Martha had lived alone for several years, except, that is, for her dog, Otto, a three-year-old miniature Shih Tzu. Martha and Otto went everywhere together. Even where dogs were not permitted, Otto was content to wait patiently in the car for Martha to return. One particular sunny afternoon Martha had to make a quick stop at the corner grocery store. As was her custom, Martha rolled down the windows to make sure the inside of the car would be comfortable. Otto curled up on the backseat, and Martha started toward the store. Worrying that her dog might jump out of the car window, Martha stopped every few steps, pointed at her car, and commanded “Otto! You stay!”
A young man carrying a skateboard observed Martha’s actions in silence. Finally he just had to ask, “Ma’am, why don’t you just put it in park?”
Our young friend didn’t see the whole picture. He was totally oblivious to the dog on the backseat. His point of view of the situation was certainly different than Martha’s.
Unfortunately, when it comes to sharing God’s good news in Jesus, many of us Christians only see a small part of the picture. We ignore the context of those whom we are trying to reach. Many of us tend to see strangers as consumers and customers who must be persuaded to “purchase” our spiritual “products.” If we could just learn the current techniques and use the right words, well, more folks would sign up. Then we could meet our budget and have better programs. On the other hand, many folks are reluctant to even visit a congregation, fearing that they will become manipulated objects of the latest member recruiting sales pitch: “What will it take for you to join the church/tithe your income/chair a committee today?”
Too few of us take time to see the whole picture — “The Shih Tzu on the seat” — as we go about our daily lives. Many of us are too quick to “leave it in park.” We are not quite satisfied with the way things are, but not really motivated enough to look at possibilities. It’s too easy to put visitors on a new list of “prospective buyers” rather than to welcome them as guests in a new community. It’s too easy to see them as potential contributors rather than to greet them with dignity as children of God. It’s too easy to focus on their possible future membership with us rather than to honor God’s current and promised relationship with them.
Our first lesson today opens our eyes to see what sharing God’s good news in Jesus can look like. First, Paul walks the walk, as Jesus did. Second, Paul honors relationships, as Jesus did. Finally, Paul shares the good news, as Jesus was, is, and will always be.
In Jesus, God’s own self became flesh and lived among God’s people (John 1:14). Jesus did not use his carpentry skills to build some sort of shrine near his Nazareth home and then use high pressure gimmicks to get folks to join up. Instead, Jesus, walked among God’s people: priests and commoners, Pharisees and prostitutes, lepers and leaders, Roman soldiers and Jewish rebels, sick and healthy, Jews and Gentiles, outcasts and in-groups. Jesus walked the walk in the midst of all God’s children.
This is exactly what Paul was doing. Just before this lesson begins, we find Paul walking around Athens for a few days, waiting to be joined by Silas and Timothy, his missionary partners (Acts 17:15-16). Athens was located halfway between Rome, the center of imperial power, and Jerusalem, the center of the growing Christian community. Although Athens was part of the vast Roman Empire, it was still a focal point for Greek religion, philosophy, and culture. Tourists from all over the Roman Empire flocked here to see the places where the famous philosophers Socrates, Plato, Epicurus, and Zeno had taught. They visited the famous Parthenon dedicated to the goddess Athena. They wandered past many other religious sites containing idols that represented many different gods and goddesses.
During his walks Paul dropped in at Jewish synagogues. Every day he wandered through the civic center market place and talked with whomever happened to be there (Acts 17:17). He engaged in discussions with well educated and arrogant Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. He even experienced their ridicule. One of the insults from a learned philosopher was to accuse a student of having no depth of thought whatsoever. These scholars called Paul a “babbler” literally translated as “retailer of scraps” (Acts 17:18). Today we might use the terms “bumper sticker faith” or “cut-and-paste” theologian; one who strings together a lot of shallow catch phrases and half-truths.
Paul walked the walk all right. He didn’t require or even expect people to come to him. He wandered among them. He didn’t use gimmicks to induce folks to become church members. He listened to their ideas, endured their insults, and continued to “tell the good news about Jesus and the resurrection” (Acts 17:18).
