Word to the Wise
Wednesday, May 20, 2020 - 6th Week of Easter - Wed
[Acts 17:15, 22-18:1 and John 16:12-15]"You Athenians, I see that is every respect you are very religious. For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, 'To an Unknown God.' What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you." [Acts]
I urge the Beloved Congregation to read the passage from Acts featured in today's first scripture, but to begin with 17:16 and read the whole thing to 18:1. The lectionary has unfortunately deleted all the preliminaries to Paul's wonderful speech. It begins with Paul having time on his hands while waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens: While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he grew exasperated at the sight of the city full of idols. So he debated in the synagogue with the Jews and with the worshipers, and daily in the public square with whoever happened to be there.... Eventually he was invited to the "areopagus" - a public debating forum, to speak: For you bring some strange notions to our ears; we should like to know what these things mean. Now all the Athenians as well as the foreigners residing there used their time for nothing else but telling or hearing something new."
I cannot help but wonder if that is our situation today. Has Christianity become just one among many idols in a "pantheon" of religious beliefs? Does what we preach consist of "strange notions" to our own secular Athens? What could be encouraging in this scene is the fact that what we do preach could be very attractive, but unless we are willing to proclaim it, we will more and more become just one more "religion" to be included in the altar to an Unknown God.
Paul's speech is a masterpiece of persuasion. St. Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, would have been familiar with the rhetorical conventions of the day and may have polished Paul's presentation a bit! The last lines of the chapter are important: When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, "We should like to hear you on this some other time." And so Paul left them. But some did join him. Courageous preaching has an impact. Perhaps by reading the entire chapter we can be en-couraged to do the same. AMEN