A Letter From the Road

Week Four - Day 7

Today's Reading -- Acts 17:1 to Acts 18:17, and 1 Thessalonians 1:1--3:13

NOTE TO MY DAILY READERS:  I MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING WRONG AS THIS POST WAS SUPPOSED TO BE UP ON THE BLOG EARLY SATURDAY MORNING.  JUST DISCOVERED IT LATE IN THE EVENING.

Starting with today's reading, and continuing over the next three weeks, our reading of the Acts of the Apostles is going to be interrupted at stages so that we can listen to Paul communicate with the budding Christian communities.  The vehicle for listening to Paul will be the letters that he wrote at various points of his journey.  The letters will be placed within the approximate timeframe of Paul's life with a brief explanation of where he was at the time.

Our reading of Acts has Paul in the middle of his second missionary journey, which is taking him further and further from Jerusalem.  His first missionary journey extended into what is modern day Turkey, but now Paul finds himself on the continent of Europe in the regions of Macedonia and Achaia, which make up much of modern day Greece.  He first major stop was in Philippi where he runs afoul of pagan customs and Roman officials, but nonetheless beginnings the plantings of the faith in that city.

It is now around the year 51 A.D., and Paul travels to Thessalonica where he has little luck preaching to the Jews but earns some converts among "a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women" (17:4).  He his charged with disturbing the peace of the city and inciting insurrection against Rome by declaring that Jesus is the Messiah, and Paul is hustled out of town.  After further adventures in Athens, Paul travels to Corinth where he ends up staying for 18 months.  It is here in Corinth that we will stop with Paul as he spends his time teaching and working to support himself (18:1-4).  It was also during his time in Corinth that Paul wrote his earliest known letter.

Paul may not have had the best of experiences while in Thessalonica, but he remembers fondly the group of believers that he left behind.  Around the year 52 A.D. he wrote the first of two letters to them. It is filled with affection and expressions of his warm remembrances of his time there, as well as his hopes for their future.  Take this break with Paul, and listen to his words and imagine yourself hearing them for the first time in the midst of perhaps your own trials and challenges.

Shifting into High Gear

Week Four - Day 6

Today's Reading -- Acts 14:8 to Acts 16:40

Paul is towards the end of his first missionary journey when he goes to Lystra.  Up until now, everywhere he has gone has had a community of Jews to whom he has spoken, usually preaching in their synagogues, although he has attracted the interest of quite a few Gentiles.  Lystra is different, however, as it is a thoroughly Gentile community.  Paul speaks to the crowds most probably out in the open, and appeals to them not through the Hebrew Scriptures or traditions, but through concepts that they understand from their pagan culture, such as the worship of multiple gods and the idea of a creator god.  Paul's preaching points them towards something new, and he and Barnabas do it so effectively that the inhabitants of Lystra presume that Barnabas is their pagan god Zeus, and Paul is Hermes. Their welcome in the city is interrupted by opposing Jews who stir up the crowds against Paul and Barnabas, who then meet the first real test of their meddle as they are stoned by the crowd and left for dead.  The attack is not fatal, however, and they are taken out of harms way by other disciples and eventual make their way back to Antioch in Syria where their journey first started.

The preaching to the Gentiles continued to be a source of controversy, one that had first been dealt with  several years earlier by Peter before the apostles in Jerusalem (11:1-18).  It is now because of Paul's missionary work that the issue has once again come before the elders of the church (15:1-5).  Peter reminds everyone of his early contact with the Gentiles, and then the testimony of Paul and Barnabas sealed the deal.  The acceptance of the Gentiles receives official approval, with several conditions laid down by James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, that are rooted in the commandments that Moses had taught regarding accepting "strangers among the Jews" (see Leviticus 17:8, 10-13; and 18:26).  James' creative interpretation and application of scripture to changing circumstances should be a lesson for us even today.

The way is clear for Paul to launch into his second missionary journey unrestrained by any notion as to whom he may preach the gospel and welcome as a follower of Jesus Christ.  This does not mean the road will not be rough, as Paul will endure further opposition, floggings, imprisonment and insults to his rights of citizenship.  Although he may be slowed down from time to time, but he will not be deterred.

Time to Spread Your Wings

Week Four - Day 5

Today's Reading -- Acts 11:19 to Acts 14:7

Today it's time to catch up on a few things, and one of them is time itself.  In reading the Acts of the Apostles there are very few indications as to the timeframe or the dating of the events that are occurring.    The reader can be left with the impression that the formative period of the church happened within a matter of weeks or months.  Exact dating cannot be determined, but there is some agreement among scholars and historians as to the general timeline.  Please don't quote me as portraying these dates as "gospel."

