Ephesus nearly riots and gathers in the Theater to protest Paul’s ministry
Acts 19:28-41; 2 Timothy 4:5-8; Philippians 1:20-24; 1 Corinthians 15:30-31
The relentless howling deafens any attempt to quash it. Like a primitive group of warriors who parade themselves along the front line in a field of battle and taunt their adversaries before their attack, the crowd refuses to cease from its endless cries of Ephesian solidarity. “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” It chants in unison. “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.”
Standing by the stairwell leading up into the theater’s massive seating section, Dimitrius’ lips curl upwards ever so slightly. With appreciated satisfaction, he observes the young city official, that Jewish representative, lower his head in defeat and begin to walk towards the side of the proscenium stage. “Run along, Jew.” He snarks. “Run along.”
…
Helplessly raising his head between the two larger soldiers flanked on either side and firmly gripping both of his arms, Gaius begins to feel the weight of the ear-rattling jeers from the thousands of angry Ephesians now assembled in the theater. He then tilts his head back and stares out above the velarium that shades the theater’s uppermost seats. “Lord, we just showed up in this town. What is happening?” He prays. He then leans slightly forward to see Aristarchus trembling uncontrollably. “Aristarchus!” He tries to yell above the crowd.”
“Quiet!” Commands an Avocati who tightens his grip around Gaius’ much smaller arms.
Barely hearing Gaius, Aristarchus leans forward to spot his counterpart and betrays a look of utter terror.
“Pray!” Gaius mouths several times and gestures upwards with his head.
Aristarchus nods his understanding and desperately tries to refocus. “Faith. Not fear, but faith. Oh Lord…” He mouths.
Momentarily relieved, Gaius breathes out a long sigh. Out of the corner of his eyes, he notices the young Jewish town official walking off the side of the platform. His eyes follow over to the Jewish contingency taking up four rows of seats off to his right. He then observes the discomfort of those seated and watches them immediately regroup by forming several small huddles amongst themselves.
…
As Alexander reaches the side of the stage, he discovers how his situation hasn’t improved. He’s met with a sneer of disgust from the man who… has set him up to fail?
A disapproving Elam wags his head in contempt. “I thought you actually had talent, boy!” He accuses. “One… simple… job.”
“Are you kidding me?” Alexander tries to object. “There are thousands here shouting me down. I’m no match…”
Elam coldly interrupts. “You have no right to be our representative to this city.”
Alexander grows redder with each fleeting moment, as he tries to formulate a rational reply. “I don’t wish to sound disrespectful…” He manages to get out before being interrupted once again.
“I suggest you make no sound at all.” Elam parries. “You had a moment to say the right thing at the right time… and you failed. You are worthless to us. Now,” Elam snubs, “Remove yourself from my sight!”
Though on the verge of tears, Alexander coldly stares back at his accuser, refusing to give him any further satisfaction. He turns and marches off.
…
Unable to keep up with Paul’s brisk stride, the two officials trail the determined diminutive man who races towards the theater.
Out of the corner of his eye, Karpos watches a smaller man making a beeline towards the platform with three other familiar faces waving from behind to get his attention. Identifying his subordinates and, “Who is that with… Aquila. What’s going on?” He asks himself. It suddenly comes to him, and he runs to intercept the surprisingly fit older man. In time, Karpos grabs Paul by the shoulders and tries to redirect. “Wo, wo, wo, woah!” He warns. “You can’t go out there, my friend. They’ll kill you.”
“Better me…” Paul hastily retorts as he fights to break loose from Karpos’ firm grip.
Karpos centers in front of Paul with both hands firmly grabbing his shoulders. “Then they will kill many others in the process.”
“What else am I supposed to do?” Paul helplessly laments. “I can’t just stand here.”
Karpos shakes his head. “No. We’re taking care of it.” He points over at a number of Lictors surrounding the Secretary who makes his way out onto the stage. “You, my friend.” Karpos shares. “Are a compelling individual. But in this setting, they will be far more convincing than you could ever be. Do you understand?”
Paul shuts his eyes and tries to keep himself from hyperventilating.
“Do you understand?” Karpos repeats firmly.
“Yes.” Paul relents and relaxes his resistance. “I get it.”
Karpos softens and replies. “Now, just… just watch and see what our Lord does here.”
Finally catching up, Aquila receives a warning from Karpos to remain quiet and observe. He nods while placing his arms around Paul’s shoulders. The men nervously observe from the sides of the platform, as the Secretary of Ephesus calmly waits for the crowd to settle down.
