"Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols." (Acts 17:16)
Ange and I have been to Athens, as I suspect many of you guys have also.
We went for less pious reasons than St Paul. We went as the Australian contingent for the foundation of the International Pankration Federation back in 1996. We went to fight rather than to pray. Even so, we did our best to locate Mars Hill, which was the place where St Paul gave his speech to the Areopagus.
It’s in that general area of the Acropolis, for those who know the region. Even so, we managed to miss it, being more captivated by the Parthenon. Paul of course would not have been captivated by the Parthenon. On the contrary, we are told that he was feeling most upset, when he saw all the evidences of pagan worship in the city.
Most of us who visit Athens today would probably find those ancient religious artefacts to be fascinating. Paul found them disturbing. For him they were not interesting relics of a time long passed, but stunning indicators of a culture that was religiously perverse.
That was a long time ago of course, and St Paul would not find Athens to be quite the same place should he visit it today. Even so, he may well find it equally disturbing.
One of the things that most surprised us about our trip to Athens was the way in which X-rated movies would come on unannounced on free-to-air TV! Well.. maybe they were announced, but in Greek. Either way, I don’t know whether St Paul would have been any more comfortable in modern Athens than he was in its 1st century counterpart.
The story of St Paul’s visit to Athens is fascinating from a historical point of view. It is also very significant for students of the New Testament, as I think it is the only time we get any real record of Paul, the ’apostle to the gentiles’, actually preaching to gentiles!
Think about it. Paul’s trademark was that he was the one who carried the gospel of Jesus beyond the confines of Israel and into the rest of the known world. Even so, for the most part, the only people we ever read of Paul speaking to are Jews!
If you go back to the beginning of Acts chapter 17, from which we are reading today, you get a good picture of the way Paul normally operated.
"When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thesssalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead."
This was his custom - to find a local synagogue wherever he went.
Mind you, in Acts 16, when he travelled to Philippi, there was no synagogue, so we’re told that on the Sabbath he went to a place by the river, outside the city gate, because this was the place that the local Jews met for prayer.
This was Paul’s pattern. Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, spent most of his time talking to people who were not gentiles - to Jews! Why? I suppose because it was the Jews who were most likely to listen to him. It certainly wasn’t because he didn’t care to speak to the gentiles, because when he gets an invitation, as he does here in Acts 17, to speak to a group of Greek intellectuals, he grabs it with both hands.
Either way, what we have in Acts chapter 17 is a rather unique account of Paul, the preacher of the Gospel of Jesus, communicating with a group of persons who have never heard of Jesus, nor (quite likely) of Jehovah, his Father.
Unlike Paul’s normal audience, these persons know nothing of the promises made to Abraham. They may never have heard of Abraham. They know nothing of Moses, of the Covenant, of the meaning of the word ’Messiah’ nor of the ancient Jewish hope for the Kingdom of God.
Paul addresses a group of persons who do not share his language (in the broader sense of the word). They are not persons whose mindsets have been developed through immersion in the Hebrew Scriptures. They are persons who, up to this point, would have heard nothing about the life or death of Jesus of Nazareth. To Paul’s mind they are pagans. Even so, they are human beings, and so far as Paul is concerned, they deserve to hear the truth about Jesus the Christ!
Now I’m going to resist the temptation to eulogise at length about what the Greeks believed. If you, like me, are a student of the philosophy of the ancient Greeks, you’ll know that there is an enormous amount that could be said at this point about what the Greeks did actually believe. They might not have embraced the God of Israel, but this wasn’t because they hadn’t been thinking and talking about life and about God.
Let me restrict myself to saying one thing about the mindset of the ancient Greeks, which I believe was a common thread amongst the competing philosophies of the time. They were dualists. By this I mean that their understanding of reality was that there was a very profound distinction between physical and spiritual, between mind and matter, between body and soul.
The body is physical and is destined to corruption. The mind is spiritual, and is destined for a higher realm. That which is immaterial is spiritual, and is part of the pure realm above. That which is fleshly is of the material world, and never the twain do meet.
At death, in this understanding, we experience the blessed release of the spirit from the imprisoning body of flesh. The spirit ascends to the higher realm of light and truth, while the body ‘goes the way of all flesh’.
Now this is the traditional Greek metaphysic, and this philosophy has indeed dominated Western thinking for the last few thousand years! Even so, can you see right away that this understanding of the world clashes with the Christian gospel in at least one vital detail - namely, the physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
In a dualistic system, there is no place for a body to come back. Death is the separation of the spirit from the physical prison. The spirit would have no reason and no desire to reinhabit a physical body! The idea is ridiculous and philosophically repugnant.