What would happen if you walked the walk around the communities and neighborhoods where your congregation is located? What if you made this journey as if you were a first time visitor like Paul? What might you see and hear… really? What if you attended worship in your congregation as if you were there for the first time? What might good news look like here? How might you share it?
Paul’s wandering around, walking the walk around Athens, resulted in an invitation to address members of the council of Athens, called the Areopagus. It was this group of leading scholars who controlled the right to lecture on religious issues within the city of Athens. Before the Roman conquest, this was a very influential court. It was located on The Hill of Ares, the Greek god of war (renamed Mars Hill, for the Roman war god). Later during Paul’s time, this group met in the city, interestingly enough, in the Hall of Zeus, the supreme god of ancient Greece. So, here was Paul, a Christian invited into a religious discussion by a bunch of Greek philosophers inside a building named for a pagan god (Acts 17:19 and 20).
Today’s text begins with Paul honoring relationships and giving dignity and respect to the worldviews of his hearers. Here, as did Jesus, Paul met people where they were, rather than where he thought they should be. Here Paul worked to build relationships rather than to diminish them. Here Paul acknowledged their own ways of finding meaning in life through religion and philosophy (Acts 17:22-23). He even quoted one of their own poets (Acts 17:29). Notice that Paul sought common ground in a common humanity within a common creation. Paul heard their own searching and yearning for God and affirmed it also as his own. He invited them to consider that “this very God is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).
Paul honors relationships by meeting people where they are, listening to how they define reality, speaking in terms that both can understand… without taking offence. In our text, Paul is meeting with Gentiles, not Jews. Notice that Paul does not describe the sinful and fallen nature of humanity and the wrath of God. Notice that Paul doesn’t quote scripture to folks who don’t know or accept scripture. Paul does not discuss Jewish law and prophets as he would have if he were in a synagogue. Once again, remember, Paul is in a Gentile city, speaking with scholars of Gentile philosophy and religion, and meeting within a building named after a powerful Gentile god. Paul does not denounce the Athenian’s identity and meaning. Instead he praises their religiosity and searching.
As you walk around your community, you will meet many who are also searching for meaning and purpose in life. You will meet many folks who share the same heart hungers that you have. How will you meet them where they are? How will you, like Paul, listen first to understand their reality before even attempting to impose your own views? How will you, like Paul, strive to honor your mutual relationship through the creator before inviting them to share your own relationship with Christ in the Christian community?
Here’s an interesting story. Perhaps you have heard it before. A seminary professor was walking alongside a fast flowing stream. As he was looking for a place to cross safely, he noticed a faculty colleague walking along the opposite shoreline. “Hey, how did you get to the other side?” he shouted.
“You are on the other side,” his friend replied. Hmmm…
You see, this is often what happens when we fail to meet folks where they are, respecting their views and listening to their yearnings. This is what happens when we fail to understand that from where they are standing, we are on the other side. This is what happens when we treat folks only as consumers and customers to be persuaded to purchase our product and join our congregation.
The good news here is that Paul’s address before the Greek council actually is a show-and-tell demonstration of what it looks like to be in relationship with each other and in so doing, be in relationship with God the creator. For Paul, there is really no way to convince folks to join the “other side.” Instead there is an invitation to discover the “something more,” that God shares with “all sides.”
Now, finally, in our text Paul shares the good news… the “something more” that the council had heard about and invited him to explain to them. This something more is a call to think “outside the box” about meaning and purpose in life. Coloring inside the lines drawn by Greek philosophy and religion wasn’t enough anymore. Paul says it this way:
While God had overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent. — Acts 17:30
Repent is God’s invitation to turn toward something more, or for Paul, toward someone more... the risen Jesus Christ. Through the resurrection of Jesus, God has already “acted outside the box” and “colored outside the lines.” God had turned toward them first, deepening a relationship of love.
God’s Easter good news here is that in the risen Christ there is no “other side.” There is only God’s embrace on every side. God’s good news welcomes us into a “something more” community with a splash of baptismal water. Here the risen Christ strengthens us for our daily journey with a taste of bread broken and wine poured. Here God’s good news in Christ takes our timid hearts out of park and sends us out to walk the walk, to build relationships, and to invite folks into God’s something more. Amen.