The noise subsides, yielding only to the sounds made by a few gusts of wind.
“What… is… this?” The Secretary reprimands the crowd. “We are not barbarians.” He says with a shaming tone. “Men of Ephesus, what person is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from the sky?” He smirks before continuing. “Who is it here that would deny this? Well? Okay then. Since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.”
Spotting the man responsible for precipitating the portending riot, the Secretary walks over towards the edge of the platform and glares at Dimitrius.
Feeling the weight of every eye in the theater, Dimitrius stiffins.
“People of Ephesus.” The Secretary yells out without taking his eyes off of the chief offender. “We have laws in this city to protect one another from false complaints. We have the appropriate processes in place to provide a fair hearing to all of you. That’s why we have judges, and that’s why we have the courts of law.”
Addressing the larger crowd, the Secretary appeals. “So then… if Demetrius and the other trade-guild members who are with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts and judges are available to hear the cases. Let them file an official complaint and bring up charges against one another. Let this be settled in a court of law. Would you not wish to be afforded the same right to a hearing if you were the ones being accused?” He asks rhetorically. “I should say you would.”
Thousands of men stare back at the Secretary without a word.
Out of desperation, Gaius and Aristarchus quietly mouth out their prayers.
“I’ll tell you what the real problem is here, men.” The Secretary continues, as he slowly moves towards a wary Demetrius and looks directly at him. “Do you want to know what the real danger is here? Want to know the real threat? I’ll tell you.” He warns as he points towards the harbor not far behind him. “The real threat is what Rome would do should they hear about our… gathering here.”
The Secretary eyes his Primus Lictor who then nods at two subordinates to flank Demetrius on both sides. The Secretary then points back at the audience and stoically asks. “What happens when Rome accuses us of having a riot in connection with this little soiree? Would you like to see Rome govern us more ruthlessly than they already do, hmmmm? Do you know what would happen to us if Rome chooses to see this disorderly gathering as an uprising?”
The Secretary then ominously chuckles, as he personally runs through the scenario knowing he would be seen as the one responsible for such a revolt. “Let me assure you, Rome has laid waste to independent cities that have acted out in defiance in the past. Be certain, they will do it again and again, and Ephesus is no exception.”
He frowns and glares back at Demetrius. “You… you sir have endangered our city. You have sought to incite a mob to carry out vigilante justice, which is not just at all. We shall deal with you soon enough.” He then turns back to the audience. “Well… what are the rest of you still doing here? Away with you all. Go to your families and peacefully go about your day.”
Hundreds of men stand to take their leave, and conversations emerge throughout the theater.
Turning around, the Secretary briskly leaves the stage with two of his lictors in tow. “What the hell was that?” He rants to several staffers standing just off the stage. “This close!” He says, as he measures with his fingers. “We’re this close to having to answer to a merciless Rome, and I have no idea what Nero might do to us.”
His staff reluctantly gather around their boss, in fear of the impending retribution to come. “I know Dimitrius and the stunted slime ball that he can be… But I also know he has been provoked. I want to know who has irritated him and why?”
Hesitant to speak out, the faces of the staffers fall upon Karpos. Following their eyes, the Secretary sets himself only inches away from Karpos’ face and gruffly inquires. “What… do… you… know?”
…
Seated on the stage, Gaius finds himself gently rubbing his freshly bruised upper arms. He looks over at Aristarchus who sits with his arms clasped over his knees, rocking slowly back and forth and seemingly absent to the sudden change of events.
Hearing the drum of several footsteps closing in and suddenly fearing the worst, Gaius covers his head with both arms.
Seeing Gaius protecting his head, Paul slows himself and calls out, “Gaius! It’s me. What have they done to you?”
Hearing his voice, Gaius looks up to see a familiar and concerned face looking down at his own. Shaking his head, Gaius nods over at Aristarchus who hasn’t stopped rocking back and forth. “Check Aristarchus. He’s not doing well.” He lets out.
“Okay.” Paul affirms, as he nods over at Aquila to follow up with Gaius. He steps over to Aristarchus and reaches out to comfort him. “Aristarchus,” he says. “It’s me… Paul.” He waits for a moment to see what happens.
No response.
“Aristarchus,” Paul tries again, as he sits himself next to him and places his arm gently around his back. “Hey buddy, you’re okay. We need to get you out of here.”
