Sermon - June 22, 2025 (Acts 17) It's About Love you idiots

While Jesus spent almost all of his time in the backcountry, the hamlets, the villages, the dirt roads, tiny little mountain and lake towns that were practically deserted and only headed for the big cities if he had to, the Apostle Paul, on the other hand, took a different tactic. Paul was particularly drawn to big cities along large bodies of water, to bustling downtown areas, to large crowds and civic engagement hangouts, to places where metropolitan intellectuals debated and where people bought and sold goods with glee. A proud and learned Jewish Pharisee who shared his thoughts with anybody and everybody within earshot, Paul was a fearless, resilient, and hard-working tent-maker and teacher alike.

Both Jesus and Paul were passionate, curious, and studious men; intelligent, deep thinking, and comfortable traveling long distances, both seemingly possessed quick wits and occasionally quick tempers too. Jesus never made it to Greece as far as we know. But Paul did. Not the countryside either, but to an audience of prominent philosophical minds: The Areopagus in Athens, Greece.

Historical Context

The Areopagus is a prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece – it’s visible from the Parthenon, a couple hundred yards away. The Areopagus may have been the site where a council of elders for the city of Athens met. Historians are uncertain whether Paul gave his speech before the Areopagus Council in the setting of a judicial investigation or a trial, but it’s more likely that he was invited to the general vicinity of the Areopagus to make an informal speech to the philosophers gathered there.

Unlike the Judean countryside where Jesus and his disciples often traveled amidst large lavish fields, undeveloped hillsides and open water, large cities like Athens were loaded with taverns, public baths, houses, and temples. In ancient Alexandria, Egypt for example, documentation has been found that indicates there was a whopping 2,478 temples. That would be nearly one temple for every ten houses—or in modern times, that would be the equivalent of one church for every five houses on your street.

No wonder Paul was distressed. That’s a lot going on vying for people’s attention. From New Testament and Early Christianity expert Bart Ehrman from “The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World:”

“(Ancient temples were not like our concept of church buildings.) They were houses of the gods. The cult statue, representing the god, would be kept there, in a specially appointed room that normally was closed off and not accessible to the public. Sacrifices would take place not in this room, but outside the temple, in front, on the altar there. That is where people would gather together for the ceremony to hear prayers and music and to observe the slaughter.”

The Unique Message of Jesus?

So we’re likely talkin’ hundreds of worshippers sacrificing and praising an untold number of gods and idols of those gods out in the open, public places in and around the metropolis of ancient Athens.

Along comes Paul into that circus, chatting up people at the food wagons, dropping the Good News while taking a dip in the public baths—and of course, picking fights in the synagogue with the Jews and arguing with the Greek philosophers.

Ehrman from Triumph of Christianity:

“The first, and undoubtedly most difficult step was to convince the people of Athens to turn away from the gods they had worshipped from infancy—gods that not just their immediate families but also all their friends, neighbors, fellow citizens, and in fact, with the exception of Jews, everyone in their entire world worshiped…One would have to give up all the daily and periodic festivals, processions, sacrifices, prayers, beliefs, and practices attendant to all the traditional religions and philosophies they had ever known.

Paul helped the ancient world to rethink its priorities, beginning with a  message rooted in historical fact: Jesus was a Jewish prophet who was crucified by the Romans. No one would be astounded by this. Romans were notorious for being ruthless and were crucifying people all the time. That Paul sounded off on the God of Jesus being capable of miraculous deeds of power was also nothing new—I’m not saying that God raising Jesus from the dead doesn’t sound amazing—but there are so many stories from antiquity that are equally tantalizing in scope. The key to Paul’s success was not just what he said, but how.

When Paul spoke about Jesus, he did so with conviction. Paul bled his theology because Paul had seen and encountered Jesus alive himself. We’re used to hearing people speak with conviction—turn on the news—but unlike many of them, Paul was a reasonable, intelligent, clear-thinking, compassionate, human. And he could not shake off the meeting with his new Master—how the resurrected Jesus appeared is up for grabs, but we wouldn’t be talking about someone like Paul had something not legitimately awesome occurred--Have you ever experienced something so incredible, so life-changing that no matter how crazy you know you sounded, that you still couldn’t keep it to yourself?

