Extraordinary Women: Thecla

This week we discover a saint who was one of the earliest women to be a Christian. Thecla is called ‘apostle and proto-martyr among women’ by the Episcopal lectionary, and by the Orthodox Church. Her feast is September 23.

Who was Thecla? Her story is found in the apocryphal book of the Acts of Paul and Thecla (c pre-190 CE). Versions have been found in Greek, Coptic, Armenian, and even Ethiopic translations. PBS Frontline has an English translation from the early 18^th Century, if you want to read it. Tertullian (a 2nd century Christian theologian) mentions the work, claiming it was a fabrication and not fact. He opposed its use, and was especially opposed to the idea of a woman preaching and baptizing.

The story of Thecla is similar to many other female Christian martyrs. (Her designation as proto-martyr indicates she is considered the earliest of these martyrs.) She was a young noblewoman from Iconium who heard Paul preach. She decided to embrace virginity and refused to marry her fiancé, Thamyris. Sentenced to be burned at the stake, the flames are extinguished by a storm and she joins Paul in his travels. At Antioch of Pisidia, she is attacked by a nobleman who tries to rape her. Thecla is put on trial for assault (!) and sentenced to being eaten by wild beasts. She is saved when the lionesses protect her from the male lions.

Thecla again joined Paul and at his urging preached the Gospel. She encouraged woman to live a life of chastity and faithfulness to God. Thecla eventually settled in a cave in Seleucia Cilicia for 72 years as healer. Women who wanted to emulate Thecla, especially in her empowerment of women to preach and baptize, emerged in Asia Minor and Egypt. These women lived as virgins or in monasteries, sometimes traveling together to tell the story of Thecla. They built a community that offered empowerment to women at a time when that was not the norm.

Even though she faced much opposition to her work, Thecla persevered. The Collect for her day says, “God of liberating power, you raised up your apostle Thecla, who allowed no obstacle or peril to inhibit her from bearing witness to new life in Jesus Christ: Empower courageous evangelists among us, that men and women everywhere may experience the freedom you offer; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

Sometimes we think that what we have to offer isn’t important to God or to the Kingdom. Thecla’s courage shows us that we can make a difference, in small and large ways. She was able to witness to God’s saving grace, in physical and spiritual ways, throughout her life. Her example inspired and empowered women to be strong and independent even after her death.

Does the story of Thecla have anything to teach 21^st Century women?
How are you called to witness to God’s love and faithfulness?

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=323
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thecla
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Paul_and_Thecla

Advent 3-Friday-Grace and Mercy

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen

All week we have been looking at the Collect (prayer) for the Third Sunday of Advent. We have been thinking about how the great might and power of God very often change the direction of our lives. This can be in big ways, or in small.

Paul was another person in the Bible whose life was radically changed when he encountered the grace and mercy of God. In the First Letter to Timothy he recounts, “even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” (1 Timothy 1:13-15)

Our past doesn’t matter to God. It is our present actions that God can work in and through. As the picture today reminds us, “your sins are forgiven”. Every moment of every day we are forgiven for those things ‘done and left undone’ (as another prayer says). Because of that we can move forward in joy to greet the coming Lord of All.

Do you remember that you are forgiven, or do you think there are some things that God just cannot forgive? Remember-God forgives EVERY thing when we repent.

Lent I, Psalm 34: Adoration

Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. We are reminded of our mortality in the words “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” The words look back to Genesis 2:7 “then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” During the 40 days of Lent, we hope to turn our hearts more fully toward the will of God. That may take the form of ‘giving up’ something or ‘taking on’ a new discipline. Sometimes Lent becomes a marathon of trying to make ourselves ‘holy’. By Easter we are tired, and maybe guilty, if we haven’t kept up with our grand resolutions to improve our faith lives.

During Lent, we’ll be looking at Psalm 34 as one way to move from Ash Wednesday to Easter. In Hebrew Psalm 34 is an acrostic (but I haven’t been able to find out what the Hebrew letters would spell). It is also noted as being a Psalm for deliverance “of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.”(If you look in 1 Samuel 21:10-22:1 you’ll see that the king’s name was Achish. Abimelech, according to commentators, seems to be a royal title, like king or prince, used by Philistine royalty.)

We’ll look at the Psalm in sections, because I see a pattern in the psalm similar to the ACTS prayer. Come along on this exploration and see if you agree that you could identify verses of the prayer as Adoration-Confession-Thanksgiving-(Intercesssion)-Supplication.

We start out with verses 1-3. Keeping in mind that David is fleeing for his life both from Saul and perhaps from danger in the Philistine court, it is interesting that the Psalm opens with words of Adoration. David says:

¹ I will bless the Lord at all times;
   his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
² My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
   let the humble hear and be glad.
³ O magnify the Lord with me,
   and let us exalt his name together.

How much easier would it have been to start ranting at God? I probably would have been saying, “Why me? I never asked for any of this. I was happy as a shepherd in Bethlehem. Now I’m an exile and cannot even go home!” Or maybe blaming God…”It’s all Your fault. If Samuel hadn’t come and poured that oil on me, I’d still be happy at home with my parents, a wife, and babies. Now I’m running for my life, like a dog.”

David, though, starts out with words of Adoration, praise and blessing. He calls us to “exalt His name together.”

Lent isn’t necessarily a time when we think of Adoration. That’s kind of a Christmas feeling, isn’t it? “Come let us Adore Him, Christ the Lord.” It’s easy to adore when there’s a sweet, ‘adorable’ infant. It’s a little harder when things go wrong. In Lent, we look down the road to Jerusalem. Jesus knew where he was going and what awaited, but he ‘set his face to Jerusalem’ (Luke 9:51). Let us, then, with our Lord look toward the difficulties in our lives by turning to God in Adoration.

