Picture taken October 23, 2019 while eating at a local restaurant with Jeannette. The restaurant has a tradition of inviting people not just to pay their bills, but to leave their bills!
Reading through the Bible…
When Simon saw that the apostles by merely laying on hands conferred the Spirit, he pulled out his money, excited, and said, “Sell me your secret! Show me how you did that! How much do you want? Name your price!” Peter said, “To hell with your money! And you along with it. Why, that’s unthinkable—trying to buy God’s gift! (Acts 8:18-20 The Message)
To h*ll with your money. I can’t believe the first Pope, Peter himself, says that…Can you? The Message actually does a pretty good job of translating the original word: ἀπόλλυμι. Peter literally tells Simon and his money to go to a place of damnation, destruction, loss and death.
What’s got Peter so upset? Seems like he could have cashed in on the situation? Instead, he blows up.
It’s personal for Peter. Simon the Sorcerer isn’t trying to buy real estate (our President and my late wife’s former occupations). Simon, perhaps without realizing it, is trying to buy a relationship. Simon isn’t just trying to buy a present. He is trying to buy God’s presence in the form of the Holy Spirit. Simon is trying to put a price on a relationship with God!
Writing…
Simon begets followers today. They put their money in the offering plate, or better yet, in Trump’s bitcoin account. Then, they expect a return on their investment.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/17/trump-crypto-memecoin-corruption
It seems like it pays off. Those buying and selling in the name of politics and religion have them all, from little children to old men, eating out of their hands. We all think they have supernatural powers. Everyone more or less is in awe of them. (Acts 8:10-11)
I’m not buying it. Trump can keep his bitcoin and Bible (and hopefully actually read it someday). Republicans can try to deceive the public about their bilious, bill for billionaires.
I believe the best things in life aren’t bought by or legislated for rich.
I believe, as does Jesus, that there is still good news to the poor. Whether in this life or the next, there will be freedom for the prisoners (those unlawfully and cruelly detained or deported) recovery of sight for the blind (hope for those who may lose medicaid funding), oppressed who go free (release from physical & emotional imprisonment), proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favor.” (a time when all spiritual and financial debts are forgiven and there is justice for all) (Luke 4:18-19 NIV)
Building Beloved Communities (BBCandME.com)
I caption this article with a picture Jeannette takes of me, four months after her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, three years before her death.
I can’t put a price on the 42 years God gives us together. After hearing Peter’s rebuke, I wouldn’t dare. Freely, and undeservedly, I have received. Freely, I now try to give.
That is the way it’s supposed to work. Isn’t it? We are not transactional. We are relational.
So, to the Simon’s of our day, this caution, To h*ll with your money. To the rest of us, this comfort, To heaven someday with your “dears” (and with my “dear” Jeannette).
Amen