Acts 19:1-10; Luke 19:36-40; 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Paul ramps up his ministry in Ephesus, specifically in the synagogues. Jews and converted Jews alike are receptive to him… at first.
…
“There is no one who is not afraid of spells.” — Pliny the Elder
As dusk yields to darkness and the evening torches begin to glow around the cityscape, the streets clear of the day’s activities. A raucous party has moved into its evening phase and can be heard from the terraced houses some several blocks away. Sound just travels further at night. The boisterous recalling of heroic tales bounce off of the walls throughout the city, much to the helpless frustration held among the lower classes trying to settle in for the night.
More than a dozen blocks away from the party, a solitary figure trapses quietly along the narrow city streets, only to seldomly reveal a silhouette against an occasional apartment building. The man ducks behind a low rise apartment complex and makes his way down a smaller alleyway. He knocks on an inconspicuous door and is greeted by an unseen figure in an even darker room.
“Eliezer.” The voice speaks. “Have you obtained everything I require?”
“I think so.” Eliezer replies. “Though some of these items were rather difficult to find, let alone procure.”
“Come.” The figure replies.
Eliezer slips through the doorway and exits the city behind him.
Seated next to a solitary candle, Eliezer looks up to assess a wall organized with an array of curse tablets, amulets, animal parts and various herbs. He startles when he hears what is presumably an animal rustling around nearby in a wooden cage.
Suddenly uncomfortable with the idea of being in this man’s apartment, Eliezer begins to fidget and starts to stand. “You know what?” He says. “I just remembered…”
“Sit!” The voice commands.
Eliezer complies.
“No use if you don’t have the guts to finish what you started.” The voice says.
The room grows stuffier by the second, as Eliezer begins to fan himself with his hand. Unable to get a good look at the older man who stares back at him from across the room, Eliezer feels helpless as the man cautiously readies some sort of… “What is that?” He finally asks. “An ointment? Some sort of potion?” He can’t be sure.
The man doesn’t respond.
Eliezer’s level of discomfort rises. He begins to ask another question. “Do I…”
“Quiet, fool.” The man replies. “Don’t know what we are dealing with here.”
Stymied, Eliezer says, “No… I don’t, “Which is why he begins to stand up again.
“Sit down!” The voice sternly warns. “Won’t make it out alive.”
Eliezer sweats, as he sits again.
The voice looks up, and asks. “Said this man is threat to us… yes?”
A look of purpose is finally realized across Eliezer’s face.
“Must rid us of him.” The voice calmly replies.
Working the substance in front of him, the voice deftly grabs a live rodent from a nearby cage, wrings its neck, and makes an incision down its front. Pushing out its innards into the mixture, he then begins to chant, interwoven with imprecatory yells as if to wake it.
…
Passing the Heracles gate, Paul admires the stoa held up by a long row of columns on either side of the road. He watches the merchants setting up their wares for the business day ahead, as he and Aquila make their way towards the pathway beyond the eastern part of the city.
“The natives are sure to be getting restless by now.” Paul muses.
“You think?” Aquila jokes.
Paul laughs. “That’s your sense too, I guess.”
Aquila looks up at the hill looming to their left and watches some younger men running down a nearby trail. He points up at one of the men and says, “I’ve been waiting… for that one to crash and burn. Oh, that’s going to hurt.”
Both stop to watch as the younger men abandon any sense of fear to work their way down the rocky terrain.
“Three months.” Aquila finally speaks up. “In three months, you have managed to sour the synagogue and pit its leaders against you.”
Paul gazes at the younger men and pauses for several moments. A smile crosses his face. He then shrugs and says. “Hey, I take that as a win.”
“I beg your pardon?” Aquila says.
Paul continues: “Think about it. How long did it take Corinthians to revolt?”
Aquila concedes. “Not this long,” He says.
“Not even close,” Paul counters. “Furthermore, it took the Thessalonians only a few weeks to chase us away. They even made the fifty mile trek over to Berea to make sure we weren’t causing a problem there. Three months though… I don’t think I’ve ever lasted this long without being forcefully removed.”
Aquila chuckles at this.
Facing Aquila, Paul says, “Look, don’t make the mistake of thinking that I enjoy causing division. I don’t wake up in the morning and think, ‘Hmmm, how can I pick a fight today?’”
Aquila raises an eyebrow, “Are you sure about that?” He says. “Regardless of your intentions, those at the synagogue have certainly heard enough.”
