79 - More Missionary Journeys

Acts 16:1-20:38

Paul is racking up the frequent preacher miles.

He gets to a number of places and starts churches that he will later send letters to:  Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth are among his stops.

These five chapters have too much action to summarize, but a few of the highlights for me:

• Paul crosses over to Macedonia, present day Greece.  This is the first missionary trip to Europe, paving the way for the rise of European Christianity.
• The first evangelism in Europe was at Philippi, and it was there that Paul met with a group of women at their place of prayer.  The first European convert was a woman named Lydia, a business woman who dealt in purple.  Given the few mentions of women by name in scripture, it is significant that a woman has that role.  She goes on to demonstrate generous hospitality to Paul twice.
• Likewise Priscilla and Aquila, wife and husband, are key partners of Paul.  He takes the pair with him to Ephesus and leaves them there to be in charge of the church.  
• One of my favorite lines in the New Testament:  when in Thessalonica, after Paul had been preaching about Jesus being raised from the dead, his opponents attacked the house where Paul was staying and dragged several Christians before the authorities.  The charge?  "These people...have been turning the world upside down..."  What a great accusation!  If only we all could be charged with turning the world upside down!
• Paul's great speech to the philosophers in Athens.  Paul tailors his argument to them in terms they can understand, and maybe it speaks to those of us in the post-Enlightenment West as well:

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. ²³ For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, ²⁵ nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. ²⁶ From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, ²⁷ so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him-- though indeed he is not far from each one of us. ²⁸ For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.'

Paul preaching in Athens

What struck you most about this reading? 

78 - The Council at Jerusalem

Acts 15:1-41

Some folks had come from Judea, the Jewish-Christian area, and were teaching that converts to the way of Jesus had to be circumcised, as required in the laws of Moses.

This is not what Paul had been teaching.

The conflict had to go to the head office in Jerusalem.

In the council meeting, Peter, who has had his own experience with converting Gentiles, testifies that the Holy Spirit goes both to Gentiles and to the Hebrew people, and that "we believe that we will be saved by grace of the Lord Jesus..."

Paul also tells of his experiences among the Gentiles.  Here in Acts we don't read what he said.  But when Paul gives his own account of in the letter to the Galatians, we learn that he had the Greek (Gentile) Titus with him, who had not been required to be circumcised.

It is hard to tell a Christian who is standing right in front of you that they aren't good enough.

Finally, James, the brother of our Lord, who is calling the shots at the Jerusalem meeting, quotes scripture in which God indicates that including Gentiles has been part of his plan all along.  James concludes that if Gentiles will follow some basic rules regarding food that has been sacrificed to idols, that they would have the hand of fellowship extended to them.

Thus the path is chosen.  The community of the followers of Jesus will not be a sub-set of Judaism; rather it will be open to all people, to the ends of the earth.

Council of Jerusalem

77 - The First Missionary Journey

Acts 13:1 - 14:28

Paul and Barnabas, along with John Mark, now take off on the first missionary trip.

What do we learn from their travels?

The are bold and courageous.  They go anywhere, take whatever dangers there are - being thrown out of a city, being stoned by opponents.  They just keep on going.

They preach about Jesus in the same way Peter had preached -- there is not a different message.

And they meet people where they are.  To the Jews in the synagogue, they show how Jesus follows on from the line of David, but differed from David because God raised him up.  To the Gentiles they echoed the language that God would make them a light to the world.

Besides preaching they pronounced the healing of the crippled man in Lystra, and spoke to the Greek crowd of the living God, greater than Zeus and Hermes whom they worshiped.

And they helped give structure to the church, appointing elders or presbyters.

Stoning of Paul and Barnabas at Lystra

What an incredible turnaround Paul has made!

76 - The Road to Damascus

Acts 9:1-31

In the last two readings we have seen the Good News being heard and accepted by a foreigner (the Ethiopian), and by Cornelius, a Roman soldier.

Now we have perhaps the most significant conversion in history - that of a zealous Jew who spared nothing to persecute the followers of the Way. He had just received a warrant to arrest any followers of Jesus to bring them to Jerusalem.

