"Believing is Seeing"
5-25-14 (Easter 6A)
Acts 17:22-31; John 14:15-21
Believing Is Seeing
As we continue to explore the growth and beginnings of the church, we take this week to join the apostle Paul on his missionary journeys as he enters into the city of Athens. Paul has been going from city to city, meeting with Jews and Gentiles alike and proclaiming the gospel. In his journeys, Paul has nearly been killed by crowds who have tried to stone him. He has been thrown in prison. But he continues along, going from one city and town to another and proclaiming the gospel in the synagogues and performing wonders among the people. People have started to hear him and to believe in Jesus Christ. But when Paul comes into Athens, he’s astounded. In the other towns and cities Paul visited, there would be shrines here and there to various gods, certainly. But Athens at the time was quite literally a city full of gods, their shrines and idols. And tucked into the midst of this city of the gods is the synagogue to which Paul is planning to visit. You can almost see Paul’s face as he walks through the streets of Athens and sees so many different idols and shrines to all the different gods - he sees the shrines devoted to Aries, the wine sellers offering bunches of grapes and skins of wine devoted to Bacchus, sheaves of grain to be burnt in prayer to Demeter, trinkets and talismans being peddled to procure the blessings of various deities from Chronos to Nyx. Here and there, there are shrines dedicated to the gods and goddesses of other nations who were a part of the Roman empire. And everyone who passes one altar or another at the very least touches the feet of the god or goddess in passing, paying their respects and giving a bit of worship to each equally as they go about their business. And perhaps most peculiar amongst all the other idols and shrines are these small, nondescript altars that pop up here and there that bear the inscription “to an unknown god.”
I imagine Paul shakes his head as he passes the altar, continuing on his way to the synagogue, where he intends to begin his teaching just the same as he has been doing everywhere he’s been so far in his journeys. But Paul soon discovers that the people in Athens are a little bit different from people in the other places he’s been to - it makes sense, of course, when you consider just how many gods and goddesses get thrown around in this city. As Paul begins his teaching, he’s met with some curiosity, but also with some resistance. The people in the synagogue aren’t just Jews, but also people who follow different schools of philosophy - Epicurians, Stoics, and more. As they listen to him, they’re intrigued, but also a bit skeptic at the same time. They accuse him of babbling, of bringing foreign divinities into Athens by his teaching. They question his spiritual authority itself, and so they decide to bring him out to the Areopagus to bring his teaching to a wider audience and a broader scrutiny, overall. The Areopagus was something of a spiritual “marketplace” of sorts, where the book of Acts tells us people gathered almost strictly for the purpose of talking about the newest concepts and ideas. And once they get Paul up in front of the critics, they ask him to go into further detail about these teachings he proclaims. They ask him if they might hear his new teaching, because he speaks of strange things and they say they wish to know more of what they mean. But there’s something else happening underneath their questions - they’re drawing a line in the sand, looking for Paul to pass an “entry exam” to have his God accepted as a new religion in Athens. According to this test, Paul had to prove three things: First, he had to claim to represent a deity. Then, he had to provide evidence that the deity wanted to live in Athens. Finally, he would have to show that his deity’s living in Athens would somehow benefit Athens in some way as a mark of God’s good will. So they wait, with baited breath, expecting Paul to make his case.
And Paul most certainly does make a case - though not in the way that these academics and philosophers expect. He opens up with a compliment - “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are religious” - but that compliment is a little barbed, as well. When Paul says “religious,” he also means “superstitious,” because he points out that these Athenians are so religious that they’ve even made an altar to “an unknown god” - and yet they accuse him of bringing strange and foreign teachings into Athens and expecting them to give his God an open reception. But Paul continues, making the case for God - not for why God needs Athens or why God can benefit Athens, but by showing that God is greater than Athens, greater than the work of the idols of human hands, greater than any shrine or temple can contain. Paul tells the Athenians that while they all worship gods that they can’t and don’t know except as idols, shrines, and altars, Paul worships a God who he does know through the life and person of Jesus Christ. Paul worships a God that he does know because he experiences God’s sovereignty in all of creation and in his own being - “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, 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.” It’s not that God needs Athens, but that all creation owes its very existence to God and God alone.
Paul went into Athens with a message that was, and still is, counter-intuitive. We look for proof, for the promise that when we do something, it has some inherent benefit to us specifically. I’m not going to want to dedicate myself to something unless I know that it’s worth my time, my effort. If it doesn’t do something for me, then what is the point? But Paul’s speech to the Athenians echoes Jesus’ own teaching to the disciples as he continues his farewell discourse in John: “If you love me, you will follow my commandments.” Jesus does promise us something - eternal life - but he also says in this same section, “I do not give as the world gives.” Jesus asks us to commit ourselves to him, not because he offers us something in return - not even for the gift of eternal life - but because we love him. Because we recognize that in Jesus we are given everything. And in living out that life of love, given freely to God solely because we have already received that same love from God in our own creation, we are able to know the God that we worship in a way that no other god has ever been known.
This is the core of Paul’s message to the Athenians - he tells them that God has always been available to them, able to be known. That God desires to be known by them - that God even placed all peoples and nations in a position that they could come to know God because in their very beings, they had an innate desire to “search for God and perhaps grope for Him and find Him.” Paul doesn’t look down on these Athenians or condescend to them, even though he is somewhat appalled by the prevalence of so many idols and shrines in the city. Instead, he speaks to the God who he knows, to the God he has experienced firsthand, and in whose presence he discovered he had no other desire but to obey with awe and love.
