Isn’t it amazing how you see new things every time you read the Bible? Here are some things I saw today that I hadn’t considered before.
Paul has just come from speaking in front of the high council in Athens. His message was largely mocked, but Chapter 17 points out that there were a few notable believers. I wonder if that’s the way it’s generally going to be? Are we expecting large conversions like the day of Pentecost, instead of the 4’s and 5’s that it seems listened to Paul? If the message isn’t going to produce huge results immediately, maybe we shouldn’t be quick to call our efforts a failure, when very few turn out, or turn their life over to Jesus. Paul doesn’t seem to be discouraged.
People are becoming Christians in Athens. Some of them are important people….and then Paul leaves. I wonder why? It seems like Paul was more interested in seeing a church PLANTED than in nurturing it long term. He reminds me of a spiritual “Johnny Appleseed”, going from town to town making converts and then releasing them to grow on their own. My thought would be to stay and shepherd, get to know the people and help them reach out to their neighbors and neighboring communities. Paul isn’t wired that way. When the Gospel starts to gain traction, he considers his job is done and he moves on.
I noticed Paul’s friends more in this reading. Priscilla and Aquila. It’s interesting that they mentioned the woman’s name first, given the social view of women in his day. She must have stood out for some reason, otherwise the Bible might read “Aquila and his wife”. Come to think of it, Peter was married and I don’t know his wife’s name. Several other disciples were married, but I don’t hear anything about their wives. I think Priscilla must have been special. Paul connects with them almost immediately. They are refugees, and yet they take in Paul! Paul is always staying at someone else’s home when he travels. But it doesn’t seem that he made those arrangements in advance. Where would he stay until he met a friend? Maybe in Jewish culture they were more receptive to overnight traveling guests. But, Paul stayed with them for a year and a half! Talk about the guest who wouldn’t leave!
By then, he has such a close friendship with them, that they travel to Ephesus with him, but Paul leaves them all in Ephesus. I wonder why? Whose idea was it to stay this time, when every other time they left? Did Pricilla and Aquila find really good jobs there, and want to stay? By the way, their jobs as tentmakers took them to highly populated areas. They might have even worked with sails, and that sort of thing. It would guarantee them a group of people to interact with.
Bottom line: Paul never finds a cabin in the woods and lives there. He is always engaging people, encouraging them to own the ministry, and then he hands the reins over to them and allows them to run with it.
This is the rest of the story: Priscilla and Aquila find another man who is preaching the Word, and they take him in, and spend time sharing with him what they learned from Paul. Isn’t that something? Whatever Paul did, and however he acted, they knew what their job was after he left. They didn’t just finds jobs and become introverts. They became like Paul.
You and I should do likewise.
thinking about how the Gospel spreads (or doesn’t),
PR