…
Well, we’re going to stop here for today.
Two hours of frenzied protest, with so many things happening all at once.
Dimitrius has nearly incited the city of Ephesus to riot in response to an enormous cultural shift that has taken place within the past two to three years since Paul’s arrival. Along with Aquila, Priscilla, and several others, Paul has ministered to and trained hundreds of disciples to forsake their allegiance to Artemis and to align themselves with Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. This effort shook the bedrock of Ephesian society and financially affected the existing business community and the multiple trade guilds that benefited from the worship of Artemis. Artemis was not only the city’s patron hero, this goddess was also big business and the reason for putting Ephesus on the map for being one of Rome’s wealthiest cities.
Meanwhile, Alexander is shamed and shunned by his own, when he fails to disassociate the Jews from the rapidly amassing assembly of Christ followers. The Greeks didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye with the fairly large Jewish community living in Ephesus. For the most part, the Jews lived among their own, did business with their own, and avoided fraternizing with their Greek counterparts. So, the Greeks saw them as uncooperative, unsupportive, aloof, and even snobbish towards them.
In this instance, Paul muddied the waters among the Greeks. Some Greeks found his bridge-building approach to be supportive and refreshing; whereas, many lumped Paul among the other Jewish contingents and blamed him for their economic woes. From the perspective of a sizable percentage of Greeks, Paul was an evangelistic Jew who created a ruckus, which is why the Jewish community wished to separate themselves from any dealings with the rogue Paul and his followers. They wanted no affiliation with the church so as to remain in the somewhat good graces of the community at large.
As for the city officials, some favored Paul and even sat under his tutelage. Whereas, other officials were simply trying to keep peace, order and overall economic well being. While Ephesus was a key city of Rome–Strabo regarded Ephesus to be second to only Rome itself–it was governed independently. This means, Ephesus was shown some latitude to govern itself without Rome sticking its nose in the city’s business. However, Ephesus was an important city to Rome for economic and regionally influential reasons. Any hint of riotous gatherings would result in an overwhelmingly harsh military response. To add, Ephesus would potentially be seen as incapable of governing itself and would invite further Roman involvement, much like Jerusalem had been feeling at this time.
Most nations fear instability during a transition of governing power, and that was no exception during the transition from Claudius to Nero after Claudius’ sudden death in AD 54.
With the young Emperor Nero taking the helm, the known Roman world simply didn’t know what kind of Emperor he would be. He was young when he became Emperor. Taught by the Stoic, Seneca the Younger–who incidentally happened to be the brother of Gallio who had dealings with Paul in Corinth–Nero carried out his duties as emperor in a fair manner. We know that changed dramatically later on, but the first five or so years were pretty even keel for the young ruler.
The governors of Ephesus simply didn’t know how Nero would respond should he get wind of this unofficial gathering, so reasoning with the Ephesians would definitely be the right course of action for the Secretary to take. Get them settled down so that Rome would not intervene.
As for Paul, he was most concerned for the well being of Gaius and Aristarchus, who found themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time. Repeatedly, Paul would place himself in the line of fire, especially if it meant protecting those under his mentorship. So, when Paul saw them being arrested and potentially subjected to a public flogging, he tried his hardest to get to the theater in order to address the crowd. While Aquila and Karpos wouldn’t let him, Paul did whatever he could to put himself in their place. He didn’t care if he lived or died. He would share this sentiment throughout his writings. Death was not to be feared, and life was to be lived in pursuit of Jesus. Here’s what Paul had to say:
Why are we also in danger every hour? I affirm, brothers and sisters, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, that I die daily.
– 1 Corinthians 15:30-31
With all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sakes.
– Philippians 1:20-24
But as for you, use self-restraint in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 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 4:5-8
Well we’re going to wrap things up for today. The two hours of protest was a response to Paul’s relentless preoccupation with disciple making in Ephesus. Paul simply proclaimed something that many in the city did not wish to hear. Jesus was God’s solution to humanity’s problem, and even death could not keep him down. Resurrection was Paul’s endgame.
Death is not the enemy, especially when your life is lived for Jesus. Even as we celebrate Easter today, please remember that Jesus’ resurrection is the game changer that would defeat the permanence of death. To live for Jesus is to live as God intends. Death is just a temporary hiccup to be overcome when God raises His own from the dead. In other words, to live is Christ; to die is gain.
May you live for Jesus, and may you look forward to the moment when God raises you from the dead. With that, let’s move forward together.