how he, a Jew and a man, would have anything to do with her (John 4). But Jesus is all about breaking down the boundaries that humanity sets up to divide us from each other. (Ephesians 2:14)

The boldness of the Holy Spirit fills Philip so much that he overcomes the hatred of Jews for Samaritans. And it is really remarkable that the Samaritans welcome him in. What is the result? “There was great joy in that city”.

Hearing about the baptism of the Samaritans, the apostles Peter and John, appointed to lead the emerging Christian community, now share the great gift of the Holy Spirit. They pray for the people who have just come to accept Jesus and baptism. At their hands, the newly converted Samaritans receive the Holy Spirit. The laying on of hands is a gift that signifies unity. They are accepted as full members of the community. And in the Holy Spirit they too share in the fulness of the new life in Christ.

Till today Christians invite people who may be far from God to accept faith in Jesus. We offer people baptism and membership and a whole new life. But it is the Holy Spirit, working in and through Christians who releases the power of faith and baptism, and who changes lives. Just like the people of Samaria, people today can have their lives transformed: evil is driven out, healing happens, joy fills hearts.