Perhaps if we had been St Paul, we would have left the story of the resurrection to another lecture, later in the series. Perhaps we would have left it out altogether. When Luke recounts the beginning of Paul’s address, you do indeed get the impression that Paul is cleverly crafting his talk to adapt the Christian message to the Greek mindset - quoting from their poets and affirming their religiosity. But then Paul drops the clanger:
"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
(Acts 17:30-31)
And we’re told that at this point people started to laugh! Some mocked. Others said, ‘no, no! We find him entertaining. Let’s hear him again!’ Very few responded with anything approaching faith. But a couple did - two of whom we know by name - a guy called Dionysius and a woman named Damaris.
Now was Paul just being bull-headed, focusing on the one area of the Christian faith that was bound to alienate his audience? Couldn’t he have shared with them some of the parables of Jesus, and so hooked his audience in a little more subtly?
I think if I were asked to speak to a group of business executives, I probably wouldn’t take as my text the story of the rich young ruler, "How hard it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God" I think I’d probably speak on the Beatitudes - "blessed are the poor in spirit"- and leave the "go, sell your possessions and give to the poor" for later.
Likewise, if I ever get an invite to speak to our MP’s before the opening of Parliament, I probably won’t take my text from the Magnificat, "God brings down the mighty from their thrones and lifts up the lowly". I’d probably do best to leave that until I get a 2nd invite.
You see, it’s just good marketing to tailor your message to your audience - ideally, to shape your proclamation so that it appears to be the answer to the problems that are being experienced by your hearers! From St Paul’s point of view though, I’d suggest that this is not so much good marketing as it is a temptation to apostasy!
You’ll remember a few years ago, the slogan ’Jesus is the Answer’ was very popular amongst Christians. When I was at University, Christian students would graffiti this up on University walls. Underneath it, someone would often graffiti back ‘What is the question?’
It’s a fair point. If Jesus is the answer, what is the question? The temptation I think is to suggest that Jesus is the answer to all our questions.
I am lonely. ‘Jesus is the answer!’
I am sick and in need of healing. ‘Jesus is the answer!’
I am poor and need a better-paying job. ‘Jesus is the answer!’
I want a better sex life. ‘Jesus is the answer!’
I want to be able to pay off my mortgage before I’m 30. ‘Jesus is the answer!’
I want to be President of the United States! ...
The truth is that Jesus is the answer to some of our questions. He is certainly not the answer to all of our questions.
Some of our questions come out of the deep spiritual yearning of the human soul, it is true, but some of our other questions come out of narcissistic ambition and callous self-obsession. At that point, Jesus is NOT the answer.
The challenge is to reframe the Christian message so that it becomes comprehensible to the people of our day. The temptation though is to do so by importing the cultural values and understanding of our day! St Paul did NOT do that!
And the results we’re told, for St Paul, were small. He doesn’t get a repeat of the experience of Peter on the Day of Pentecost, where 3000 persons came forward to pray the sinners’ prayer. No. There were at least 2 persons though who came forward and who evidently went on in their faith, as is evidenced by the fact that Luke, the author of Acts, knew the two by name.
Small results perhaps, but those two, in my opinion, were a miracle! St Paul spoke to this group of Greek intellectuals about the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and two persons came forward and became disciples of Jesus! Now that’s a miracle!
Now they might have only been two persons, but I presume that it was those two persons who became the original church of Greece. And today millions of people around the world celebrate Greek Easter, and I guess their spiritual heritage begins with these two persons - Dionysius and Damaris. They were a miracle!
And you are God’s miracle here today! Yes you are!
You live in a culture that tells you that life is a game where the person who gets to the end with the most money wins. And then you heard the proclamation of Jesus, where he challenged you to let go of all your worldly wealth and worldly ambition and to take up your cross and follow him, and you said, ‘OK’. Now that’s a miracle!
You live in a culture that values privacy and personal property above all, but you heard the Gospel of Jesus telling you to open your homes and your hearts and to share everything you had, and you said, ‘OK’. Now that’s a miracle!
You live in a culture that tells you that the most important person in the world is you, but you heard the call of Jesus, saying, ‘desire thee greatness for thyself? Desire it not! How about becoming part of something bigger and giving your life for the Kingdom?’ And you said, ‘OK’. Now that’s a miracle.
The story of Paul in Athens is a story of small beginnings, but of great integrity. God grant us grace to maintain our integrity in our preaching and living, and to leave the miracles to Him.
Sermon first delivered at Holy Trinity Church in Dulwich Hill, May 1st 2005
Rev. David B. Smith
(the ’Fighting Father’)
Parish priest, community worker,
martial arts master, pro boxer, author, father of three
www.fatherdave.org
Get a free preview copy of Dave’s book,Sex, the Ring & the Eucharist when you sign up for his free newsletterat www.fatherdave.org
