Paul, Silas, Timothy and Titius Justus encounter some major hostility from certain individuals from the synagogue next door to Titius Justus’ home. While Sosthanes is now fully in charge, he’s feeling the mounting pressure coming from certain special interest groups within a divided synagogue. Meanwhile Paul is having a moment of crisis where Jesus shows up.
Acts 18:9; 2 Timothy 4:6-7; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:7-10; 2 Corinthians 1:23-24
…
“Thump!” A noise in the night rouses Titius from his sleep. He walks through a hallway to the larger room where Paul and the others have taken up their residence. Seeing that they have already awakened, Titius fumbles around in the dark, trying not to trip over anyone.
“Are you okay?” Titius asks. “What was that noise? What happened?”
Feeling somewhat disoriented, Paul hears Titius’ voice and says, “I don’t know, but it was loud enough to wake up this old guy.”
Also barely awake, Timothy points to the window shutter which now has a splintering hole in it. “Whatever it was, it came through that window.”
Silas’ eyes widen when he sees how a large rock has landed next to him. “Whoa, this just missed me.”
All heads turn towards Silas’ voice.
“What is it?” Titius runs over with alarm in his voice. He strains to see the damaged window shutter and walks over to get a closer look. He then turns his head to see the others by the small boulder. Shaking his head in anger, he mutters to himself, “What are they thinking?”
Unable to hear him quite right, Paul asks, “What were you saying? I missed it.”
Titius turns back to the window shutter to further inspect it and says, “We may have upset the sensibilities of our friends next door.” Looking at the ground, he goes on. “You might want to put on your sandals when walking around now. There might be a few shards of wood scattered about.”
Picking up the larger pieces of wood to clean up the mess, Timothy looks back at the hole and asks, “What were they…”
…
“…Thinking?” Sosthanes accuses. “That is not who we are!” He says to the young man standing in front of him while both stand in the middle of the street. “We are not zealots. We are not thugs. We will not lower ourselves to barbarian, do anything at all costs, behavior. Do you understand me?” He shakes his head and sighs.
In an effort to get a word in, the younger man exclaims. “How else do you plan on getting rid of him? Every day, he lingers around just outside our courtyard and talks to any Gentile he can. He’s luring them over to the Gentile’s house next door for a time of teaching every afternoon. He won’t go away.”
“If we wanted to hire mercenaries to do our dirty work, we could have very well gone that route. But that is not what honors the Lord.” Sosthanes says. “Now, go and make reparations.”
The young man startles at this and says, “What? You mean…”
Sosthanes interrupts with his hand, lets out a loud breath and exclaims, “Go make it right, and get out of my sight.”
Head slightly lowered, the young man leaves in a huff.
Sosthanes walks around a corner to see a husband and wife approach him. Forcing a smile, he greets them.
They don’t return the favor.
The wife steps in front of Sosthanes, causing him to nearly bump into her. “We have an issue with you!” She blurts out.
Her husband rolls his eyes and places his arms on her shoulders to help her ease up. Nearly apologetically to Sosthanes, he explains: “What my wife means… is that we are distraught about the turn of events that have recently taken place.”
“What do you mean by recent events?” Sosthanes asks.
“You know darn right what events were talking about.” The wife boils over.
Again, her husband cuts her off and tries to mitigate the mounting tension between them. “What she means…”
She interrupts him and says, “Enough dancing around this like we have to be worried about this schlep.” She steps around her husband, comes face to face with a very surprised Sosthanes and points her finger into his chest. “What you did to Crispus and his family is sickening. They are close friends of ours, and we would do anything to support them. And you, publicly humiliating them and turning good men into your henchmen to do your dirty work… Shame on you! Shame!!!”
…
“Paul, Paul!” Timothy exclaims with enthusiasm. “It’s here, it’s here!”
Paul and Silas look up from the two smaller groups of men that surround them in different corners of the room. He smiles and asks, “What’s here?”
The letter. They responded to the letter we sent them earlier.
“Oh?” Paul asks. “Have you read it?”
Timothy straightens up and says, “Of course! How could I not?”
Chuckling at this response, Paul leans over to grab onto the shoulder of the man seated next to him, as he labors to stand up. “It’s not the years…” He says. “It’s the mileage. Don’t laugh. This will be you sooner than you think.”
The men around him laugh while Paul limps over to Timothy. Grabbing the parchment, he squints at the small lettering. “You can read this, can’t you.” He says to his protege.
Timothy looks back at him and replies, “Of course.”
Paul shakes his head and walks over to open a window shutter. “Well, that’s one of us.”
“Want me to read it to you?” Timothy playfully asks.
Paul sighs and dead pans over at the group of men who sit amused and laugh at the exchange. He then looks down at the letter in the light and begins to read.