Paul reminds us in Romans 8:31-39: “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  

Because we have God on our side, we can say with David, “his praise shall continually be in my mouth”. Let’s start our Lent journey with Adoration!

Next week, we will consider what part Confession plays in our journey and in David’s psalm.  

Out of Control and Letting Go

Since mid-August this blog has been looking at why “Letting Go and Letting God” is both so hard and so necessary. We reach a point when we cannot go any further in our own strength. Like Joseph and Abigail, in the Bible, we find ourselves at loose ends because everything is unraveling. However, an unraveled place in life can be a perfect place for God to start something new. At other times we feel like we’ve reached the end of our rope. Despite advice to hang on, we must eventually let go. When that happens, we fall into the arms of the Living and Loving God.

Letting go and falling into God’s arms means we are no longer ‘in control’ of our life. That can be pretty scary. Most of us like to maintain the illusion that we are ‘perfectly fine’ and ‘in control’. God doesn’t work that way, though. When our lives are neatly ordered and we are certain that we know the way the road is going, is often the time that something happens and we find that our lives are ‘out of control’. That happened to Esther in the Old Testament and Paul in the New Testament.

A lot of us learned about Esther in Sunday School. She was a young Jewish girl in Babylon/Persia (during the time when the Jews were in exile in that country). King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) becomes angry with Queen Vashti and on the advice of his counselors gathers all the young women in the area to choose a new queen. Esther was one of them-and her world is turned upside down when she wins the contest and “he made her queen instead of Vashti.” All is going well…until…Haman, one of the kings advisors decides to eradicate all the Jews in Persia. Esther’s uncle, Mordecai, tells her she must intercede with the king to save her people. He tells her “who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14) She has to let go of control of her life in order to save her people.

Paul, also known as Saul, had his life neatly in order, too. He was, as he claims in his letter to the Philippians, “circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6) Paul was the perfect Jew and well respected by his peers. Then God steps in and his neatly ordered life is no longer neat or ordered.

Esther and Paul both encountered events in their lives that left them feeling out of control. Esther says, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16-17) In her time of fasting and prayer, Esther finds the courage to take her life into her hands and go to the king. She also finds wisdom in how to deal with the threat to the Jews. (Read the rest of Esther to see how she does it.)

Paul, after his conversion, was blind until Ananias came and prayed for him, “Then he rose and was baptized, and took food and was strengthened.” (Acts 9:18-19) Later in the letter to the Philippians, Paul notes, “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.” (Philippians 3:8-11)

Both Esther and Paul discovered what other saints of the faith throughout the ages have learned. They realized that only in Letting Go of control could God really work. They had to be broken in order to allow the Grace of God to shine through.

I recently read a blog post that said in part “I wish I could learn the hard lessons in life without slamming into a wall at 100 mph…but perhaps slamming into a wall shatters the false perfection. Then and only then can God show us the colors and beauty of the pieces of our broken selves…then and only then can God piece them into resurrection.” (I wish I could find the site for you, but I was jumping from blog to blog and it jumped out at me and I copied parts of it into a Word doc without the name of the blog.)

Esther and Paul and many of us have slammed into a wall, or fallen off a cliff, at least once, and discovered that God is there to pick up the pieces and make something even more beautiful out of them.

So, I tell myself, don’t be afraid when life is out of control. God brought beauty to Esther’s life and her courage saved the Jewish people. Paul’s world as a up-and-coming Jewish rabbi was changed into a world traveling evangelist for Jesus Christ. From them we can learn that God is fully in control and can make beauty out of what the blogger called a ‘beautiful mess’.

Paul told the Philippians, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:11) God shines through our brokenness, but the light cannot shine if we are busy holding onto control instead of letting God act.
One way we try to hold onto control is by proving that we can keep all the 'balls in the air'. We'll look at a couple Bible people who worked hard at juggling all their balls next time.

Thanks in all things

We are in the time between Christmas and Lent, sometimes called 'ordinary time,' because there aren't any great big church feasts. We are looking and praying through 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 and the similar citation from Philippians 4:4-9. The Apostle Paul gives the churches at Thessalonica and Philippi directions for living a holy life. You can download them here for easy reference.

This week we come to the third of Paul’s instructions: “give thanks in all circumstances”. Like “rejoice always” and “pray without ceasing”, this doesn’t seem like an easy thing to do. How can we be thankful when bad things happen?

Another author notes that Paul says to “give thanks IN all circumstances” not FOR all circumstances. The letter to the Philippians makes it even clearer. “IN everything, by prayer and petition, WITH THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God.” Prayer, rejoicing, and thanksgiving all work together to give us confidence that “all things work for God for those who love God” (Romans 8:28)

However, when disaster strikes or the diagnosis comes back with bad news, it is difficult to “give thanks”. Yet, if we can look for God within the situation, it transforms both you and the situation. God is greater than anything we face. Time and again we see stories on the news about men and women triumphing over their situation or sickness because of their thankful attitude.

Psalm 56 is a recitation of a faithful person who, although he is beset by enemies, can say “I put my trust in thee.” Verse 8 says “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” God does not forget our sorrows, but because we are love, God transforms them so that we can say “God is for me.” (Ps. 56:9b)

Pollyanna, in the 1913 book of the same name (and assorted subsequent movies), makes it a game to find things to be thankful for. She calls it the “Glad Game” and looks for something to be thankful about in each situation. It is the same with the disasters in life, we can still find something, however small, to be thankful for!

An old hymn reminds us of one way to move past the seeming disasters of life.

When upon life's billows

You are tempest tossed;

When you are discouraged,

Thinking all is lost;

Count your many blessings,

Name them one by one

And it will surprise you

What the Lord has done.

