It sounds like the new Harry Potter book is pretty disappointing. Unlike the main series which ended years ago, Beth and I did not rush out to buy the new volume. I was put off by the fact that it’s a script for a play rather than a novel. What’s even worse, I learned when I read reviews last week, is that much of it appears to have been written by a couple of writers other than J. K. Rowling. There were lots of negative reviews.
Our family loved the other Harry Potter books, the idea of a school for magic and the wonderful characters captivated us. I enjoy fantasy in general, whether it’s Lewis or Tolkien, Butcher or Zelazny. Stories of an enchanted world where the impossible can happen bring me lots of pleasure in leisure moments.
Yet as Christians have always recognized, there is subtle danger in being too caught up in concern with magic. Fantasy stories are one thing, but when we begin to have the perspective that we can deal with the world and our lives on the terms offered by magic, then we’ve gotten off track. We see that happening to an early Christian convert in our text this week from Acts 8:4-25.
Though Simon the magician is severely judged in this passage, we might give him a little benefit of the doubt because verse 13 says, “Even Simon believed. After being baptized, he stayed constantly with Philip…” Let’s assume that Simon was a sincere new believer. If so, then his error has deeper implications for us. It’s an error into which a genuine Christian can fall, the error of treating the things of God like magic.
Magic is essentially about control, about power over our lives, our world, our destiny. In that regard it’s not that different from what we try to accomplish with science, with medicine, with psychology, with computer technology, with economics, or with politics. We might suppose that the difference from our modern “magics” is some spiritual dark side to magic or the simple fact that it doesn’t really work.
But Simon Magus (as he came to be called in the middle ages) doesn’t seem to be aware that magic does not work, and he certainly enjoyed the power and prestige that came with it. In verse 10 he even enjoys what the people call him, “the power of God that is called the Great,” labeling him as some sort of magical, spiritual force.
So when he encountered what was so obviously a greater power–verse 13 says he was amazed by the miracles Philip did–Simon naturally wanted it for himself. Though he sincerely believed in Christ, he was attracted to and tempted by power, the ability to control the world and control others. That kind of control still tempts us as Christians, even if we get it by other means and call it by other names.
Stories about magic are a lot of fun, but the story of our faith is not about magic, but about power which belongs only and truly to God. It’s not ours to buy or to discover by science or to command by ritual or good behavior. As Philip says in verse 21, it’s God’s gift, and we can only receive it in humility and acknowledgement of our weakness.