Acts 19:23-20:1
So yes, it’s a strange reading schedule – one day’s reading of 20 verses in Acts between Paul’s two Corinthian letters. This is the pattern that they have in our Chronological Bible that I’ve been using the past two years and I have not seen fit to change it (much). However, this Acts reading really does fit here. All of Acts chapter 19 to this point has had Paul at Ephesus, from where he wrote I Corinthians. Now in today’s reading we see this “riot in Ephesus”, with the riot followed by that one verse (20:1) where Paul departs for Macedonia (Philippi, Thessalonica, etc.). Although scholars differ on the makeup of II Corinthians, as to whether it is really one letter or a compilation of pieces from different letters, there is more general agreement that he wrote at least part of II Corinthians from Macedonia. So that’s why we have these 20 verses from Acts inserted here – Paul leaves Ephesus bound for Macedonia.
But even Paul’s trip to Macedonia is not without controversy, this time in Paul’s own mind. Sometime in the next few days we will read Paul telling the Corinthians that he had initially planned to visit them, then go to Macedonia, then return to them again (see II Corinthians 1:15-16). But evidently he changed his plans so that he could have one long visit with them (after Macedonia) instead of two shorter visits. So again, as Acts 20:1 tells us, Paul leaves Ephesus headed to Macedonia. The very next verse finds him in Greece (Athens, Corinth, etc.) after a short Macedonian visit. A small, intriguing item is found a few verses prior to today’s reading: Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem… (v. 21a) Paul “…resolved in the Spirit…” That is, in these few words we see Paul changing his mind (as noted above), but not just “changing his mind” – he was “Spirit-led” to do so!
There’s a lot going on in today’s reading about this riot. Paul wants to venture into this riotous crowd, but not only his disciples, but also some leading Gentile authorities convince him not to do so. Then a Jew named Alexander wants to speak to the crowd, but he is shouted down. So, one asks, why would this Jew want to speak to the crowd? Was he going to defend the Christians against this pagan crowd? Or was he wanting to further incite the crowd against these Christians? We’ll never know! But the Jews were also not followers of Artemis, so Alexander himself is fully rejected by the crowd. Finally, reason wins out in the voice of the town clerk and order is restored. Carol and I visited Ephesus in 2017 and tried to imagine the location of that riot, tried to imagine the crowd and Paul and his friends. Fun.
OK, now back to Corinthian letters…
Slava Bohu!
Thanks for the timeline, Fred. My Bible study suggested that Alexander and the Jews putting him forward were trying to say that the followers of the Way weren’t really Jews (it wasn’t us!).
I was drawn to v. 26-27, where the man instigating the riots first brought in the artisans, making the case for an economic reason for blaming the Christians. But he quickly turns to make it all about patriotism and religion (for our city and our goddess!). And that’s what has the crowd chanting. Changes in our economy, jobs, immigration, populations fleeing drought – these all can bring out economic fears. But this easily gets mixed into patriotism and religion, protecting our “way of life”. We are dealing with so much change now – what does it bring out in us as individuals, as a country, as Jesus followers?
Good questions, Debbie!
I think God is not really interested in protecting our (American) way of life so much as shaking us up a bit so that the “bad fruit” drops from the tree (to use a metaphor here). David talked about the benefits of a shake-up (pruning) on Sunday. It is instructive to reflect on what is making me upset/nervous/depressed when I think about the future these days. What am I grieving over? What am I/is society losing in this pandemic? And what does that show about my priorities…?
I think it does me good to think about these in light of Paul and his example!