An exercise that can help is to start a “Thankfulness Diary.” Each day write down one, two, three, or more things you were thankful for through the day. Sometimes if your day is really tough, it can be hard to remember the good things from the morning. Another idea is to take a pad of sticky notes with you throughout the day and jot down the things that you are thankful for as the day goes along. Maybe it’s a parking space when you need it. Maybe you got a nice phone call or an unexpected message from a friend. Perhaps just seeing a beautiful scene is enough to make you give thanks.  

Paul says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.” Next week, we will see that the result of the Joy, Prayer, and Thanksgiving is Peace.

At Last to Rome

In last week’s post we met Hermanus, warden and centurion in charge of Paul during his imprisonment in Caesarea and on the journey to Rome. He has been telling his wife, Portia, of the events leading to his return to Rome. (Acts 27-28) Today he concludes with the story of the journey to Rome.

Portia, I have to tell you I wasn’t sure that we would ever make it back to Rome. The seas were against us, it seemed. Paul was in my charge, but we were all under the command of Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Cohort. We set sail from Caesarea, planning to sail along the coast of Asia, but the winds kept us to the east of Cyprus. Finally we came to Myra. It is a town on the coast of Asia in the district of Lycia. It faces the western sea 100 miles from the island of Rhodes.


I have to admit I was glad to get on dry land for a time in Myra. The waves had been hard on my digestion. Julius found another ship for us. It was from Alexandria bound for Italy. We headed north and after too many days we arrived at Cnidus, only 100 miles up the coast from Myra. Then we sailed toward Crete fighting the wind all the way. Eventually, when I was sure all was lost, we rounded the tip of the island at Salmone and worked our way down the coast of Crete to Fair Havens. It seemed like a good place to stay. Even Paul urged that we go no further.


Later, I knew he was a prophet as well as a man of God. At the time I just wanted to stay on dry land. Paul told us, “Sirs, I can see that the voyage will be with danger and much heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”


You ask why we didn’t stay at Fair Havens. The ship’s captain and owner were convinced we would do better to head for Phoenix which had a safe winter harbor. It was only 25 or 30 miles they insisted. When a moderate wind from the south came up, we set out only to be struck by something the sailors called a northeaster with winds roaring across Crete. We were driven by the wind to a small island called Cauda, but we could not linger there because of the wind which drove us ahead of it into the open sea.


It was awful. The second day the sailors threw cargo into the sea and the next day they threw over the extra sails and ropes and other tackle. The storm was so violent that we could not see the sun during the day or the moon at night. I was sure we would all be drowned. My thoughts turned to you here in Rome.


Paul was the only one who seemed calm in the midst of the storm. After many days, he called us all together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss. I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.” We all stared at him, a couple of the sailors grumbled and took a step toward the man. He ignored their threat and continued, “For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.” So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we will have to run aground on some island.”


I wanted to ask him how he could believe such things in the midst of the terrifying storm, but something about his calm demeanor kept me silent. It was only fourteen days after we set sail, although it seemed like a decade, when the sailors thought we were close to land. They took soundings for depth and discovered it was becoming more and more shallow. The men let out the anchors. We all waited for day. Some of the sailors thought they would escape in a small boat. Paul told me and Julius “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” Immediately I cut the ropes and the boat fell into the sea. I watched it sink beneath the waves with a mixture of awe and fear.


Paul was not done encouraging us though. Before dawn he stood up with a loaf of bread. “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense and eaten nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive; for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.” We stared at him in amazement as he prayed and tore off a piece of the bread. For some reason his simple act of eating encouraged us all and we all took some food. Then we threw the last of the cargo of wheat into the sea to make the ship light enough to make it over the rocks.


Do not cling to me, Portia. You can see that I survived. It was fearsome, though. Even lightened, the ship struck a reef and broke into pieces. The soldiers were going to kill all the prisoners, but Julius and I prevented them, mostly because we did not want to harm Paul. “Swim for shore or grab a plank and paddle to shore,” Julius ordered. That is what we did.


A welcoming party of the natives built a fire on the shore so we could dry ourselves. We learned that we landed on Malta. The residents were amazed when a viper crawled out of the wood and bit Paul. We all waited for him to die, but nothing happened. I heard them murmuring that he must be a god come to visit.


We were treated grandly and welcomed by Publius, the island’s ruler. We stayed with him for three days. When Paul heard that Publius’ father was ill, he quietly went in and prayed over the old man. He was healed! Word spread across the island and everyone who was ill came to be cured. We remained on Malta for three months until it was safe to sail. The people of the island supplied all the provisions we needed.


The ship we boarded was also from Alexandria. After a stop at Syracuse on Sicily, we landed at Rhegium on the tip of Italy. A south wind took us to Puteoli. I was amazed when a group of men met us and asked to see Paul. “We are Believers in the Way,” they said. “Please allow Paul to visit and encourage us.”

I was interested to see what would happen when Paul met these strangers who professed to believe in the same Jesus Christ he preached. We stayed for a week before traveling overland the last 100 miles to Rome. New believers met us as we neared the city. Each new group seemed to inspire Paul with more and more courage. “The word of the Lord is alive and well, here!” I heard him tell his companion and physician Lucius.


How long will Paul be here in Rome? I don’t really know. He must wait on the Emperor’s pleasure, I suppose. You know he called together the Jewish leaders here already and tried to explain his faith to them. Some of them were interested, but you heard the loud and angry discussion. Perhaps Paul was right when he told them, “Let it be known to you then that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”


What do I believe about this Paul and his God? I think that I have a lot to learn from him. His God has a power I have not seen anywhere else. I am blessed for having known him and I hope he will live with us for a long time.

