5 Minute Bible

Street conversation photo by Ed Yourdon

In the legal manouvreing at the start of this reading Paul quotes Isaiah:

“Listen and listen but not understand
look and look but not see!”

But if the Bible is perspicuous (listen to The Perspicuity of Scripture) so is creation: we can’t miss evidence of God, but sometimes we don’t want to hear…

And what a frustrating ending! How does Paul’s story end? Luke presumably knew if Acts was written about AD 70 because these events had happened some 8 years earlier. But Acts is not Paul’s story! Acts 1:8 as program for the book:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.“
The book is over, go into the world in peace

They have witnessed to great effect in Jerusalem, beyond in the Jewish world, and beyond that to the heart of the empire the ends of the earth are just a matter of time… the story of Acts is over – whatever happened to Paul. Once again the Bible is not about US (human beings) it’s about God and the divine plan for the world. The story is over, before Paul reached Rome there were Christians there. The story is still not over we are still writing it as we witness to Christ wherever we are from one end of the earth to the other. Acts is a book of witnesses empowered by the Spirit are you one of its still being written heroes?

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The rocky hill west of Acropolis rises 115 meters above the city. (Photo by Ken Russell Salvador)

These five chapters describe Paul’s second and third missionary journeys, amid many trips covering between them about a decade there are lots of exciting stories. The approach Paul took in Athens is of particular interest, it’s a very early example of Christianity not merely translating but contextualising – expressing the message not only in the words but also the culture of another people. Paul use elements of Athenian culture – even their “unknown god” – despitebeing “deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols” Paul does not apply the knee jerk Jewish response (fun though it is) to idol worship. Rather he notices that his audience likes new ideas, and he plays on this tailoring his speech to philosophers. Then because after philosophy Greeks loved poetry he quotes a couple of their poets.

The other striking thing about this story, in its succession of different towns and cities, is the response. The preaching of Paul and the others elicits two strong and opposite reactions many convert and join the followers of Jesus but powerful people and leaders are more likely to seek to silence the message. This is strikingly different from churches in the West today. Our preaching is addressed most of the time to insiders, who are the rich and powerful (or at least the pretty comfortable). So churches in the West are shrinking (or at best hardly growing or growing slower than the population) and Christian preaching tends to use a Christian language and words others no longer understand. Or worse we talk about things that don’t interest them!

Paul talked about what interested his hearers, in ways they were familiar with, and the churches grew explosively
and mainly among the poor and exploited – because they knew they needed the sort of God Paul preaches!

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AbunaPaulos.jpg Abuna Paulos at the Timqet Celebration January 2005 (Photo from Jhaustein, Wikipedia)

This week’s readings tell the exciting story of how the Church broke loose. Till this time faith and culture had been intimately related. So if you wanted to convert to Judaism you became Jewish and adopted the rules and customs of Jewish life. In particular you adopted the 613 rules of the Torah.

The first two readings tell of Saul’s conversion and (the now renamed) Paul’s first missionary journey and the conversion of Jews and Gentiles.

Then Acts 15 tells of the revolutionary Council of Jerusalem and the dramatic decision it took.

The last two readings tell of a decade of Paul’s preaching around the Eastern end of the Mediterranean and his journey in captivity to Rome.

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There are a couple of things to notice here:

• firstly how Luke stresses the role of the Holy Spirit (or rather, God, since at the start it is “an angel of the Lord”)
• it may have been a desert/wilderness road but like Abraham in Gen 12 “he got up and went” our response to such promptings is often more cautious, even at times Jonah-like
• the Ethiopian official was prepared (been to temple, so God-fearer, reading Scripture – measure of his importance he had a copy)
• Isaiah again!

Like Yancey’s friend (see Reading prophets for pleasure and profit) he recognised what he was reading was difficult.

Do you understand… ” “How can I, unless someone guides me?”

The passage he was reading came from Is 53:7-8. Philip started with this scripture, and proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. Christianity fits with, but goes beyond – fully fills – the Scripture that preceded it.

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