A Tale of Paul in Athens

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A Tale of Paul in Athens

Where we’ve been:

Acts chapter 2 - Pentecost - in JERUSALEM - the Church is born and it is

Acts chapter 9 - A Tale of Two Conversions - (on the road to and then in) DAMASCUS

Acts chapter 16 - A Tale of Two Women and a Jailer - in PHILIPPI

And then just before our reading today, Paul and Silas travel to Thessalonica and Berea. In both places, they would start at the Jewish synagogues and proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah who, in the prophets had been written about. They encountered some openness to the good news of Jesus, but also some pretty fierce opposition.

When things get heated in Berea, they took Paul to Athens for safety, and returned with instructions for Silas & Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

We pick up the reading there…

Will you please stand for the reading...

Reading:

Acts 17:16–34 (NIV)

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Have you ever been asked to “explain the gospel” to someone? What IS the good news of Jesus?

If I were to pass you the mic right now (don’t worry, I’m not really going to do it) and say, “What is the gospel?” How would you answer?

Possible answers might sound like:

Jesus is Lord (and not Caesar…or anyone else).

"Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.”

John 3:16

Romans Road - sin chasm and Jesus helps us get across

Or the Story I keep telling which is God the CREATOR, who even after humanity’s fall made a COVENANT and remained faithful to that covenant even when we couldn’t. The covenant was fulfilled in Jesus - whose birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension mean that God the CREATOR invites humanity into the Triune life through the Holy Spirit who indwells and animates us as the body of Christ until Jesus returns to make everything new.

But, if you were listening just now as we read Acts 17 - where Paul announces the good news of Jesus to the people of Athens, it didn’t sound exactly like any of those, did it?

When Paul arrives in Athens, two things happen. He notices all the idols. And he does what he always does when he arrives in a new city… he looks for the synagogue. For the gathering of Jews and God-fearers. People who are steeped in the Story of Israel, in the Story of God’s people. And in that context, Paul turns to the scriptures he knows so well as a Jew and as a Pharisee, and now, as Jesus follower, he demonstrates from the Jewish scriptures how Jesus is the Messiah those texts speak of. And how the suffering described there is exactly what Jesus did in his crucifixion. Here, this Jesus follower explains to Jews who are far from Jerusalem and to Gentiles that God is in Jesus issuing them an invitation.

So, in one way, Paul in Athens is business as usual.

But in another way, Athens is a whole new ballgame.

history, culture, poetry, philosophy

Rome is the new centre of political power. But Athens is still the cultural and intellectual centre. And the Roman ways and the Greek ways are interconnected and overlapping - hence we speak now about Greco-Roman things.

One “new thing” in Athens is the curiosity of the Athenians. Acts 17:19-20

Acts 17:19–20 (NIV)

19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”

The second new thing in Athens is Paul’s response. He starts with what they have in common.

We see Paul then take this opportunity. But perhaps we are surprised by what Paul says when he’s given this opening … or maybe you’re not.

Paul notices aloud what he has seen in Athens. You are very religious. (And this is not a slight. This is a compliment.)

And then he names what he has seen…and finds a connection there. This unknown god… let me tell you about this unknown god so that you will know this deity.

He doesn’t start with covenants and prophets as he would have in the synagogue.

He starts with what they have in common. We both care about the divine. We both are intentional and thorough in our worship. We both believe in a Creator.

But let me tell you about when that Creator become Incarnate. Let me point you to Jesus. But let me also remind you that this same God has always DESIRED that all people would seek and find and reach out… and this God is not far off.

Wow.

So Paul is met by the curiosity of the Athenians. And Paul responds by starting with common ground. But the third new thing is that Paul feels what God feels for these people.

Paul sees all these idols in Athens. And his response is perhaps not what we expect. What do you think the first response to all this idolatry should be? Judgement? A call to repentance?

Paul’s response - because of what Spirit has done and is doing in his life - is to feel the desire of God for these people. These ones who are “other” to Paul and whose practices he has likely been trained to loathe… as Willie James Jennings writes:

“God wants the Gentiles. God desires those who desire idols. This is the truth that shapes these words. Here we witness a rhetoric of desire. This speech is driven by the irrepressible longing of God to embrace wayward creatures by every means possible.”

When God sees the Athenians, which includes seeing all the idolatry, God desires to embrace them… and to use whatever and whoever is willing to be part of inviting them to embrace the object of worship that is actually worthy of their allegiance.

JAMIE SMITH - You are what you love?

And so, what about us.

When we encounter someone or a whole group of people, what do we notice first?

Do we listen long enough to hear their invitations? To notice their curiosity?

And then, if we are invited to speak, do we begin with what we have in common? Are we even aware of what we hold in common? (This will require humility and a posture of curiosity!) Or, do we start with what we have noticed is wrong. “Here’s the problem,” we might begin.

Are we willing to feel what God feels? How would we even go about discovering what it is God feels towards us or anyone else for that matter?

(hint: scripture is a great start… and right from the beginning, God has been asking wayward children, “Where are you?” like in the Garden of Eden. The first question was a question. And it wasn’t “What have you done?!?”)

As we encounter the people in our lives, what do we notice?

What do we hear? Or are we even listening? Noticing? Paying attention?

Do we see what we hold in common? Or are we just looking for an opening? Not really hearing or noticing or listening, just looking for a way to jam our message in there?

And what might God be feeling? Are we willing to be people who would be open to feeling God’s desires? To feeling what God feels, rather than taking over as judge? Jesus is the only one worthy to sit in that seat, and is the only one we want in that place. Paul, who just chapters ago supported the stoning of Stephen now shows us the transformation that is taking place - honouring (and reciprocating) curiosity, finding common ground, and yielding to the Spirit of God who is speaking a new word to those that God desires to embrace.

May the Spirit do that in me, in you, in us…

Let’s pray.