Paul’s impact on Hermanus and others he met on his journey to Rome was led by the Holy Spirit. He encouraged the soldiers who kept him under guard and the sailors whose courage had failed in the face of the violent storm. Paul healed even the strangers who came to him on Malta. In turn he was encouraged by the belief of those Christians who met him on the road to Rome. We can do nothing alone, but in community with other Christians we are built up and build up one another’s faith.

The Book of Acts ends with Paul in prison where he “lived for two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” (Acts 28:30-31)

Paul continued to preach and teach even in bondage. In his 2nd Letter to the Corinthians, written before his imprisonment in Rome, Paul enumerates many of his trials, none of which make him forget his faith in God. “Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.” (2 Corinthians 11:24-28) He is able to say “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) Later he says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7)

We have the promise of the same grace and faith no matter what our circumstances. Paul and the others in the book of Acts can provide inspiration by their actions in the face of all sorts of dangers.

Next week, Advent I, I'll start a new blog series about "Accepting God's Call" by looking at players in the Nativity drama.

Testimony from Prison

We are nearing the end of our journey through the Book of Acts. The early chapters helped us see the lives of the disciples after the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost. Men who cowered in the upper room, fearful of arrest, now spoke boldly in the streets and in the Temple. Thousands were converted and believed the Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah. This angered the Jewish leaders. Starting with Stephen, many were martyred. Rather than stopping the new ‘sect’ the persecution had the effect of spreading the word across the Roman Empire. Much of that missionary work was accomplished by Saul of Tarsus or Paul as he is better known. He was originally a rabid persecutor of the Believers, and even studied under the famous rabbi Gamaliel (right), but was converted himself by an appearance by the Risen Lord.

Over the past few weeks and months we have seen Paul attempt to convert the Jews in various cities of the Empire. Every time there is resistance and he then preaches to the Gentile community with dramatic results. After 3 missionary journeys from Asia Minor to Greece, Paul returns to Jerusalem where he is arrested. In order to save him from an assassination plot, the tribune Claudius Lysias sends him to Antonius Felix, the Roman Governor in Caesarea. Here is what happens, as told by Hermanus, (fictitious) warden of the prison, to his wife Portia when he returned to Rome. (Acts 24-26)

Jews came to Caesarea after five to press charges against a Roman Jew sent to us by Claudius Lysias, tribune in Jerusalem. I have never seen a worse miscarriage of justice. The Jews brought with them Tertullus, a lawyer versed in the laws of Rome and Caesar. He was, I must say, quite an oily character. His first words were meant to sway Governor Felix to assent to the Jews’ demands.


What did he say, you ask? “Your Excellency, because of you we have long enjoyed peace, and reforms have been made for this people because of your foresight. We welcome this in every way and everywhere with utmost gratitude. But, to detain you no further, I beg you to hear us briefly with your customary graciousness.”


It was not just his words. His endless bowing and nodding and smirking that made me think of a serpent. I wondered if he had already offered the governor a bribe in order to appear in the court. Then he went on to claim that Paul, my prisoner, who I have found to be a model of courtesy and politeness, was an agitator and ringleader of some obscure sect. All the other priests immediately started shouting that he profaned their temple, too. I could see that the governor was disturbed by the uproar they created. Tertullus saw it and quieted the Jews.


After everyone was quiet, our governor turned to the prisoner and gestured for him to make his response. I have to admit that the man was a good speaker. He too started by acknowledging that the governor has been in charge for many years.


His demeanor? There was not the least bit of fear. In fact, he addressed the governor as an equal. Paul said, “As you can find out, it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.” He insisted he did nothing to disturb the peace of the city and would only admit one thing. It was a rather odd confession. He lifted his chin and announced, ‘According to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors, believing everything laid down according to the law or written in the prophets. I have a hope in God—a hope that they themselves also accept—that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. Therefore I do my best always to have a clear conscience towards God and all people.”


I saw the governor looked at Tertullus and the priests when Paul said that. My prisoner finished his defense by repeating that he was doing a rite of purification in the temple when arrested. At the end he offered a challenge, “Let these men here tell what crime they had found when I stood before the council.”


After that the governor adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.” Paul was remanded to my custody but he had some freedom including visits from friends. Days passed and Lysias did not come. I wondered if the governor even sent for him. It was not unknown for men to be kept in prison until a nice sum of money was paid to the governor, even without a trial.


Once the governor and his wife Drucilla had me bring Paul to their chamber. I listened at the door while the man talked about the man Jesus who he claimed had been crucified, yet rose from the dead. A rather preposterous idea, I thought at the time. Some of the other things Paul said were interesting, though. He talked about justice for all people and self control. When he started to warn of coming judgment, the governor sent for me to take him back to the prison.


Once or twice more he had me bring Paul to him. I think he was hoping that the Jew would give him a bribe to be freed. I guess Paul was the only one in the country who did not understand that part of the governor’s justice. This went on for two years, until Antonius Felix was recalled to Rome. Pocius Festus was the new governor, appointed by Emperor Nero.


What was Governor Festus like? He was a diligent leader and he had much to do. Discontent was rampant throughout Palestine. In fact only three days after he arrived at Caesarea, he traveled to Jerusalem to meet with the Jewish leaders. I hear they tried to convince him to bring Paul to Jerusalem so they could ambush him on the way, but the governor was not fooled. He ordered them to come to Caesarea and plead their case again.


In fact the Jews returned to Caesarea with the governor and almost immediately Paul was summoned before the tribunal. It was a raucous scene with the Jews shouting wild accusations. I saw the governor frown, but I sensed he wanted to build a rapport with the temple leaders. Even though Paul stated, “I have in no way committed an offence against the law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against the emperor,” Governor Festus asked if he would go to Jerusalem to be tried.


