Sixth Saturday of Easter
Lectionary texts:
1 John 5:6-13
John 17:20-26
Today we return to our Acts Bible Study with the complex story of the riot in Ephesus. Please read Acts 19:21-41.
Ephesus is the third largest city in the Roman Empire, next to Rome and Alexandria. Major excavations and reconstructions have been going on there the last 50 years by excellent teams of French archaeologists. I've been there twice. The city's massive amphitheater (v.31) holds 24,000 people. The huge library has a beautiful facade. The city had running water and a sewage system
The patron goddess of Ephesus was Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. The Temple of Artemis, which is a couple of miles outside the city was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was larger than both the Parthenon and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Alas, only a single column remains.
The Temple of Artemis was a major tourist/pilgrimage destination. Every temple, from that day to this, has a tourism mercantile industry growing around it. You can by cheap souvenir statues of Artemis in Ephesus today. The difference is that in Paul's time the statues were thought to be real gods and they didn't come cheap.
The early Christians, like us, did not believe these statues to be real gods or to have any power. Moreover, worshipping them was idolatry, an abomination to God. In denouncing the statues Paul was also denouncing the making and the makers of them. The best Artemis statue maker was Demetrius the Silversmith, the wealthiest of the Artemis tradesmen. He also appeared to be the head of the Artemis Makers' union. Paul's preaching was becoming a definite threat to business.
Demetrius's panic over Paul shows how successful Paul's preaching was. It also shows Demetrius as having an astute understanding of finance and commerce. Christianity can be bad for business, especially if it's bad business.
Luke's portrayal of the ensuing riot has its own touch of Lucan humor. The crowd becomes angrier. The chant, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians becomes louder, attracting more people. Some who join the riot don't even know what their rioting about.
The eloquent Alexander is pushed forward by Jews in the crowd to quiet the crowd down. It is unclear whether Alexander himself is Jew or pagan, or why the Jews pushed him forward to speak. His message of reverence for Artemis and her temple would imply that he is a pagan. He effectively quiets and disperses the crowd. He reminds them that they have judicial recourse against Paul and the Christians. He threatens them that their rioting could lead to arrests and punishment.
That's the narrative. Issues underlying the narrative will be the subject of Tuesday's blog.
Lord Jesus,
Helps us to understand the mindset of the agnostics and atheists in our midst. How are these no-God believers different from the pagan god believers of Paul's time? How can we lead them to faith?
Amen.
Faithfully,
Christian
1 comment:
Thank you for the information on John Wesley and the early history of Methodism in its early beginnings. It is very interesting to review all John Wesley accomplished during his life with the conditions he worked in.
In our study of Acts, I have another area I would like your comments. As I understand Colleges and Universities as we know them had their beginnings in the Middle Ages and evolved from there. Prior to that the few who received an education were tutored individually. During New Testament times scholars had students that sought them out and listened to them daily but there was no formal training. Most of the training was in languages, (Greek and Latin), and philosophy. I think Socrates taught this way and had a group of followers including Plato. While Socrates was a great philosopher, he did not write any documents describing his life or work. Most of his philosophy that was recorded was in the writings of Plato or others. Jesus may also have had a group of followers who listened to Him daily beside his disciples, and when Luke (Luke 1:1-4) writes that he studies all the writings to get information for his gospel, could this information have come from some of the followers of Jesus? Also, would this form of teaching with a group of followers have been the way (Saul) Paul learned much of his understand of Judaism during his early life? I am led to think Paul may have had a group of followers who eagerly followed him during his travels and listened to his Christian teachings. IF this group existed, it may have included Luke and he like Plato recorded Paul’s teachings and log of his travels i.e., Acts. With this procedure, isn’t it possible that Paul’s students wrote most of the letters of Paul at his direction? This might explain some of the differences noted and also why there are several letters that are thought to not likely to have been written by Paul. Having different language knowledge and writing skills could give the different styles of writing.
There are probably good reasons why this is not considered in explaining the difference in some of the letters, but I don’t know them. I would enjoy hearing your thoughts.
Glenn
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