Paul was clearly a man of violence - he was "still breathing threats and murder" against the Christians; he was going to bring people bound to Jerusalem.  He tells this story himself later on in Acts 22, emphasizing that this was full blown physical persecution.

When Jesus speaks to Saul, he says he himself as the one being persecuted, identifying with his followers, just as he identified with the hungry and thirsty and sick in Matthew 25.

The action on the road to Damascus is between Jesus and Saul/Paul.  But it still takes the community of believers in Damascus, represented by the somewhat reluctant Ananias, to complete the transformation of Paul into a believer and ultimately the great evangelist.

Fresco by Michelangelo - Conversion of Saul

How did you come to a mature understanding of your faith?  For me the community of those who believe and live out the Gospel message are critical.

75 - Good News for All

Acts 10:1 - 11:18

Did Jesus just come for the Jews?  He seemed to say so, in Matthew.  But here's the risk of proof-texting:  just a few verses later he pronounces a Canaanite - a Gentile - woman's daughter healed because of her faith.

Now Peter is in Joppa, near the gentile community of Caesarea Maritima.  Cornelius, a centurion of the Roman cohort, a Gentile but a believer in the God of Israel, had a vision, a message from God, commanding him to summon Simon Peter.

Peter, in Joppa, sees his own vision of animals being lowered on a sheet.

¹³Then he heard a voice saying, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ ¹⁴But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.’ ¹⁵The voice said to him again, a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’¹⁶This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

 A vision, a message repeated three times...this is from God, no doubt about it.

The narrative continues in great detail, with words of praise for Cornelius, much hospitality offered and received.

Peter returns to Caesarea to Cornelius' house, preaches that the good news of Jesus is available to all in every nation who fear him and do what is right.  

The Holy Spirit came upon all who heard the word, and Peter baptized all.

He then proceeds to Jerusalem and relates the events to the Council.  Peter concludes, and the Council agrees that they should not try to hinder God, who is clearly doing a new thing.  

Peter's trance

How often has God awoken us with a new way of being church?

74 - Sharing the Word

Acts 8:26-40

Philip is the second named deacon chosen at the beginning of Acts 6, after Stephen.

He meets an Ethiopian eunuch.  "Ethiopian" could mean any dark skinned person from south of Egypt -- this man could have been from the Sudan or anywhere at the "ends of the earth."  As a eunuch he could not be a Jew, but he was so taken with the Hebrew scripture and beliefs that he had been up to Jerusalem to worship, and was reading Isaiah.

Philip follows Jesus example and direction at the end of Luke, explaining how Jesus life and death fulfilled scripture, and that this message was to be "proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

Philip's tool for preaching about Jesus Christ is the passage from Isaiah about the suffering servant, about which we read earlier.

Although the eunuch would not qualify for the Jewish assembly, Philip has no hesitation in agreeing to baptize him when they come to some water.  The way of Jesus is not just for the Jewish people ... it is for all nations.

Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch

Would you have been able to tell the Ethiopian about the good news?

73 - The First Martyr

Acts 6:8 - 8:8

In the opening of Acts 6, conflict between the Hellenist and the Hebrew Christians over the care of widows leads to the appointment of seven what we would today call deacons, focused on serving the poor.  Stephen, "a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit," along with 6 others were chosen and had hands laid on them ("ordained").  So the first reported conflict in the church was dealt with in a sensible way.

Now in our reading today some Jewish diaspora groups (the Freedmen - former slaves, others from Africa and Asia) started stirring up trouble against Stephen, suborning perjury from some.  So he was hauled before the Council.

Stephen's speech before the Council rehearses salvation history.  Filled with the same boldness which empowered Peter, he challenges the temple leaders by suggesting that the temple is not the only place to worship God, and accusing them of conspiring to murder Jesus, "the Righteous One."

Stephen clearly had not taken a course in how to win friends and influence people.

His accusations are not well received, leading to his stoning to death.  In the crowd is Saul, of whom we will hear much more later.

Stephen being stoned

Stephen's martyrdom is celebrated on December 26.