Christianity Then and Now

That’s the sentiment of the Acts of the Apostles from which we’ve been studying. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ disciples gave up everything that distracted them from the saving grace of Jesus Christ; they put aside that which was no longer helpful; they committed their lives to serving Jesus, the man Paul was convinced laid down his life for the well-being of others—and that conviction took the ancient world by storm—or rather, by Jesus’ selfless love, accompaniment, and grace.

And here we are, still captivated. Back then no one had heard of Jesus. Today, Jesus is a household name. Back then Christianity was just getting off the ground. Today, Christianity is billions strong. But the Triumph of Christianity relied on something else -- in addition to having reasonable, intelligent, clear-thinking, compassionate, human being like Paul who spoke with authenticity and personal conviction—Paul’s message also discouraged his culture’s acceptance of domination as a societal norm. And Paul suffered for that dissent—but he was convinced that following Jesus didn’t require one’s blood oath by way of the sword or spear—because the way Paul talked about it, Jesus’ crucifixion had put an end to such violent means of procuring new initiates.

Pluralism Alive and Well

If only we could stop there. Because of course, in a cruel twist of ironic fate, the more popular Paul’s new religion became, the less those early Christian ideals were understood and followed. Once a subversive alternative to cultural domination and violent take-overs of other gods, Paul’s “All are Welcome No Strings Attached” inclusive Church that catered to the vulnerable and impoverished soon became the most feared and dominant religious system in the world; Somehow Jesus’ “Love your neighbor” became “convert your neighbor” and “lay your life down for your friends” became “take other lives for your Lord.”

At least we have evolved away from sacrificing bulls on public altars, right? But just because there aren’t idols and temples littering every street corner doesn’t mean we’ve graduated religious pluralism is a thing of the past. For every 5 people I talk to these days, in and out of the church, I hear 5 different types belief underneath their values and all sorts of different perspectives about the characteristics of God that fuel their interaction in the world. For some I’m sure that means that there are more souls to save, but I’m not sure that’s still the best use of our energy. Does the world’s largest religion demand we get even bigger and more dominant?

Conclusion

I think we need to take a page from Paul and do something else. What if instead of viewing our neighbors as lost causes or heathens to save that we looked at them as Jesus did? As people deserving of our love. As people who need the message of forgiveness as much as we do. As people who could benefit more from our curiosity than from our judgment. What if instead of domination we put Christianity back on the map as the people who focused on what put us there in the first place: Jesus’ selfless love. Love that conquers our haters by serving the neighbor, not destroying them. Love that sees God’s grace at work in and through our differences, not by asserting our supremacy. Love that can even transcend our suffering and death.

Look, I’m no Apostle Paul, but I am an apostle and so are you—and we are each called and sent by Jesus Christ to proclaim God’s love and grace (just as those early apostles were.) I don’t know how you reconcile what happens in the world out there with how you understand the words of scripture we study in here—but as I see it, ever since January 20^th 2025 the work of Christ’s Church has grappled with one new fresh hell after another, evoking seemingly irreversible damage and anti-Jesus values intended to derail and divide us. It’s hard not being dramatic after the headlines I woke up to this morning—but as I see it, if we are to slow our pace toward self-destruction, than our work—our Acts as Today’s Apostles-- must emphasize  Jesus’ conviction that love, not violence, love, not domination, love, not judgment, love, not exclusion, love, not lies, love not conversion—but our acts of love are what Christ intends for His Church today.   

Just as Paul stepped up to help the ancient world rethink its priorities, let us do the same. How each of us goes about that might differ, but let us never forget who we are: reasonable, intelligent, clear-thinking, compassionate human beings claimed, gathered, and sent in God’s love and empowered by the resurrection strength of Jesus the Christ, our one true Hope. Amen.