“They have a lot of questions about the Lord’s return.” Timothy excitedly speaks out and hovers over Paul’s shoulder. “I suspect when you shared with them about the hope of Jesus’ return, especially in light of their loved ones being killed for their outspokenness of the faith…” He stops in mid sentence when Paul gives him a look. “What?” He asks.
“I was kind of hoping that I could read it.” Paul responds. “That okay with you?”
“Oh.” Timothy replies. “Uh… yeah.”
Paul returns to read the letter.
Unable to curb his excitement, Timothy suddenly asks, “We gonna write them back?”
…
Continuing in conversation, Paul, Silas and Timothy turn the corner to see a number of young men run off in the other direction.
“What are they doing?” Silas asks. “What just happened?”
Paul looks over at the sidewall of Titius’ home to discover several more gaping holes in each of the shutters. “Oh no.” He says. “Titius!” He softly exclaims as he quickly walks towards the home.
Entering the home, he yells out. “Titius? Are you okay? Titius!?!” He looks over at Silas and begins to panic. “Silas,” He says. “Check the house.”
“What’s happ.” Silas begins.
Paul interrupts. “I dunno, but Titius isn’t here.”
They check the home and reconvene by the front doors.
“Are we in danger?” Silas asks.
Paul breathes out and responds. “I don’t know.”
…
“We’ve got a problem!” A man firmly sets his hands on the table directly in front of where Sosthanes is seated.
Sosthanes looks up at the resolved person in front of him and is surprised by the moment. “Oh?” He asks. “What do you mean?”
“There are more of them now.” The man snaps. “I see them among the merchants. The refugees who have come from Rome are engaging with them. The converts continue to sit under their tutelage. They’re everywhere.” He nervously paces around the table and goes on. “Even my wife is showing an interest. My children are asking me questions that I can’t answer. They are teaching things that go against the Law and we’ve done little about it.”
“Done little about it?” Sosthanes replies. “You must be joking!”
The man stands rigid with his arms folded.
“You witnessed what happened several Sabbaths ago when we publically removed them from fellowship?” Sosthanes reminds his unwanted guest. “You remember that we sent Crispus away as well? Do you think I wanted to do that? Of course not! But I knew that if we didn’t give a strong response they would still be teaching in the synagogue today.”
“That’s not enough!” The man retorts.
“What else am I supposed to do here?” Sosthanes asks. “What, do you expect me to go to the Romans and get them involved?’
The man remains silent and stares back at Sosthanes.
Reading his face, Sosthanes fires back. “You do! That’s exactly where you want me to take this, isn’t it.”
The man doesn’t flinch.
“What do you expect me to say to them?” Sosthanes inquires defensively. “They’re not following our laws like we need them to? Do you think the Romans care as to what Laws we follow?”
Placing his hands forcefully back on the table, the man says: “If you do not take this up with the Romans, then it clearly tells us that you’re sympathetic to the heretics.”
“What!?!” Sosthanes asks in surprise. “Are you threatening me?”
The man’s eyes pierce through Sosthanes head, as he cooly replies. “There are many of us who feel this way. You’re either for us or you’re against us.”
Sosthanes looks back at the man not knowing what else to say.
…
Laying in his makeshift bed, Paul looks over at holes peppering the side wall of Titius’ home. Unable to sleep, he lay with his eyes fully open and his mind racing.
“Lord.” He quietly offers. “Please protect Titius from harm. I don’t know what to do here, if I should be scouring the streets or wait for him to just show back up.”
His mind drifts off to other thoughts, as the frigid air steadily rushes in from the outside. “We’re going to have to make stronger shutters if we’re going to stay here.” He thinks. “Surely we can find some guys to help with this. Lord, but people here are so fickle. They uncommit just as quickly as they commit. They regard you, but only for a moment. Then they drift away to chase after something else that seems more appealing within seconds. They stick around only until things get difficult, then when the pressure’s on, they flee without looking back. So different from the Thessalonians. Those people risked it all. Lord, you have called them. You have chosen them, and they have demonstrated that they are tried and true. But, the people here? I’m at a complete loss. What do I do, Lord?”
Paul’s eyes open again when he hears activity happening outside. Throwing a blanket off, he rushes over to a holed shutter to see who or what might be outside. The street is dark and empty. Paul strains to see if he can see anything, but nothing comes into view. He lets out a long breath, turns around to face the dark room, and crawls back into bed.
“Paul!” A voice speaks out.
Having just drifted back to sleep, Paul awakes at the voice, only to see the same dark and quiet room as before. He closes his eyes again.
“Paul!” The voice calls out again. “Do not be afraid any longer. Keep speaking out. Do not be silent about me. Do not run away to another city. Stay here, for I am with you. No man will lash out to harm you. Stay here because I have many people here in Corinth.”
…
We’re going to stop here for today.