Paul squares off and says frankly. “Aquila, I literally was brought to the ground when Jesus blindsided me. The guys who escorted me were dumbfounded as well. I was commissioned, by the risen Jesus himself, as God’s vessel to introduce Him to the gentiles. My life has become a drink offering in the hands of God ever since I had this encounter with Jesus.” He points to his eyes and says, “Aquila, I was blinded for three days and then my sight was restored by a guy of God’s choosing in Damascus!”
Aquila stares back to see Paul’s face refresh with a new look of resolve.
Paul goes on: “I have to share what I’ve seen and what God is clearly doing among us today. I also share because I’m not the only one who has had such an encounter. The other apostles have had similar encounters with Jesus. They have spent far more time with him than I have, and look at what they were willing to do. None of them have shrunk back and said, “This is too scary.” No, each one of his closest followers has repeatedly risked his life with the message of ‘getting right with God’ by believing in Jesus as Messiah. You know that the power of the Spirit can only come through Jesus. Peter and John were threatened by the Sanhedrin to keep quiet. John’s brother, James, was slain early on because of his outspokenness. Steven was stoned to death at the hands of my own witch hunt. Aquila, if that means creating tension among those who are unreceptive… If that means I die trying… then so be it.”
Loud voices are heard a short distance away, causing both men to look towards the hillside and notice a cloud of dirt begin to rise around the young man who appears to have fallen.
“Ohhhhhh man.” One of them cries out.
Paul and Aquila both look up to see the others rally around the fallen individual, though neither can see him over the shrubs blocking their view.
“Hey.” Another calls out. “You alright, man?”
Two more join in and help the newly bloodied young man up to his feet. One of them lets out a piercing whistle.
Aquila laughs and smacks Paul’s shoulder. “Hey that’s you!” He says. “Here you are our fearless leader, always first into battle and is to be the most bloodied along the way.”
“Yes,” Paul counters. “But, battles are won by such efforts.”
“Only, when the opportunity is right.” Aquila rebuts. “Otherwise, your drink offering of a life will be short lived, and we will be a church without our leader.”
Paul sighs defensively. “Okay, fine! What do you recommend that I do?”
“Oh, I dunno.” Aquila reasons. “What did you do in Corinth?”
“What?” Paul says. “Titius?”
“Yes, Titius!” Aquila affirms. “God provided us with Titius’ home and we made that our basecamp.”
Paul breathes out, smirks and says, “Let’s slow down a bit. I need to think about this.” He rubs his chin for a while and finally asks, “Do we have another Titius in our midst?”
Carefully carrying the bloodied young man off the side of the hill and onto a city street, the young men are met by three women carrying water, linens and ointment.
With a wry smile, Aquila asks, “Aren’t you the one always telling me that where God guides, he provides?”
…
Pulling the heavy thread, Paul tightens the gap between the two adjoining panels.
“Well?” Priscilla says from over his shoulder. “Do you think that will hold, or do I need to add a bit more?”
“It’s too close to call just yet.” Paul replies. “Give me a few moments to get this tighter.”
Priscilla waves him off as she goes back to continue her weaving. “Okay then. Just let me know.”
Paul gets back to his repair and doesn’t notice Aquila standing above him.
TIred of waiting for Paul to notice him, Aquila finally clears his throat to get his attention.
“Give me just a moment.” Paul offers. “I’ve almost got this stitched.”
Aquila drops a piece of parchment at Paul’s feet.
Looking over his skins and down at the ground, Paul looks back up at Aquila and asks. “What is it?”
“Well what does it look like?” Aquila jokes. “Put your stuff aside and read it.”
Grabbing the letter off of the floor, Paul blows off the dust and opens it up to read. “It’s a letter.”
Aquila catches Paul’s eye and dead pans.
“From Chloe.” Paul follows.
“Okay.” Aquila says. “Go on.”
“Well, let’s see.” Paul reads on. “May God’s grace… uhhh… hang on… Just a greeting so far. Oh, okay. Apollos has been preaching in the synagogue there and he has been recently joined by an old friend who I guess is every bit the speaker as he is.”
“Woah!” Aquila says. “There are two of them now?”
“I guess.” Paul continues on. “Looks like they have amassed quite the following.”
“What of Timothy?” Aquila asks.
“Not sure just yet.” Paul comments. “But, from the sound of it, Chloe is growing deeply concerned about how a deep seeded arrogance is beginning to sprout.”
“What do you mean?” Aquila asks. “I don’t under…”
Paul interrupts and continues reading. “It means that those who are following Apollos and this Zenas character are condescending those who follow Timothy or those who have learned from us.”