To back up a bit, Jesus was around the age of 30 at the time of his death, resurrection and ascension, and shortly thereafter the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples.  So let us date these events to around the year 30 AD.  The community of believers in Jerusalem attracted followers for several years amidst tensions with the religious authorities, culminating in the stoning death of Stephen about 35 AD.  As persecution picked up many of the believers left Jerusalem and took the message of Jesus Christ on the road with them (e.g., Philip meeting up with the Ethiopian court official).  The dramatic conversion of Saul of Tarsus (Paul) did not occur until about the year 36 AD, with Peter's dealings with Cornelius and the conversion of the first Gentiles following about four years later.

Today's reading begins around the year 43 AD, more than a dozen years after the earthly ministry of Jesus and the beginnings of the church in Jerusalem.  The persecution that started in Jerusalem has driven the disciples further and further away, finally reaching Antioch in Syria (11:20), an full 300 miles to the north.  Also impressive is the fact that at the time Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire.  Such success occurred in delivering the good news to Jews and Gentiles alike that a disciple by the name of Barnabas was sent to check it out by the leaders of the church in Jerusalem.  The needs were so overwhelming that Barnabas, who seven years earlier had attested to the sincerity of Paul's newfound faith in Jesus Christ before the Jerusalem church, went to Tarsus looking for Paul to help out with the work in Antioch. (You have to wonder what Paul had been doing during this interim period.  Was he studying?  Was he preaching the gospel to the people of his hometown?  In any event, he seems to be ready and up to the task of joining the mission in Antioch.)  Up to this point the persecution of the church had come from the religious leaders, but now King Herod enters the picture and state persecution begins with the martyrdom of James, the brother of John. (For you folks at St. James' Church Mill Creek, this is "our" saint, James the Apostle, one of the "sons of thunder.")  All of this happened around 45 AD.

Which brings me to the final section of today's reading which recounts Paul's first missionary journey, the first step in fulfilling Jesus' missionary charge to take the gospel "to the ends of the earth" (Acts1:8).  It is now about the year 48 AD, eighteen years after the life of Jesus and twelve years following Paul's conversion.  Many significant steps had been taken in the preceding years that made this moment possible.  None of these previous events took place overnight.  It took time, God's time,  to develop the faith, message and maturity of those who would carry the word of salvation far and wide.

In our world where events come at us with such speed, it is worth remembering that we live and move and have our being within God's time, upheld by God's grace, and saved within the context of God's plan and not ours.

Conversion & Prophetic Ministry

Week Four - Day 4

Today's Reading -- Acts 9:1 to Acts 11:18

There's something new around every corner in today's reading.  The good news is starting to break in and bust out all at the same time.  The main players are a young man named Saul (who is to become know as Paul) and an early follower of Jesus named Simon (whom we now know as Peter).  Both had been raised within Judaism:  Paul had received an extensive religious education in Tarsus, a very metropolitan city within the Roman Empire; Peter had probably learned his basics of the faith in the synagogue in Capernaum, a small fishing village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

These two men could not have been more different in backgrounds and in their initial reactions to the teaching and claims of Jesus. Peter left everything behind when Jesus issued the call to follow him. He sensed within Jesus the beginning of something new, something fresh but on the same hand something authentic about God.  Paul not only resisted the message of Jesus but was an active and destructive persecutor of the post-resurrection community in Jerusalem.  He consented to and watched Stephen being stoned to death, and "still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord" (9:1) he sought out authority to go out and hunt down those who had fled far out into the countryside. 

Dramatic changes, however, were to come upon the lives of these two men that would not only alter the course of the good news of Christ, but eventually bring them together in a common mission.  Today we see those beginnings as we read of Paul's dramatic conversion of faith in Jesus Christ as he is on the way to Damascus as a part of his plan to arrest some of Jesus' disciples.  Not only has his life experienced a complete "180" but so has his mission.  Instead of ridding Damascus of the message about Jesus, he is now a key player in bringing the gospel to his city to the far north of Jerusalem. 

And as for Peter?  His wanderings outside of Jerusalem have taken him to the west to towns along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.  As he goes he works signs and wonders among the Jews that are reminiscent of the ministry of Jesus.  He is truly a man filled with the Holy Spirit of God.  And then he receives a vision that helps him to understand that divine grace was not restricted to the Jews, and in his defense of his ministry to the other apostles in Jerusalem he argued, "If then God gave them (the Gentiles) the same gift (the Holy Spirit) that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" (11:17).  

And so, Paul and Peter are off an running, knocking down barriers and challenging preconceived notions about the universal message of the gospel.  We are not only beneficiaries of their witness, but inheritors of their mission.

