November 13

Acts 17: 15-33
15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him. 16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities." (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 19 So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means." 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new. 22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23 For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26 From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him-- though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28 For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.' 29 Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." 32 When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, "We will hear you again about this." 33 At that point Paul left them. 34 But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Paul comes to Athens. This center of Greek life was the intellectual center of the Hellenistic Culture. Paul the Pharisee stands in front of the Areopagus with all of its idols and altars. I am amazed at Paul’s response. The central message of the Pharisees and all Jews was that God is one. There is not a pantheon of Gods. The existence of all of these altars had to grate on Paul.

Yet he is able to find a point of contact with his audience. There is an altar to an unknown God. For those in Athens this is an attempt to not offend out of ignorance some deity that might not be represented in the existing altars. For Paul this is an opportunity to witness to the one God who is saving the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Athens desire to be open to all new ideas is both a problem and a blessing. Paul is not going to be arrested for proclaiming the resurrection of the dead. Paul is also going to be the source of scorn by his proclamation of the resurrection of the dead. But some of those who hear become believers. The telling of the story continues.

Reflection questions:
1. What points of contact with our culture do we avoid because of our bias or previous experiences?
2. We live in an age that likes novelty and new ideas. How do we express the resurrection of Jesus to this age?
3. How do we judge the “success” of our efforts?