72 - Growth and Persecution

Acts 3:1 - 4:37

Energized by Pentecost and the early response to their message of repentance and baptism, the apostle continue by healing and preaching, as Jesus did.

First Peter heals a crippled beggar "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth."

Peter follows with another sermon, invoking Jesus power, and also linking Jesus to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and also to the suffering servant in Isaiah.  Peter repeats his Pentecost message, exhorting the people to repent - to turn, or change one's mind - and turn to God.

As the new Christians will frequently do, Peter and John have upset the authorities, in this case the Sadducees, who did not believe in resurrection of the dead.  They are hauled before the Council, and asked by what authority they preach and teach.

"By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified," says Peter.

Not two months earlier Peter had been denying that he even knew Jesus, much less that he was a follower.  Now he boldly proclaims that Jesus has given the power to heal, that he is the Messiah for whom the people of Israel have been waiting.

Peter and John before the Council

What if all Christians were able to speak this boldly about Jesus?

71 - Day of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-47

I LOVE Pentecost!

Next to the the Christmas Eve and the Easter Vigil, it is my favorite service of the year.

At the Church of the Holy Comforter it is our celebration of the Holy Spirit for whom we are named.  

The dove kite flies, usually the bishop is present to pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen and defend the young (and not so young) people being confirmed in the church.

We have incense and great music, we share in the Eucharist, and we have a marvelous reception afterwards.

It is a great celebration!

But of course we are not just celebrating the origins of our little patch of Christianity in Vienna, VA, but in fact the beginning of the Church -- how the followers of the way of Jesus picked themselves up after he was gone and did as he instructed them, to be his witnesses "to the ends of the earth."

The ends of the earth seem to be present in Jerusalem that day, and they understood the message being spoken in their native tongue -- an interesting counterpoint to the Tower of Babel, when God caused the confusion in human languages.  

Peter then addresses the crowd, linking Jesus life, teachings, death, and resurrection with prophecies from Joel, and from Psalm 16.  He presents a basic "Christology" making it clear that Jesus' teachings come from God, summarizing in v 36:  "Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."

What does it take to follow this Jesus, this Lord?

Peter spells it out very succinctly:

• Repent
• Be baptized 
• in the name of Jesus Christ
• Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

Then, it is reported they and the 3000 who were added devoted themselves to "the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers".  If this sounds familiar, please check out the baptismal covenant on page 304 of the Book of Common Prayer, right after the Apostles' Creed.

Day of Pentecost - Holy Comforter painting

What would it have been like to be part of that community?

70 - The Ascension

Acts 1:1-11

We now turn to the book of Acts, known as the second volume of Luke-Acts, written by and beginning in the same way as the gospel according to Luke, addressed to Theophilus.

These stories of the early church begin with Jesus last act before he ascends to his father.  He commanded his followers to stay in Jerusalem.  It seems that they still are a little fuzzy on the nature of the kingdom he has proclaimed:  they ask "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?"

He replies that it is not for them to know the time, but that the Holy Spirit will come, and "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."  The kingdom is not to be limited to Israel.

Then he was taken up, and they saw him no more.  Instead, two angels appear to tell them what had happened.

The Ascension

Can you imagine yourself standing in this picture?  What would you be thinking?

69 - The Resurrection

John 20:1-25

Jesus and Mary Magdalene - Titian

The resurrection is the central, pivotal event of Christianity.

God raising Jesus from the dead transformed the dispirited disciples into the beginning of a world wide faith which proclaimed a new kind of kingdom, a kingdom of God.

This new kingdom transformed people, and it could transform society.

The day started with a woman, Mary Magdalene, alerting Peter and the disciple Jesus loved, that the tomb was empty.  They ran to the empty tomb, examined the evidence, and returned to their quarters.

And then we have one of the most vivid scenes in scripture.  

Mary is distraught.  She goes back into the tomb, and encounters two angels in white.  They ask her why she is weeping.

"They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."  Not 'the Lord'; 'my Lord.'

She turns and encounters a man she takes to be the gardener.   

"Why are you weeping?  For whom are you looking?"

We can imagine the desperation in her voice as she says:  "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."