Then Paul did something that shocked everyone present. “I am appealing to the emperor’s tribunal,” he said. “This is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you very well know. Now if I am in the wrong and have committed something for which I deserve to die, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can turn me over to them. I appeal to the emperor.”


Of course after that, there was no further trial. The governor replied, “You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go.”

I know he had his doubts about the conclusion of the hearing because when the Jewish tetrarch Agrippa came with his sister Bernice (left) to welcome the governor, he explained the case to them. The man called himself ‘king’, but in reality he had little power even in the province he governed. His grandfather, Herod the Great, had been a king, but after his death the power was stripped away by the emperor, so his sons and grandchildren only governed under the authorization of the Emperor.


Agrippa expressed an interest in hearing Paul, so it was arranged. The audience hall was filled with the cohort of Caesarea and with many of the prominent men of the city. Governor Festus did know how to impress his guests. He claimed that he had Paul brought in so he could determine what sort of explanation or charges to send to Rome since the man had appealed to the Emperor. I smiled to myself when the governor said, “it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner without indicating the charges against him.”


Paul’s defense this time was much more detailed than before the Jewish priests. Most of his story I had heard before by listening to his discussions with the friends who visited him. I already knew he was a Pharisee, who are the lawyers of the Jews. I suppose that explains his ability to give a coherent and concise account of himself. He recounted how he had persecuted the followers of a man named Jesus of Nazareth. He explained, “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.”


Why did the Jews hate him so much if he was one of them? It was something I had wondered about, but as he spoke, I started to understand that he had split from their doctrine because of this Jesus who he claimed was the Messiah hoped for by the Jews.


He told of something that happened to him on the way to Damascus. It was an amazing story and I saw both Agrippa and Festus leaning forward as he recounted, “I was travelling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. I heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.’ I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He answered, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”


It was a brave thing to say to a Roman governor and Jewish tetrarch. I held my breath to see what response they would have. Governor Festus leaned forward and shook his head, almost in pity. “You are out of your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you insane!”


Paul smiled sympathetically and replied with a slight bow. “‘I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking the sober truth. Indeed the king knows about these things, and to him I speak freely; for I am certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”


Agrippa pulled back as if to refute the claim. Then he leaned forward and asked softly, “Are you so quickly persuading me to become a Christian?”


I was surprised when Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that not only you but also all who are listening to me today might become such as I am—except for these chains.”


That a man imprisoned for over two years could still be so confident and calm amazed me and everyone else in the room. In fact, as the governor and king were leaving I overheard them comment to each other, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to the emperor.”


Since it was decided to send Paul to Rome, I was appointed to be his guard on the way. That is how I have come home to you, my dear wife. I will continue my story another time.



This fictitious centurion was impressed with Paul’s actions and testimony while in prison. Paul did not lose heart, but continued to confess Jesus Christ as Lord even before the authority of Palestine-the governor and king. We should ask ourselves, are people impressed by my actions and testimony of Christ’s action in our life? We may not be called before kings and rulers, but we are witnesses every day of the action of the Holy Spirit in our life. Jesus reminds us "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12:11-12)

Next week we will conclude our study of the Book of Acts and the action of the Holy Spirit in converting souls in the most unexpected situations.

Paul-citizen in chains

In our journey through the Book of Acts, and the life of Paul, I’ve come to a deeper appreciation of Paul as a man of God. When we read just his letters to the churches, the Epistles, without an undergirding of Paul’s personal life and struggles, his challenges and his delights, we can think of him as a very stern and legalistic man. Taken out of their context as letters to places he had been and to people he knew, addressing issues important to their life and faith as part of the newly forming Christian church, some of Paul’s comments can sound narrow to our ears two millennia later. Understanding Paul, the man, can help us understand his writings, too, as encouragement and teaching to the people he loved in the cities he had visited.

Paul was even misunderstood by the Jewish people of his time. Over and over again, he preaches to the Jewish synagogue first, only to have them reject his radical message. Then he turns to the more receptive Gentile population. Even when he returns to Jerusalem, Paul is rejected by the leaders of the Jews. Rather than being discouraged, he uses his arrest as an opportunity to proclaim the Good News.

From the steps of the Temple, under arrest by the Roman tribune, Paul speaks. “Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense that I now make before you…I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today…” (Acts 22:1-20) Paul is indeed a man zealous for his God, both before and after his conversion. His fire of faith is worthy of emulation.

The crowd listens quietly, until Paul announces that Jesus sent him to the Gentiles. Then, “they shouted, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.’ And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air.” (Acts 22:21-23)

The tribune has Paul brought into the barracks, (part of the Roman Fortress of Antonia, which overlooked the Temple grounds-see model at left) to be “examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him.” As he has in the past when arrested by Roman authorities, Paul tells the centurion the he is a Roman citizen. The centurion “went to the tribune and said to him, ‘What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.’ The tribune came and asked Paul, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ The tribune answered, ‘It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.’ Paul said, ‘But I was born a citizen.’ Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.” (Acts 22:26-29)

The tribune is in a sticky place. He cannot question Paul by torture because Paul is a citizen. There is no record in Acts that he tried to find out from Paul directly why the Jews hated him. However, he wants to “find out what Paul was being accused of by the Jews.” So, “the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and the entire council to meet. He brought Paul down and had him stand before them.” (Acts 22:30)

Some of us, at this point, would have backed down and tried to appease the Jewish leaders. Not so with Paul. Rather than facing their charges directly, he “noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, [so] he called out in the council, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead.’ When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided…Then a great clamor arose…When the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force, and bring him into the barracks.” (Acts 23:6-10)

The Jews do not want to give up with their plan to get rid of this troublesome former Pharisee. In fact their rage seems rather excessive against Paul. It is very easy to become defensive and angry when our basis for faith is challenged. Paul's preaching of Christ risen and his preaching to the Gentiles were both a threat to the established religious order of the Jewish priests and leaders. Paul's claim that Jesus Christ was Messiah and risen from the dead and Son of God might seem to fulfill the greatest desire of the Jews. Instead, the leaders felt threatened. The prophet Malachi had warned, "the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covanant in whom you delight...but who can stand when he appears?"

