The rebuke is redemptive because through it Peter exposes to Simon his distance from God even while he stands in the divine presence, even as the Holy Spirit is being poured out again on all flesh. Simon is yet to be touched. So Simon is invited to enter the intimate space of waiting through repentance and prayer. It could be that only such rebukes can help those believers still captured in the optics of exchange and the currency of the crowd where money and recognition is just as valuable as the Holy Spirit. It was no small step for Simon to agree with the assessment of the apostles and ask
...more