In a vision that comes during the night, Paul is directly challenged by the Lord Jesus to stick around and work with the Corinthian people. Incidentally, the people of Corinth promised to be the most challenging people to work with for several reasons. The content found in Paul’s letters written later to the Corinthians have provided us with a wealth of reasons that explain why.
So… Paul sticks around Corinth for a year and a half, and indeed, he does see fruitful ministry begin to unfold.
What would prompt Jesus to show up at this time? Was Paul having a faith crisis? Maybe. Was Paul trying to run away from Corinth? Hadn’t he experienced greater hardship when he was nearly stoned to death in Lystra by the lynch mob from Iconium and Antioch Pisidia? He was whipped, jailed and nearly executed in Philippi. He was almost caught in Thessalonica and was going to be ruthlessly judged as a disturber of the peace. Turns out, it would be some of the early believers in Thessalonica that would take the brunt of the bullying from those townspeople. Later on, Paul was to be dragged out of the amphitheater in Ephesus and hunted down in Caesarea.
Is it that Paul is afraid of being physically harmed? Who isn’t, right? But is that fear the driving force here in Corinth? Maybe. Maybe Paul was tired of putting his life on the line. Maybe Paul remembered how long it took for him to recover from his flogging and near death experience in Philippi. Maybe Paul was just tired of being bruised up.
What’s curious to me, however, is how Paul writes Timothy towards the end of his life some fifteen plus years after this time spent here in Corinth. By this time, around AD 68, Timothy had risen up, more or less, as Paul’s replacement and would co-lead several churches throughout Macedonia and modern day Turkey. Writing to his young protege, Paul shares how he has fought the good fight, and how he has been willing to give his own life as a ‘drink offering’ spilled out in worship before the Lord.
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 laid up 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 4:6-7
Back to Corinth… Maybe Paul was having a hard moment where Jesus just needed to show up. Or, maybe Paul was wondering if his work here in Corinth was of any value.
Could it be that he had similar concerns in Corinth as he did in Thessalonica? When in Athens, Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to get him updated. When Timothy came back with a glowing report about their faith, Paul was supremely encouraged. What was his concern? That all of his labor and putting himself in harm’s way to benefit the faith of others would be for nothing.
For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to ]find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain.
— 1 Thessalonians 3:5
Was this a matter of a crisis of faith? In a way, yeah! But Paul wasn’t worried about his own faith. He was deeply concerned about the faith of the Thessalonian believers, especially after he spent a lot of time with them. I suspect that Paul has a similar concern towards those here in Corinth. Was he spinning his wheels, or were the Corinthians going to get serious about their faith?
Here’s my takeaway: Paul is willing to live through hell if it helps others believe.
What worried Paul the most about the Corinthians? That they wouldn’t grow in their faith. Here’s what he says first to the Thessalonians.
In all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; for now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account, as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?
— 1 Thessalonians 3:7-10
And, here’s what Paul later says to the Corinthians after spending much time with them and explaining why he had chosen to hold back from visiting them again:
Now I call upon God as my witness that I am telling the truth. The reason I didn’t return to Corinth was to spare you from a severe rebuke. But that does not mean we want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy, for it is by your own faith that you stand firm.
— 2 Corinthians 1:23-24
As it was for the first Thessalonian believers, the situation was likely compounded for the Corinthians. Why? They had far more cultural issues to contend with in Corinth than they did in Thessalonica. Let’s put it this way. Corinth was a highly prosperous town that encouraged very loose living. To live like a Corinthian… let’s just say that, “What happens in Vegas…” Sex trafficking, slave trading, mafia-like gangs offering forced “protections”, corruption at most levels of government, many unscrupulous rags to riches stories held within a city run by a Roman oligarchy. What could possibly go wrong? Furthermore, imagine coming to faith after some pretty ‘wheels off’ living.
While Jesus is in the business of changing hearts and values… you know, treat others as you would like to be treated… shifting one’s values from complete self-absorbed and self-fulfilling living to serving Jesus and others above all else… let’s just say, God’s got His work cut out for him with these folks. While change is very possible, it’s not uncommon for many ‘slip ups’ and learning moments to come along the way.
Personally, I identify with Corinthian living, and I am truly glad that Jesus had a ‘heart to heart’ with Paul. Whereas, Paul would have just moved on, Jesus said, “Nope. Stick around here and watch me work.” I personally have benefitted from those who have chosen to invest in me, even though I was a slow-to-learn and slow-to-trust individual. While some folks did walk away and didn’t want to bother with me anymore, others were more faithful to walk me through. I for one, maybe like a Corinthian, am grateful that others have seen me through to further develop me in my faith.
Well, that’s it for this week. If you’re helping someone develop in his or her faith, can I encourage you to stick with them? Yes, it might be another ten or twenty years down the road when you see significant change, but from God’s point of view, they are worth it. Paul discovered this, and so should we. Let’s move forward together.