Forty men told “the chief priests and elders and said, ‘We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Paul.Now then, you and the council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you, on the pretext that you want to make a more thorough examination of his case. And we are ready to do away with him before he arrives.’” Fortunately, “the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush…and told Paul.” Paul sends his nephew to the tribune who “took him by the hand, drew him aside privately, and asked, ‘What is it that you have to report to me?’ He answered, ‘The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow…more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him. They have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they kill him’…the tribune dismissed the young man, ordering him, ‘Tell no one that you have informed me of this.’” (Acts 23:12-22)

The tribune (Claudius Lysias) sends Paul to Caesarea under the protection of “two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen...[to] take him safely to Felix the governor.” It would seem that the tribune is taking no chances on having an ‘incident’ involving a Roman citizen on his watch. Much better to send the problem to the governor who has more resources to deal with such difficulties!

The letter he sends to Antonius Felix, the Roman Governor, puts a spin on the events that emphasizes the tribune’s part in a rescue of a Roman citizen. “This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, but when I had learned that he was a Roman citizen, I came with the guard and rescued him…I found that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but was charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.” Two days later, Paul and his escort arrive at Caesarea. “On reading the letter, he asked what province he belonged to, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, ‘I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.’ Then he ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s headquarters.” (Acts 23:23-35)

It would seem that Paul’s vision of Jesus saying, “Take courage, for as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome” is coming true. (Acts 23:11) As a story-teller, I wonder what Paul’s thoughts were as he waited for ‘his accusers’ to come to Caesarea. We know he probably spent time writing to the churches he established. Based on his previous imprisonment experience, he probably gave very little thought to what he would actually say when it was time to give his defense. This defense was always the same-his testimony of God’s saving acts in Christ and his own conversion experience.

What more do we need to say when someone asks us about our faith??? With Malachi we can announce "the Lord has come" and like Paul share our experience of the Living Lord.  Sometimes that takes courage, esp. if we have to speak up against the established order of things. Learning of Paul's experiences and his steadfast faith should give us inspiration.

Next week we’ll see what happens when his accusers come to Caesarea.

Priscilla and the church in Ephesus

Over the past several months we have been exploring the Books of Acts and how the Holy Spirit worked in the lives of Peter and James as well as the other disciples. We looked at the faith and martyrdom of Stephen (7/24) and the imprisonment and miraculous release of Peter. (8/28). The preaching of Philip to the eunuch (7/31) and Paul’s conversion (8/7) experience were both dramatic episodes where the Holy Spirit was clearly active. Over the past month, we’ve seen how the Spirit acted in Paul’s life on his first and second missionary journeys to Asia (Turkey), and Macedonia and Greece. Today we see what happened on his third journey as found in Acts 19-20. Most of the time on this journey was spent in Ephesus.

Ephesus was a major city in the Roman Empire. The second largest city in the Roman Empire, with nearly half a million people, it was located on the western coast of what is now Turkey. Ephesus was a center for magic and the site of the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World). This distinction will come into play later in Paul’s visit to Ephesus. The city was established as capital of western Asia Minor by Augustus Caesar in 27BC. It was destroyed in 401AD, leaving only ruins of greatness. Paul remains in this metropolitan hub, preaching and working for two years. He had stopped briefly at Ephesus where he left Pricilla and Aquila saying, “I will return to you if God wills.” (Acts 18:21) Pricilla tells us what happened when he returned:

Paul, you ask me what I know of the man Paul. He is driven. I’ve never seen a man more intense and yet oddly humble. He does not tolerate foolishness, yet he is filled with a joy that you want to emulate. When Aquila and I first met him, he amazed us with his teaching of this Jesus of Nazareth, raised from the dead.


My husband, Aquila met him first. He was in the hide merchant’s booth in Corinth. Aquila was looking for hides and an assistant to make a large tent for a trader from Macedonia. Paul, too, knows the tentmaker trade and so my husband brought him to our home. We didn’t know very many people in Corinth since we had just arrived from Rome, so Aquila felt fortunate to meet another tentmaker who could assist with the job.


Whenever there were men in the synagogue, Paul was there, too, expounding on what he called the “Good News,” but most of them refused to listen. Aquila and I found him interesting and I even neglected my duties to sit in the doorway while Paul talked to my husband about Jesus. When he left Corinth, we went with him. I think Aquila was hoping we could eventually make our way back to Pontus where we were born. We stayed in Ephesus when Paul left for Caesarea and Syrian Antioch.


Paul promised to return to Ephesus when he left. I saw him looking at the immense and impressive Temple of Artemis with a mixture of sorrow and disgust. “They do not understand what to worship,” he sighed. It was not long before we received a message from the man saying he was leaving Antioch to journey overland to Ephesus, visiting cities he previously preached in.


“It doesn’t matter how often his message is rejected,” I mused to Aquila, “Paul continues to share his love of the Lord.”


“He knows God is with him,” my husband nodded. “I fear he will not find many converts here in Ephesus, though. The worship of the goddess is too strong.”


“There are some who know of Jesus,” I argued. “Remember Apollos taught some people.”


Aquila nodded. “There are some.”


When Paul arrived, he was enthusiastic. “The believers in Asia have not forgotten the Truth I left with them. I am glad I visited Lystra and Derbe on the way here. Tell me of your work.”