This is the same experience each of us is offered, as well - to encounter God in Jesus Christ, and in meeting with Christ face-to-face in the power of the Spirit, to know, love, and obey him with all of our hearts. We gather in this place, not to worship some unknown, distant, and unapproachable god of our own creation, but to worship a God that we do know, that we have experienced and that we can follow with confidence, knowing that we are never left to our own devices, but constantly under the guidance and care of God through the Holy Spirit. And as we go out under that guidance, we know that we can proclaim with that same confidence the God that we do know to all the world, praying that they may come to know that God as closely and intimately as we have come to know God in Jesus Christ, to whom be all glory, now and forevermore. Amen.
Acts 17:22-31; John 14:15-21
Believing Is Seeing
As we continue to explore the growth and beginnings of the church, we take this week to join the apostle Paul on his missionary journeys as he enters into the city of Athens. Paul has been going from city to city, meeting with Jews and Gentiles alike and proclaiming the gospel. In his journeys, Paul has nearly been killed by crowds who have tried to stone him. He has been thrown in prison. But he continues along, going from one city and town to another and proclaiming the gospel in the synagogues and performing wonders among the people. People have started to hear him and to believe in Jesus Christ. But when Paul comes into Athens, he’s astounded. In the other towns and cities Paul visited, there would be shrines here and there to various gods, certainly. But Athens at the time was quite literally a city full of gods, their shrines and idols. And tucked into the midst of this city of the gods is the synagogue to which Paul is planning to visit. You can almost see Paul’s face as he walks through the streets of Athens and sees so many different idols and shrines to all the different gods - he sees the shrines devoted to Aries, the wine sellers offering bunches of grapes and skins of wine devoted to Bacchus, sheaves of grain to be burnt in prayer to Demeter, trinkets and talismans being peddled to procure the blessings of various deities from Chronos to Nyx. Here and there, there are shrines dedicated to the gods and goddesses of other nations who were a part of the Roman empire. And everyone who passes one altar or another at the very least touches the feet of the god or goddess in passing, paying their respects and giving a bit of worship to each equally as they go about their business. And perhaps most peculiar amongst all the other idols and shrines are these small, nondescript altars that pop up here and there that bear the inscription “to an unknown god.”
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| Altar to an unknown god. Photo Credit: Eve Anderson |
And Paul most certainly does make a case - though not in the way that these academics and philosophers expect. He opens up with a compliment - “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are religious” - but that compliment is a little barbed, as well. When Paul says “religious,” he also means “superstitious,” because he points out that these Athenians are so religious that they’ve even made an altar to “an unknown god” - and yet they accuse him of bringing strange and foreign teachings into Athens and expecting them to give his God an open reception. But Paul continues, making the case for God - not for why God needs Athens or why God can benefit Athens, but by showing that God is greater than Athens, greater than the work of the idols of human hands, greater than any shrine or temple can contain. Paul tells the Athenians that while they all worship gods that they can’t and don’t know except as idols, shrines, and altars, Paul worships a God who he does know through the life and person of Jesus Christ. Paul worships a God that he does know because he experiences God’s sovereignty in all of creation and in his own being - “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, 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.” It’s not that God needs Athens, but that all creation owes its very existence to God and God alone.
Paul went into Athens with a message that was, and still is, counter-intuitive. We look for proof, for the promise that when we do something, it has some inherent benefit to us specifically. I’m not going to want to dedicate myself to something unless I know that it’s worth my time, my effort. If it doesn’t do something for me, then what is the point? But Paul’s speech to the Athenians echoes Jesus’ own teaching to the disciples as he continues his farewell discourse in John: “If you love me, you will follow my commandments.” Jesus does promise us something - eternal life - but he also says in this same section, “I do not give as the world gives.” Jesus asks us to commit ourselves to him, not because he offers us something in return - not even for the gift of eternal life - but because we love him. Because we recognize that in Jesus we are given everything. And in living out that life of love, given freely to God solely because we have already received that same love from God in our own creation, we are able to know the God that we worship in a way that no other god has ever been known.
This is the core of Paul’s message to the Athenians - he tells them that God has always been available to them, able to be known. That God desires to be known by them - that God even placed all peoples and nations in a position that they could come to know God because in their very beings, they had an innate desire to “search for God and perhaps grope for Him and find Him.” Paul doesn’t look down on these Athenians or condescend to them, even though he is somewhat appalled by the prevalence of so many idols and shrines in the city. Instead, he speaks to the God who he knows, to the God he has experienced firsthand, and in whose presence he discovered he had no other desire but to obey with awe and love.
This is the same experience each of us is offered, as well - to encounter God in Jesus Christ, and in meeting with Christ face-to-face in the power of the Spirit, to know, love, and obey him with all of our hearts. We gather in this place, not to worship some unknown, distant, and unapproachable god of our own creation, but to worship a God that we do know, that we have experienced and that we can follow with confidence, knowing that we are never left to our own devices, but constantly under the guidance and care of God through the Holy Spirit. And as we go out under that guidance, we know that we can proclaim with that same confidence the God that we do know to all the world, praying that they may come to know that God as closely and intimately as we have come to know God in Jesus Christ, to whom be all glory, now and forevermore. Amen.
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