Paul and Silas have arrived at Berea, and they have been received well from the overseers of that synagogue.
Acts 17:11-15, Romans 10:14-21
Exiting through the small set of doors to a makeshift courtyard, Silas slowly moves towards the street with four others in tow.
A younger man playfully leaps up from behind and slaps Silas on the back.
Silas arcs his torso back and winces from the sharp pain.
“Ohhhh.” The young man cries out after realizing his mistake. “I’m really…”
“It’s okay…okay.” Silas replies, as he bends back over to find a comfortable position. “I’m still a little sore, that’s all.”
No longer mindful of the foul, the young man bends down to look Silas in the eyes. “Hey, are we meeting tomorrow? I really want to talk with some of my friends about this stuff, and I hope you can help me out.”
“Hey… you okay?” Paul bends over to look at Silas who is still hunched over.
“Why is everyone asking me that?” Silas responds. He raises a hand to ask for a moment and slowly stands upright. “Just some enthusiastic youths.” He says.
“By the looks of things.” Paul says as he turns around to see the group surrounding Silas. “You’ve got your hands full of some pretty eager folks.”
Silas cranes his neck and sees the swarm of people who have since surrounded them both. “Yeah…” He says. “I guess we do.”
…
“My fellow elders.” Jaden gestures to the Berean men seated around a small table. “Thank you for such warm hospitality and providing us with shelter while we’re here.”
“We’re always happy to serve a sister synagogue.” One of the elders offers. “Though I was hoping we would see Rabbi Benjamin join you to see us.”
“Yes.” Jaden responds. “He wishes you well, but with our ride out here being carried out in such haste, the good rabbi wasn’t able to break away from his responsibilities in Thessaloniki.”
“I see.” Another elder chimes in. “So… perhaps we need to ask the obvious question. What has you so alarmed to hastily come and see us?”
“Alarmed… well?” Jaden begins.
“Yes,” the elder observes and continues. “You didn’t walk like most. You and your men have seen to ride out here on horseback, as if to give warning in a time of emergency. So, what is the emergency?”
Selecting the right approach, Jaden offers: “To be candid, gentlemen, yes there is something of an emergent nature that causes us to come here in haste.”
The elders briefly exchange glances and look back at Jaden to go on. “Well…?”
Taking his cue, Jaden responds. “Well, I am sure you have heard of the false teachers who have moved from synagogue to synagogue in each major city, spreading their deceptive teaching?”
“You speak of the Syrian Jews who go against Caesar?” One of the elders asks.
Jaden’s eyes widen. “So, you have heard of them then.” He says. “They have traveled throughout Asia and brought their heresies to Philippi and most recently to Thessaloniki. Much worse, they have raised local disciples in a hurry so as to duplicate themselves before running out of town.”
The elders share a knowing look.
Catching this, Jaden asks. “I’m guessing they’ve been here then? I’m so relieved you have already received this news… Have they moved on already?”
“I’ll take this.” An elder from the other side of the table says to the others. He then looks at Jaden and asks. “So, tell us about the nature of these heresies, Jaden. Moreover, please let us know… please teach us how you have countered them in the Tenahk.”
“Yes.” Another elder calmly offers. “We have taken their testimonies about Messiah to heart and have carefully studied the Torah, the prophets, psalmists and Israel’s pre and post exilic narrative. Please help us better understand what we should be looking for in Messiah.”
“Hello,” A voice yells out from behind the door. “Is anybody here?”
An elder looks towards the door and responds. “Yes… we’re in here. Come in.”
Seeing the elders around the table, the young man responds. “Oh I’m sorry for interrupting, sirs. I’m just running an errand for Paulus.”
Jaden’s head snaps towards the younger man. “Who?” He asks.
The elder watching Jaden’s face gestures to the young man to wait. “Sopater, give us a few minutes to finish up here.” he says. “We’ll be with you momentarily.” He then directs his eyes back to Jayden.
“They are here then…” Jaden says in disbelief. “And you have already bought into their deception.”
“Jaden.” An elder asks quietly. “Is it that you are truly interested in seeing a movement of God… or are you just on a witchhunt?”
…
“My faithful Timothy!” Paul reaches out to hug his protege. “How I’ve missed you.”
Pulling back from the embrace, Timothy asks with a straight face: “So, when are you leaving?”
Silas’ eyes grow wide and look over at Paul.
Paul stands dumbfounded, uncertain with how to read the moment.
Timothy smiles. “I’m just kidding.” He says.
Paul and Silas share a nervous smile and look back at Timothy for an explanation.
“You see,” Timothy says. “It’s just that… normally, when I catch up with you, you suddenly have to leave in a hurry by the cover of nightfall to another town, leaving me behind to pick up the pieces. So when you sent for me here, I figured…”
“Ohhh. I get it.” Paul says, shaking his head.
“Nope.” Silas says. “This time we’re not in any hurry to move on. Nobody’s here to threaten us with our lives.”
Taking a moment to breathe, Paul says with in a moment of tenderness. “Timothy, you know that’s not how I wished to leave things there in Thessaloniki. I so grieved for those people and the progress we made as a young fellowship of believers. I am so deeply indebted to you for your faithfulness to carry out what I couldn’t do myself.” Cupping his hands around Timothy’s face, Paul continues. “My dear Timothy. What you were able to do for them will be the difference between life and death. I hope you know how appreciative I am of you.”
Timothy nods and smiles. “I do.”
“So…” Paul says. “Please let me know how our Jason and Dmitri are doing. What is happening with our little fledgling body of believers?”
…
With his posse of four, the men ride through the main thoroughfare of Berea. Shoppers and merchants alike halt their interactions to watch the five horses parade down the street.