“We have not accomplished much,” Aquila confessed. “There was a Jew named Apollos of Alexandria, who came preaching Jesus and the baptism of John. He recently left for Achaia and Corinth after we explained to him the full Gospel that you taught us. He is very eloquent. There are some who listened to him, but they refuse to listen to me because I am just a tentmaker.”


Paul frowned. “Those who are called by God should never denigrate their gifts. You, too, can preach the Good News in your work.”


I sprang to my husband’s defense. “Aquila has been busy establishing a business here so that he can support us. I think that is important!”


“Pricilla, it is true a man must provide for his family. That is a noble calling, too. Some of us who have no family, can be fully focused on the work of God. I am not scolding Aquila for not preaching, but for not seeing his work as important. A man can preach God’s love in the way he does his business as well as with words.”


I was struck silent as I pondered the man’s explanation. I nodded. “Yes, I see that if a man is honest and serves God then his manner will be different than someone who does not care for God at all.”


Paul smiled. “Each of us has different gifts for the building up of the Body of Christ.”


“You must tell us more about that idea,” Aquila said. “Today I will introduce you to the leaders of the synagogue.”


“The Body of Christ,” I repeated the words over and over while watching the men walk up the street to the nearby synagogue. It was not far because we found lodging in the Jewish quarter of Ephesus.


For three months Paul preached to the Jews. There were a dozen who had learned of John’s baptism from Apollos who came to Paul. He gave them further instruction and when he laid his hands on them, I was amazed to hear them prophesy and speak in tongues. It was something I had never experienced before and it gave me chills.


“Sometimes the Spirit of God is expressed in such ways,” Paul explained later when I asked him. “It is not a gift for everyone and it is not any more special than the gift of teaching or giving or leadership.”


After three months, Paul became tired of the stubbornness of the Jews. Some Greek friends found him a place to teach. It was in one of the Greek schools. Paul used the space in the afternoon when the students of Tyrannus were gone. Many lingered to hear Paul, though, and were converted.


The people in Ephesus were amazed by some of the things Paul did. Even Aquila and I were. He had never shown such power in Corinth. Sick people were healed by the touch of his hand and more surprisingly by the touch of cloths he prayed over.


I had to laugh when I heard what happened to the sons of Sceva who tried to cast out an evil spirit by using Paul’s name. “Jesus I know and Pual I know, but who are you?” the spirit was reported to have said. Of course it wasn’t funny that the possessed man beat the priest's sons.


Paul shook his head when he heard the story. “I am amazed that people think they can harness the power of God. Healing does not come from me, but from God working through me. Good has come of this incident, though. Many people are interested in hearing about Jesus and will become believers.”


Not long afterward, Paul told us, “I want to return to Macedonia and Achaia to visit the churches there. I also want to go to Jerusalem. It has been a long time since I have seen the city of David.”


“You have taught us so much. Please stay for a little longer,” I begged.


He agreed and sent Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia instead. Soon, though, it became apparent that Paul would have to leave for his own safety. The silversmiths of Ephesus were incited by Demetrius to make false accusations against Paul and the rest of the Believers.

(Ephesus was center of the worship of Artemis (Roman Diana, goddess of the the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women;). This picture is an artist’s rendition of what the temple and surrounding area might have looked like.)

We Believers had never said anything against the Temple and worship of Artemis, but Demetrius told everyone that would listen that Paul was ruining the silversmith’s business. “There is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the Temple of the great goddess Artemis may count for nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship!”


His words started a riot and if it hadn’t been for the clerk of Ephesus, the whole town would have erupted into disarray.”


Paul decided that he had to leave before Demetrius and others in the city caused more trouble. We watched him sail for Macedonia with heavy hearts. Just before Passover, we heard that he was on his way back to Asia. Then we heard he arrived at Troas after the Feast. When he landed in Miletus, he sent word for Aquila and the other leaders in Ephesus to meet him. I was relieved to see that Paul looked well and was delighted to learn that a physician had joined his followers. Sometimes he was troubled by terrible headaches and I had worried that there would be no one to give him herbs for the pain.


What he said at Miletus broke my heart. It was a lovely farewell speech, even though he warned us of troubles to come and told us that imprisonment was coming for him.


When we turned homeward from the dock at Miletus after praying with Paul, I knew I would never see him again. I repeated some of his final words. “I comment you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

In the Western world today we are not accustomed to dramatic actions by the Holy Spirit such as Paul performed. Healings, prophecy, or speaking in tongues are all listed as gifts of the Spirit, but, too often, we gloss over them as something that ‘used to happen.’ We tend to be suspicious of those who claim such powers, whether in the name of God or by themselves. God can and does still act when we allow God to work. Paul knew he was called by God to preach the Gospel. The manifestations of the Spirit he used as ways to show that God and Jesus were real and active in people’s lives.

He was also a great encourager of the churches he planted and visited them again and again when he could. His letters (the Epistles) are windows into the love and care he poured into the communities of worshippers across Asia and Greece.

We may not have all the gifts of the Spirit, but each of us has been gifted by the Spirit for the “building up of the Body.” We may not all be great church planters and missionaries, but we can be the hands, feet, face of Christ to those we meet. Ask God what you can do to further the Kingdom. He has given you the gifts you need.

Next week we will see what happens when Paul returns to Jerusalem. By the way, most Biblical scholars believe that the letters to the Corinthians were written while Paul was at Ephesus. If you read I Corinthians 16:10-20, Paul does mention Apollos, Timothy, Aquila and Pricilla!