Then the "gardener" says her name:  "Mary."  And she knows who he is.  "Rabbouni," she says.

Then he sends her to proclaim the good news, the gospel, to the disciples.  She is the apostle to the apostles.  She goes and says as she is directed:

"I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

Later he appeared to the disciples who were hiding behind locked doors, and he commissioned them, breathed the Holy Spirit on them, and gave them authority to forgive sins.  This power, and the significance of forgiveness in Christian piety and ethics, could have a powerful transforming effect for the Christian community.

68 - The Crucifixion

John 19:1-42

Christ of Saint John of the Cross - Salvador Dali

Why was Jesus killed?  Was it because the temple authorities were fed up with his challenges to their conventional and sometimes petty rules?  Because he healed on the Sabbath?  Because he overturned the money-changers' tables in the temple?  Because he was a blasphemer?  Was it for preaching a revolutionary message of a radically new kingdom of God, different from what everybody thought a kingdom should be?    

Was his message of love for your enemies and concern for the poor that much of a threat to the powers and dominions?

Or was it all that and something more, which his followers began to figure out after the first Easter?

What do you think?

67 - Arrest and Trial

John 18:1-40

And you should read the end of the trial, in John 19:1-16.

Unlike in the synoptic gospels, here in the Gospel of John Jesus does not ask that he be spared the destiny he is about to encounter (let this cup pass from me).  Rather he accepts what is to come.  When the soldiers, led by Judas, ask for "Jesus of Nazareth", Jesus replies "I am he".  This may be taken as an echo of the self-revelation of God to Moses, "I am who I am."

After a hearing before Annas, Jesus ends up in front of Pilate.

The religious leaders may have had their reasons for wanting to get rid of Jesus.  Pilate finds his own reason - this man appears to claim to be a king.  Although he says "My kingdom is not of this world....my kingdom is not from here."

Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?"

Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king.  For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Pilate then asked the crucial question in scripture:  "What is truth?"

Christ on trial

Why do you think Christ was crucified?

66 - The Last Supper

Luke 22:1-46

The story so far:

Then God said: Let the earth put forth vegetation...  Genesis 1:11-12

And Abraham said: "God himself will provide the lamb for the [sacrifice], my son."  Genesis 22:7-8

"You shall take a lamb for each family...and eat it with unleavened bread"  Exodus 12:1-10

"I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you."  Exodus 16:1-8

Jesus turns water into wine.  John 2:1-11

Give us this day our daily bread.  Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus [took]...the loaves...blessed...broke...gave.   Luke 9:10-17

"I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry..."  John 6:25-40

And today:  Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks,  he broke it and gave it to them saying, 'This is my body which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.'

The Last Supper

65 - Raising Lazarus

John 11:1-57
Although the climax of this story is the raising of Lazarus, the heart of it is the conversation Jesus has with Martha and Mary.

The family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus are very close to Jesus.  He is the one they think to inform when Lazarus fell ill. But he doesn't come immediately.  He delays, and tells his followers that it was good he wasn't there, so "you may believe."  But 'belief' here and in much of the rest of the gospel means to trust rather than to have intellectual assent.

By the time he arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb four days.  Martha meets him, and although she is upset that he didn't come earlier, nevertheless trusts that Jesus will do the right thing.  Jesus instructs her on the difference between resuscitation and resurrection.  Those who trust in Jesus, the resurrection and life, will have eternal life.

"Do you believe this?" Jesus asks Martha.

"I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God..." replies Martha.  She becomes the second woman, after the woman at the well, to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

I love what the Women's Bible Commentary says about this story:
"Jesus' conversations with Mary and Martha transform this story from a miracle story about the raising of Lazarus into a story about the fullness of new life that is possible to all who believe in Jesus.  The initiative of these women in sending for Jesus, their bold and robust faith, the grief and pain that they bring to Jesus, their willingness to engage Jesus in conversation about life, death and faith, and their unfaltering love for Jesus are marks of the life of faith for John.  Martha and Mary model how people are to live as they struggle to free themselves from the power of death that defines and limits them and move to embrace the new promises and possibilities of live available through Jesus."

Jesus raising Lazarus - Caravagio