“Over there, men.” Jaden points to the city gates. “We’ll need to catch an audience with the town officials.”
“Yes, yes, Andrea.” An official says to a townswoman walking away from him after presenting her case. “We will be sure to be more mindful of the road conditions in front of your home.” He leans over to another official as the two of them watch her march away from them. “That’s one lady you don’t want to cross.” He says under his breath. “When she showed up today, I thought…” He stops himself, as the two stare at the five horsemen approaching. He then turns to a lictor flanking his right and moves his eyes towards the attraction.
Three additional lictors form in front of the officials to meet the horsemen straight on. Their fasces each adorned a razor sharp blade at its end.
Waving the others to stop, Jaden dismounts and gestures in peace. “Gentlemen, we come from Thessaloniki in peace, and we wish to have an audience with the town’s officials. A small crowd quickly gathers around the men, curiously watching what might happen next.
The official calls out to his lead. “Let them by.” He says. “The horses stay where they are.”
The lictor obeys and dutifully leads the horses aside.
“What brings you to Berea, men?” The official calls out.
Jaden looks at the others and says, “Well, your harboring two fugitives, and we’ve come to take them off your hands.”
…
“Oh no, not again.” Timothy says quietly, as he shakes his head in frustration.
Paul shrugs as he sympathetically glances over at Timothy. He then looks back at the elder and asks: “Where do you think they are now?”
“I don’t know for sure.” The elder replies. “But, he looked like a man set on doing you harm. The fact that he has four others with him and that they are on horseback… well, that’s not something we see everyday around here.”
“So now what?” Paul asks.
“Well…” The elder thinks aloud. “To be honest, I think you need to get out of here right away.”
Silas looks over at Timothy and says, “Paul, they won’t be looking for me. It’s you they’re after. What if Timothy and I stay behind for a while? We can be sure to continue things here for a bit before catching up to you.”
“Where is it you plan to go?” The elder asks.
“I don’t think it would be wise to show up in Thessaloniki anytime soon.” Paul mutters. “Eventually, we were planning on Athens and even Corinth.”
“Hmmm.” The elder thinks. “You’re going to do this alone? The terrain south of here is pretty treacherous if you don’t know where to go. You’ll want to go back towards the sea and head south along the coast.”
“Okay.” Paul says. “Then I guess I’ll be heading out shortly.”
“I still don’t like the idea of you heading out alone.” The elder says. “Just for your own safety, I’ll send Sopater and maybe Nari with you to get you at least as far as the sea. They knows the area well enough, and you’ll find them to be trustworthy.”
…
We’re going to stop here for today
Timothy finally is able meet up with Paul and Silas, only to discover that Paul is, yet again, being chased out of another city. Mission work can be pretty challenging, right?
Key Jewish figures in Thessalonica have come all the way to Berea–that’s 45 miles–with a fixated, single-minded plan to take Paul out. Why? Well, they weren’t too fond of the way things turned out for their synagogue or for their city. Mind you, they were somewhat responsible for what happened in their synagogue and city. But, I don’t think they would own up to that. Furthermore, they truly believed they were doing God a service by removing this problem child named Paul. Even today, many Jewish scholars continue to dismiss Paul as little more than a nuisance.
What’s going on in their minds?
First, there was the outright denial of Jesus being Messiah. That was too big of a pill for many Jews to swallow. The idea that Messiah came… then died… wasn’t the Messiah they were looking for. Even though a necessary, sacrificial death and resurrection was a critical part of the Christian message, Jesus’ message and approach required some very radical shifts away from conventional thinking at the time. Their understanding of Messiah was that he would lead them right to the land of promise as soon as he arrived. Jesus had other ideas, namely dealing with the selfish hearts of both Jews and non-Jews alike. The idea that Jews could not measure up to the fullness of the spirit behind the Law was an idea many could not accept.
Second, they were threatened by Paul’s recruitment and discipling tactics. “Everything was great… until they came along.” Again… or at least that’s what some of them thought. To be candid here… if everything is great, then why do we see humans treated so horribly? Why is there still great suffering among so many? Why do we see deeply entrenched caste systems still thriving? Why do we see injustice at the deepest levels of human interaction? Why do we still have selfish hearts?
Just like Paul, hopefully these woes continue to weigh in on us here some 2,000 years later. Furthermore, just like Paul we know that God’s solution of Jesus’ sacrificial offering of himself is the only way to get to the heart of the matter.
This brings us to a key thought: On one hand, we’re called to live peaceably wherever we find ourselves. We do our work, we do right by others, we gather together in fellowship with other believers who worship Jesus. All of these things are good. But, we also share about Jesus. We share his stories. We share his values and his message. It’s the sharing that offers God’s solution to humanity’s heart problem. But as Paul knew first hand, it’s the sharing that gets us in trouble. So, sharing our faith is what brings conflict, but sharing our faith is how people learn about God’s solution to their heart condition. As Paul said so eloquently in Romans 10:
But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “LORD, who has believed our message?” So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have: “The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world.” But I ask, did the people of Israel really understand? Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God said, “I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation. I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles.” And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God, saying, “I was found by people who were not looking for me. I showed myself to those who were not asking for me.” But regarding Israel, God said, “All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.
— Romans 10:14-21
So, why do we share? From God’s perspective… believing on Jesus who has offered up his own life, even to his death, is how God has made it possible to change out our old self-serving hearts with new hearts that aim to align us with the fullness of God’s goodness.
That’s why we share. We have a heart problem that only God can reconcile, and he accomplished this reconciliation by sending his chosen One… Messiah… Jesus. May you not only hear but may you believe upon the chosen one and begin to undergo the heart transformation that comes from being reconciled with God. With that, let’s move forward… together.