Acts 16-20
There is a lot of traveling in this section--a lot like what I hope to be doing tonight! But we will see!
I thought it was interesting that Paul took it on himself to circumcise Timothy for what seems to be less than ideal reasons. (I also wonder what Timothy thought about this!) It was done to appease the Jews. Now before I get too bothered by this, I wonder how often we/I do things in order to make sure someone is not offended. It isn't because I think it is the right thing to do, or that I want to do it, but it is expected. Rather than risk the ire of others, I do whatever it is. So is that counted unto me as righteousness? I wonder...
It was interesting to me that even though Paul wanted to go into Asia, he was stopped by the spirit of God. The skeptic in me wants to ask whether that was the case. Was it God who stopped him, or was it circumstances that he just ascribed to God? Does God really stop us from doing good things? These passages seem to say just that. Of course, because he was stopped there were opportunities in Macedonia, so...
I remember a friend asking in a college meeting "Is God's will something we can see ahead of us, or is it just what we see through the rear view mirror?" Maybe this was Paul's way of looking behind him and seeing that God had been at work, even in the events that Paul saw as less than favorable.
We have a travelogue that includes a book burning, a guy falling out of a window during a sermon that ran way too long, and miracles and healings. Through it all we see Paul rising to the stature of Peter--the things Peter did earlier in Acts Paul does now. The gospel is spreading literally to all the world with Paul in the lead!
2 comments:
The voices got kind of distracting for me today. Paul's voice acting just isn't as good as Peter's I think, then there was the demoniac woman who sounded like she was possessed by a goat spirit, and Alexander in ch. 19 was doing a really good Kermit the Frog impression. Okay, I'm done nitpicking.
Paul's circumcision of Timothy bothered me too (though not nearly as much as I'm sure it bothered Timothy!) because he only did it to placate the conservative contingent and because it wasn't Timothy's fault his father wasn't a Jew!
I always wondered what it looked like when the Spirit of God prevented them from going where they had planned. Maybe you're right about the rearview mirror idea. It makes sense that they would be able to see that more clearly in hindsight, and of course they didn't write these things down until after the fact.
Ah, Lydia. I always liked her story, and the fact that when I heard about her as a child I thought she actually sold the color purple, and wondered how exactly she gave it to people to take home. Now I like the story because she's a woman, a prominent one it seems, and she was important at this point of Paul's ministry.
Paul was definitely good at what he did. I always thought the Areopagus speech was pretty ingenious, using their "altar to an unknown god" as a starting point, and quoting their own poetry to the Athenians in a positive light. He knew the culture and was able to speak respectfully to them while still being very evangelistic (much more so than I am ever comfortable being).
What is the deal in Acts 19 with the disciples at Ephesus? Why didn't they get the Holy Spirit until Paul touched them? And how had they heard about John the Baptist all the way in Ephesus? He didn't really get far outside of Jerusalem, did he?
So, Peter's shadow could apparently heal people, and now handkerchiefs that Paul had touched?!? That is pretty wild stuff. It seems pretty over the top. I wanna say, "Okay, Luke, we get it -- they're powerful!" Clearly, even the demons know Paul by name! That story about the sons of Sceva trying to cast out the demon plays like something perfectly written for a scary movie!
Paul and I don't always see eye to eye, but there's no doubt he was a good pastor. In chapter 20 especially it's clear how much he loved his churches, and they loved him. It's a pretty heart-wrenching goodbye scene at the end.
During this section, my reactions were mostly gut feelings about Paul. As a woman, I have had a love/hate relationship with the guy all of my life! At the beginning of this section, I kept thinking how arrogant he sounded wanting to go where everyone told him it wasn't safe - saying he was willing to die for his beliefs. I really liked that God "told him" (whatever that means) not to go after all his bravado. I recognize I have a really bad attitude about people who talk that way - hearing them say how much their faith means to them sounds like bragging to me. I want to shout to them to just live it and make a difference... not very Christian of me!
But later in this section, I really liked what Paul had to say about Gentiles, and he sounded very inclusive. I do often substitute the word "gay" for Gentile in my mind when reading these passages - I want so much for the church to respond differently to that community!
I think the thing I most took out of this section is that I am just like everyone else - I pick and choose the parts of the Bible that I like and I explain away the parts I don't. In that way, I'm no different than those arrogant-sounding Christians, am I? Pretty convicting - I think I'm getting into Lenten thinking - about time, since we are about half-way there.
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