Re-reading Acts of the Apostles.

[lavivi]

I just re-read Acts of the Apostles (AKA Most Horrible Original Story Ever) for the first time in months.  It was an excellent wait - I was able to read it quite objectively.  And it's nice to be surprised by something that you wrote.  I made a few corrections as I read, but not anything major.

I can see now how it kinda rambles in the beginning, before the main story, and some of the description comes across Mary-Sueish.  Still...

Some excerpts that I sincerely like:

Sapphira slapped an older woman who called Ananias lazy and careless.  Ananias, with perhaps more dignity, rose and left the house of an important man who held quite a bit of influence, after he suggested Sapphira was willful and improper for a wife of Israel.

I also like how Ananias planned out what he was going to do with the money from the field.

Jesus had left his mark on Simon, as he had left his mark on everyone he had come into contact with for more than a few seconds.  One might suppose that Peter, one of the closest disciples, would be all the more changed for his long experience, but in truth Peter was very much the same man who had dropped his net, leaped over the side of the boat, and strode up the shore.  Jesus had left his mark, but Simon’s cast of character was indeed petra – three years of companionship with the Son of God didn’t remake him.  He had followed Jesus and loved him, somehow caught a glimmer of what he truly was, if only for a moment, earned Jesus’ finest praise and sternest reproof, denied him in the critical hour, and after everything the love was still only phileo.

Now Peter looked down with a cold face toward the man who had just set a bag of money down and was shifting uncomfortably under his gaze.  And Peter felt intoxicated – drunk on the authority he felt now, the knowledge he had without being told by anyone.

I also like how Ananias planned out what he was going to do with the money from the field.

And lastly, the ending scene - the bits underlined I think are really good:

It was already growing dim in the room when she walked in.  There were about a dozen people on either side of the room, strangely subdued and watching her as she entered.  Three of the original disciples were toward the back of the room.  She sensed something – it reminded her of when she was a girl, and all her friends knew something she didn’t.  Sapphira looked around with narrowed eyes, then to the apostles, who definitely seemed hostile. 

Sapphira lifted her head and straightened her shoulders.  “Is my husband here?  Is Ananias here?”

Simon Peter advanced, his dislike at her outspokenness thinly veiled.  He nudged Ananias’s moneybag with his foot, so it overturned and the money spilt out.  Sapphira’s brow darkened.

“Is this the price of the land you sold?” Peter asked.

She stared him in the eye without showing a sign of having heard his question.  “Where is Ananias?”

He repeated, speaking slowly and icily, “Is this the price of the land?”

Sapphira flung her head back and folded her arms, much as though she were an arrogant queen, and prepared to stare Peter down.

The obstinacy was very much equally matched, and they might have gone back and forth for hours without either getting their question answered, had not someone else intervened.

“Your husband left here,” Jude spoke up from behind Peter.  “But if you would please favor us with an answer to Peter’s question….”

“Tell me,” Peter said, quite softly now, “whether you sold the land for this much?”

Sapphira looked briefly at the money on the floor, and knew that they knew that was not all of it.  The loyalty instilled in her over the many years flared in her face now, and she replied, looking Peter back in the eye, “Yes – for that much.”

A triumphant look flashed over Peter’s face, and he stepped forward again.  His voice was loud for all to hear, each sentence enunciated.  “Why did you agree together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?  Behold –“ He pointed at the men who served him – “the feet of those who buried your husband, will carry you out as well!”

At his words, Sapphira’s eyes widened, and her lips parted.  Those were all the signs of surprise she gave.  Then without warning, she dropped straight down.  Her husband had fallen with a crash, but hers was a noiseless, almost gentle tumble to the floor.  Her skull hitting the floor made the most noise, and at it several people screamed as they had not done when Ananias died, and ran out the doors.

Without being told, the young men walked forward and silently carried her out.

These opinions might have been slightly influenced by the playing of the Jesus Christ, Superstar soundtrack in the back.

This post is, by the way, mostly an analysis for myself so I can look back and see what I think of it at this time.