In Acts,
Luke tells us that Paul was exasperated (some translations use the word
“restless”) when he arrived in Athens
(Acts 17:15-16). The Spirit was at work within him, something
was brewing, he was unsettled. At the
synagogue he spoke to the Jews and those interested in Judaism, then went out
into the marketplace where the locals came together to keep life going – the
shopping center, a busy place and a place to talk, a little leisurely shopping
squeezed in during the days’ tasks.
Unexpectedly, some of his hearers, who were philosophers, brought him to
the Areopagus where he had an audience of what seemed to be professional
listeners. Luke describes them
humorously as Athenians who ‘love nothing more than to tell or
listen to something new.’ (Acts 17:22-34)
Although he
was ‘exasperated’, Paul also must have been impressed by the temples and
shrines he saw in Athens. The city was
noted for them. As a Jew he lived in a
less pagan world than that of such a cosmopolitan city. He focused his talk immediately on a shrine he
had seen ‘to a God Unknown’. Paul intended
to make known to his listeners the God they had been worshiping but whom they didn’t
know. His sharing was beautiful, moving in a respectful, understandable
progression to his goal of telling them of Jesus who is Risen from the Dead: “For
‘In him we live and move and have our being.’” (Acts 17: 28)
I can only
imagine how crushed Paul must have been that his preaching ended with an
invitation to come again at some later date, knowing that no date would be set!
The failure
in Athens, their lack of response to the Risen Lord, the ongoing groping in
darkness of the Athenians amidst their numerous temples, the unheeded answer
that Paul offered to the question of the Unknown God – all of these must have
been ingredients stirring in his restless spirit. When Paul found himself in Corinth his
restlessness blossomed into the grace of a new understanding, a new missing piece
that he could now articulate for himself and for all of us who continue to
grope in darkness: ‘Yes, Jews demand “signs” and Greeks look
for “wisdom,” but we preach Christ Crucified…God’s folly is wiser than men, and
his weakness more powerful than men.’ (1 Corinthians
1:18-25)
We have so
many gods in our society. Those things
that lead us away from God. Things that
don’t assist us in becoming the person that God created us to be. We can clutter our lives with so many things
or activities we think we need to do. Keeping
focused on what is true and right and just is an extremely difficult task in
our modern society. The scriptures I
reflected on today help to keep our focus on God. In the Gospel of John, Jesus calls the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of truth (John 16:12-15). Opening our minds and hearts to the Holy
Spirit will give us the ability to know what is true and right and will give us
the graces to follow that truth. The
catch is being open. God leads us in the
direction we need to go. We, for our part, place our trust in that
direction as we listen through prayer, reflection, and others.
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