Conflict resolution

Since June we’ve been looking at life in the early church as told in the Book of Acts. There has been persecution and imprisonment, even death of some of the apostles (Stephen and James). Paul, former persecutor of the church, has become a valiant evangelist and traveled all over Asia Minor with the Good News. Many Gentiles have been converted by his witness and most of the church rejoices. However, “certain individuals came down from Judea [to Antioch] and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’” (Acts 15:1)


This demand creates dissension in the church. “Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.” The men travel to Jerusalem where they are welcomed and “all that God had done with them.” Then “some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.’” (Acts 15:4-5) These believers were upholding the ages-old Jewish tradition of circumcision as a sign of being a member of the saved. Wisely Peter and the other leaders met together.

Eventually Peter says, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15:7-11)

After Paul and Barnabas tell of the conversion of many Gentiles, James offers his view. “Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood. For in every city, for generations past, Moses has had those who proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every sabbath in the synagogues.” (Acts 15:19-21)

The leaders write a letter that is delivered to the church in Antioch by Paul and Barnabas with representatives from the Jerusalem council, Judas and Silas. “When they gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. When its members read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation. Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. After they had been there for some time, they were sent off in peace by the believers to those who had sent them.” (Acts 15:30-35)

Soon Paul and Barnabas decide to “visit the believers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” (Acts 15:36) However, there is a disagreement between the partners over John Mark. “The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches." (Acts 39-41)

We often think that the early church was always in agreement. This chapter shows that there was disagreement among the leadership and even the busiest evangelists. Through it all the Gospel was preached and the church grew. I recently learned that every September 21 is the International Day of Peace established by the United Nations in 1981. As citizens of the Kingdom of God and of the world, we should work for peace rather than dissension. Seeking to get along with one another at work and home may not seem to have much global impact, but each act of peace is an antidote to violence and anger.

In his Letter to the Romans, Paul counsels "Live in harmony...so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all." This is part of his chapter long appeal to the church at Rome to live as One Body. (Romans 12)

We can easily get distracted by the superficial disagreements between people in our churches. Someone wants to try doing something a different way and we become fearful and angry like the party of the Pharisees at the Jerusalem council. “That’s not the way it’s done,” we may fume. However, like Peter and James, we can also look at the change as a place and way God is acting.

Have you ever felt threatened when someone started a new ministry or changed the way an existing ministry is done? Did you refuse to participate or did you look for the presence of God in the change?

God is ever changing. I recently read a quote by Choan-seng Song. (Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Theology and Asian Cultures at the Pacific School of Religion and acting minister at the Formosan United Methodist Church in San Leandro, California) He said, “God moves in all directions: God moves forward, no doubt, but also sideways and even backwards. Perhaps God zigzags too … God goes anywhere a Redeeming Presence is called for. “ -. Perhaps we need to be willing, like the early church, to go in the direction God is going, even if it appears to be backward or in a zigzag route.

Next week, we’ll see what happened to Paul on his further journeys. When we join God's plan, your lives will not be dull.  

Facing Challenges

Last week we saw how Paul and Barnabas were ‘set aside’ and anointed for their task of bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles. These are Jewish men, stepping outside their comfort zone by even talking to non-Jews. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, they continue on their journey when driven out of Pisidian Antioch. They arrive in Iconium, not quite 100 miles southeast of Antioch, in south central Galatia (now Turkey).


In Acts 14 we hear “Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers.” Just as in other places, this angered the traditional Jewish population, seeking to uphold their ancestral traditions, so they “stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.” However, this doesn’t deter Paul or Barnabas. Instead, “they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done through them.” (Acts 14:1-7)

Only when an “an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to maltreat them and to stone them” did they leave and travel to Lystra (just a few miles south of Iconium) and on to Derbe (50 or so miles further on) where “they continued proclaiming the good news.”

In Lystra, the message of the Gospel is misunderstood. When Paul heals a crippled man, (seen in this art from the 15th century by Karl Dujardin) the people decide, “‘the gods have come down to us in human form!’” (Acts 14:8-12) They call Paul, Hermes and Barnabas, Zeus and prepare to offer sacrifice. This must have been abhorrent to the two disciples. “They tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting, ‘Friends, why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.’ Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.” (Acts 14:15-18)

For devout Jews, the idea of being hailed as gods, was no doubt deeply disturbing. In tearing their clothing, Paul and Barnabas expressed their distaste for the blasphemous idea. Tearing the clothing is a symbol of grief and a reaction to blasphemy. In Matthew 26:65, the “high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.’” In 2 Chronicles, “When the king [Josiah] heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes.” Job tears his clothing in grief upon hearing that his children have all died (Job 1:20)

The troublemakers from Antioch and Iconium arrive and incite the crowd who “stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.” Paul is not dead. “The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.” (Acts 14:19-20)

In Derbe they make many disciples, and then retrace their steps through Lystra back to Antioch. The map at left shows the many miles traveled on this first missionary journey. On the way, they encourage the new converts telling them, “‘It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.’ And after they had appointed elders for them in each church, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.” (Acts 14:22-23)

On their way back to Antioch of Syria, they preach in Perga and Attalia on the coast. “From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had completed. When they arrived, they called the church together and related all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.” (Acts 14:25-27)

I am always amazed at Paul’s resilience and persistence. It is easy to give up when the “going gets tough.” Certainly, Paul faced much resistance to the message of the Gospel. In several of his epistles, he enumerates beatings, stoning, imprisonment, and other harsh punishments. However, the Holy Spirit and the Risen Lord gave him the courage to continue to preach the Gospel.

Throughout history men and women of faith have persevered in the face of resistance and persecution. We should give thanks for these saints of the church who gave us a legacy of faith and courage for our own lives.

What challenges are you facing in proclaiming your faith today? Look to Paul and others throughout the centuries who stood firm preaching Jesus Christ as Lord of all. Their witness is written in the Bible and in church history for our encouragement. You and I can live as Christian men and women, standing on their shoulders.

Next week we will look at the earliest church council and see that differences of opinion, even within the faith community, are nothing new.