“Oh.” Aquila follows. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Me neither.” Paul replies. “Me neither!”
…
We’re going to stop here for today.
Acts 19:1-10; Luke 19:36-40; 2 Timothy 4:6-8
As Paul gets settled in Ephesus, we see the stage being set for some fairly explosive things to come. We learn later on in Acts 19 that Paul’s impassioned ministry and his unwillingness to stop preaching about what he has personally encountered with the risen Jesus ends up being problematic. First, Jewish members of the synagogue dismiss Paul and his teaching and eventually seek to do something about it. Second, at least two of Ephesus’ primary industries–silversmithing and magic–are also negatively affected.
Yes, magic was an industry in Ephesus and a very lucrative one at that. Even the most sophisticated and educated of individuals had a fascination with the supernatural. Magic offered the promise of personal enlightenment as well as the opportunity to bend supernatural powers to accomplish one’s will. We’ll address these issues in greater detail as we go along, but to be sure, proponents of silversmithing and magic will become increasingly agitated with the continued success that Paul has in Ephesus.
At this time in Acts 19, Paul has been boldly teaching in the Ephesian synagogue for three months, much to the growing disapproval of many who have rejected his teachings. Sensing the conflict, Aquila suspects that another teaching location will be needed for Paul sooner than later. In Acts 16:9, we learn that Paul makes the switch and begins teaching daily at the school of Tyrannus.
As a side note, it has been debated as to what the School of Tyrannus was, but in all likeliness, it was a venue made available to Paul in the afternoons with possible costs involved. Schools of Philosophy were commonly found in many of the larger cities throughout the Roman Empire. Athens had many, as did Alexandria and Rome itself. Ephesus also was one of the larger cities in the Empire where schools would offer sessions of various philosophical bents to the wealthy in the cooler mornings. It’s possible that Paul either knew the venue’s owner, or maybe he struck a deal by meeting in the afternoons after the morning sessions had ended.
During this time, Paul also receives a letter from Chloe or from some of her close friends. Both Paul and Aquila are discouraged to hear about the divisions and even rivalries that are being described about those in the growing Corinthian church. At some point, Paul later learns about some of the adulterous and self-indulgent behavior taking place within the fellowship.
Paul responds by writing back a first letter that for some reason doesn’t seem to be well understood by those in Corinth. This letter has not been found, but we do see hints of its existence from 1 Cor 5:9-11, when Paul explains how he had written the Corinthians, warning them about the sexual immorality taking place within the church.
We also learn that Sosthenes co-writes 1 Corinthians with Paul, which likely means that Sosthenes would have had to come from Corinth to Ephesus to better understand what Paul was wishing to convey. If that is the case, Paul would have easily sent the letter back with Sosthenes who could then clearly convey the intent and the spirit behind the letter without it being misconstrued.
Let’s wrap this up with one takeaway: When you’ve experienced Jesus, how can you keep your mouth shut? When you have experienced the transformation brought upon your life by the Spirit of God, you simply cannot keep quiet about it. So, when somebody tries to silence you, your joy will have to show up somewhere else then.
Even the elders of Israel called for Jesus to quiet his people. When riding the foal of a donkey down from the Mount of Olives, Jesus was met by hundreds, if not thousands, who lined up on both sides of the pathway to celebrate him as the coming Messiah, the promised King that would rule from the line of King David and usher in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Clearly understanding what the cheering meant, the religious leaders saw this as blasphemy, if not outright insurrection, and they admonished Jesus to quiet them. Jesus’ response? How can I keep them from celebrating when their long awaited King has come? If they are silenced, even creation will celebrate in their place.
As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
“Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the LORD! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”
But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
– Luke 19:36-40
If you’ve been changed by Jesus, you just can’t keep quiet about it. It’s inside of you, and it’s waiting to burst out in one way or another. The pivotal moment when Paul encountered Jesus face to face heavily motivated Paul to continue to put his life on the line to share about Jesus’ coming as the promised Messiah and rightful heir to the throne of David. He simply couldn’t sit idly by and not share.
In a final reflective letter to Timothy, one of his key disciples, Paul describes his life as a “drink offering” poured out sacrificially before his Lord and final Judge, Jesus.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
– 2 Timothy 4:6-8
How can we sit idly by and not share what Jesus has done with us? That has been Paul’s message to every audience he encountered, and it is equally fitting for us today.
How can we keep from talking about what God has done with and through us?
This is our calling. This is our purpose. This is our life! May you keep talking about what God has done through you. With that, let’s move forward together.