Witnessing in Blood and Spirit

Week Four - Day 3

Today's Reading -- Acts 7:1 to Acts 8:40

If you ever want to refer someone to a concise recap of the Old Testament, have them read the 7th chapter of Acts.  It is the speech that the deacon Stephen delivers to the religious council in Jerusalem after he has been dragged there on trumped up charges of blasphemy against Moses and God.  Big mistake, for Stephen gives them an earful of their own history, ending with his charge against the religious leaders that they themselves oppose God's Holy Spirit and are no better than their ancestors who had persecuted and killed the prophets. Their reaction?  Kill the messenger.  Stephen is dragged outside the city walls of Jerusalem and stoned to death, becoming the first believer to die for his faith.  While all followers of Christ are baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, it is said that martyrs are baptized in their own blood, the offering of their lives.

With the death of Stephen the persecution of the Jesus community in Jerusalem heats up, as a young man named Saul takes charge of rounding up the believers.  Although the apostles remain for the time being, many of the followers are scattered throughout the region.  What Saul and the others did not foresee is that these followers took their faith with them and continued to proclaim Jesus to anyone they encountered.  A disciple named Philip began to bring the Word of Christ to the residents of Samaria, a people who followed the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures) but had been previously shunned by the Jews as not right-thinking believers.  So many Samaritans accepted Jesus that when the apostles caught word of it they sent Peter and John out from Jerusalem to investigate.  Although Philip had done the work of converting the Samaritans, the apostles passed on the gift of the Holy Spirit and brought them into the fold.

The gospel was to take yet another step away from Jerusalem as Philip ran into an Ethiopian court official, a true outsider to the nation of Israel, and helped to guide him in his reading of Isaiah to see the good news about Jesus.  With no apostles in sight, Philip baptized the Ethiopian, and it can be certain that when the Holy Spirit snatched Philip away (8:39) it also entered into the life of that foreigner who now "went on his way rejoicing."  We are not told, but it's hard to imagine that this court official failed to witness to his new faith when he returned home.  The Word is on the move, and it appears no one will be considered unworthy to receive its saving power.

You've Got to Start Somewhere

Week Four - Day 2

Today's Reading -- Acts 4:1 to Acts 6:15

Any new venture, any sharing of enthusiasm with others, has to begin somewhere.  For the apostles and other disciples, the venture was proclaiming that Jesus is Lord and Messiah (Christ) and the place was Jerusalem.  This was the starting point given to them by Jesus: "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (1:8).  The first eight chapters of Acts takes place exclusively within the Holy City and is centered most prominently upon the Temple, the focal point of religious life and identity of the people.  The Temple is understood as the dwelling place of God; it is maintained by the Sadducees (upper class political and religious conservatives) and the hereditary line of priests; and it is the symbol of both the past glory of the nation of Israel and its hopes for future restoration.

When the small band of believers left behind by Jesus were "all together in one place" (2:1) the gift of the Holy Spirit alighted upon them giving the ability, among others things, to speak in other languages.  The Word of God, the word about God, was unleashed.  Not only were the tongues of the believers loosened but their faith was strengthened.  Their time of witnessing had truly begun, and it gets off to a roaring start as Peter (the one who had been so afraid that he denied even knowing Jesus) stands up in public and delivers a long address to the men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem (2:14-36).  New converts are won to faith in Jesus Christ, wonders and signs were being done by the apostles, the community of believers begins to share their possessions and take care of each other, and day by day "they spent much time together in the temple" (2:46).

Now all of this was not going on unnoticed, and eventually "priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed" (4:1-2).  They tell the apostles to knock it off.  Stop bothering everyone with your teaching, and especially stop saying that Jesus is the way to resurrection life.  But the more they try to muzzle the apostles the wider the circle becomes of those who believe in Christ.  The old guard of the Temple are not done trying to eradicate this threat to the religious order of the nation, and begin to round up and arrest the apostles, as well as other believers such as Stephen, one of the first seven deacons chosen and consecrated for service to the poor and neglected in the community.

Jerusalem is not an hospitable place, but it is where Jesus said the efforts must begin.  The time will come when the apostles will truly be sent out into the world.  What they are learning from their early experiences will eventually carry them, and the message of God's salvation, far and wide. 

Preaching the Resurrected Christ

Week Four - Day 1

Today's Reading -- Acts 1:1 to Acts 3:26

PLEASE NOTE:  Other concerns kept me from writing today's post in a timely manner.  My comments, therefore, are brief.  I will pick up more of the story tomorrow. 

The Acts of the Apostles is an exciting book of the New Testament.  It continues the story of the Gospels to include Jesus giving last minute instructions to the apostles and then the dramatic ascension of Jesus to heaven.  The big question is: What happens now?  There are organizational details to attend to, such as who will replace Judas Iscariot among the twelve.  When the promised Holy Spirit finally descends upon the apostles all heaven breaks out as Peter and others are emboldened in their proclamation that Jesus is both Lord and Messiah.

The apostles are not intent on separating themselves out from the religious traditions of their community as they continue to engage the daily prayers and life of both synagogue and temple.  What they are preaching, however, is something new to the ears of the people.  It will not be long before the religious leaders in Jerusalem will make their displeasure known.