I have been preaching through the book of Acts at my church for the past 8 months, taking time off for a Lent and Christmas series. This past Sunday, I reached chapter 17 and began delving into Paul’s visit to Athens, in ancient Greece. While reflecting on the text, I had an interesting realization. Paul arrives in Athens with the goal of waiting there for several traveling companions to meet him. Most translations say that he looked around the city and was troubled by the excess of idols. The word in the original Greek would be stronger than that. It is more along the lines of being made furious and upset by what he saw. The reason, I believe, isn’t because there were idols or pagan temples specifically. Certainly, he would’ve seen these things time and again in his travels and wouldn’t have been particularly shocked. I think it was because he saw so many bad imitations of who God really is. The various idols and statues of deities often drew upon God’s attributes or qualities, but missed the point of who He really is. This would be frustrating for someone who was so very passionate about the true God and witnessed folks mislead others with poor substitutes. Regardless of his reason for being upset, Paul’s emotional response prompted him to action. He went to the synagogue and the marketplace and talked to people. He told them what he knew and engaged in discussions with them. This eventually led him to a public hearing in a local court of sorts, where he was asked to explained what he was teaching. It’s important to recognize his response for what it was. He taught and engaged the people he disagreed with. In contrast, up until this point whenever Paul encountered opposition to his teachings or work, locals would find rabble-rousers and get them fired up against Paul (often by paying them off, but sometimes just by getting them angry). The mob would then attack or shout down the apostle. There was sometimes physical attacks, jailing, etc. The contrast is pretty significant. Paul became angry and used it as fuel to teach and engage in discussion rather than attack, shout down, and abuse. Before Paul encountered Jesus and converted, he did the same thing. He persecuted and attacked his opponents. This is no small thing, and should serve as a powerful example for believers today. We live in a world full of idols and crazy teachings. We see folks worship money, politicians, sex, and all manner of other things that are a poor imitation for God. It can be upsetting. Social media has given us a venue for finding other folks to shout down and attack folks or groups we disagree with. It happens often in our culture and many simply accept it as the norm. However, the gospel of Jesus is advanced properly by folks who were willing to teach, preach, and talk with those they disagree with. Bitter, angry words are not the tool of God’s people regardless of the topic or venue. Certainly righteous anger is appropriate when we see wicked distortion of the truth or abusive treatment of the weak. However, anger like this fuels efforts to engage. The book of James puts it best when it says, “The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Modern followers of Jesus should be known for their love, grace, and truth. We should be known as people who “speak the truth in love.” Often, I fear, we gain a reputation for vitriol and outrage. Especially in the era of social media, our moments of taking this tone are amplified to the world and reflect poorly on Jesus. We are his hands and voice and our attitudes must reflect it.
