Acts 17:15, 22-18:1

Acts 17:15, 22-18:1

After Paul's escorts had taken him to Athens,

they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy

to join him as soon as possible.

Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:

“You Athenians, I see that in every respect

you are very religious.

For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines,

I even discovered an altar inscribed, 'To an Unknown God.’

What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.

The God who made the world and all that is in it,

the Lord of heaven and earth,

does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,

nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything.

Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.

He made from one the whole human race

to dwell on the entire surface of the earth,

and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions,

so that people might seek God,

even perhaps grope for him and find him,

though indeed he is not far from any one of us.

For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’

as even some of your poets have said,

‘For we too are his offspring.’

Since therefore we are the offspring of God,

we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image

fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.

God has overlooked the times of ignorance,

but now he demands that all people everywhere repent

because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world

with justice’ through a man he has appointed,

and he has provided confirmation for all

by raising him from the dead.”

When they heard about resurrection of the dead,

some began to scoff, but others said,

“We should like to hear you on this some other time.”

And so Paul left them.

But some did join him, and became believers.

Among them were Dionysius,

a member of the Court of the Areopagus,

a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I praise you for who you are and thank you for all you have done for me. You have created all things and guide them carefully to their ultimate end. You sent your Son to redeem me and sent your Spirit to sanctify me. You have done marvelous things and show, in all things, your love and mercy.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica and Beroea: The First Reading takes place during Paul’s Second Missionary Journey (A.D. 50-52). The Acts of the Apostles tells us that Paul left the city of Philippi and made his way with Silas and Timothy down to Thessalonica, the provincial capital of Macedonia. Paul preached there in the synagogue for three weeks, proving first that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and be raised from the dead, and second that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ. Some of the Jews and many devout Gentiles were persuaded by his argument, but some Jews, unfortunately, became envious of the new Gentile converts and attacked the house of Jason, who had received the missionaries into his home (Acts 17:7). Like the previous episode in Philippi, the accusation before the city authorities of Thessalonica against Paul appealed to Roman sensibilities. Jesus, we recall, was brought before Pilate and was accused of presenting himself as a king in opposition to Caesar: “We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king” (Luke 23:2).

2. Accusations in Thessalonica: In Philippi, the people accused Paul of promoting customs unlawful for Romans (Acts 16:21). Now, in Thessalonica, Paul is accused of “acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus” (Acts 17:7). Paul and Silas escaped from Thessalonica by night and went to Beroea, where they preached in the synagogue (Acts 17:10). Once again, some of the Jews from Thessalonica became envious of the Gentile converts, and they stirred up the crowd against Paul, who had to flee by boat to Athens. Paul wrote two letters to the Thessalonians. The first letter manifested Paul’s concern for the recent converts to the faith, who were left alone to face persecution. “Absent in person and eager to return (3:10), Paul sent the epistle in his place to strengthen them through these difficult times (3:3-5), to encourage them to be chaste and charitable (4:1-12), and to console the bereaved among them with the hope of resurrection (4:13-14)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 2111). Paul’s second letter corrected some misunderstandings about Christ’s return.

3. Paul in Athens: In Athens, Paul preached not only in the local synagogue on the Sabbath but also daily in the public square (Acts 17:17), where he had to contend with people belonging to two schools of philosophy in Athens: the Epicureans and the Stoics. On the one hand, the Epicureans did not believe in an afterlife – death is annihilation for them – and held that the world was formed by atoms moving about in a void. The only thing valuable for an Epicurean was pleasure and securing whatever leads to pleasure. The Stoics, on the other hand, held that everything was material and composed of fire, even God. God, for the Stoics, is the primal fire and pervades the entire world. They thought that all things return to the primal fire, and this return gives rise to another world identical in every way to the previous worlds. This process, for the Stoics, never ends, and the human being, after death, continues to exist until their return to the primal fire. Stoics encourage people to live according to their rational nature and the laws of the universe, battle against their passions, and find happiness in virtue for the sake of duty. Paul’s approach with the Jews in the synagogues was to show them that Jesus is the Messiah and the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. He takes a different approach with the Gentile philosophers and begins by presenting his doctrine about God, the Creator of this world, and the source of all life. God, Paul argues, is not material or the primal fire. He is immaterial and spiritual and does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands. God doesn’t lack or need anything. Human beings come from God and are not the result of a chaotic mix of atoms (according to the Epicureans) or a fiery process of the universe (according to the Stoics). God directs and orders both the world and human life so that human beings will seek after him freely. Paul proclaims that the time of ignorance about the world, human beings, and God is over, since all truth has been revealed in and through a man whom God appointed and confirmed by raising him from the dead. Things were going well for Paul until he mentioned the resurrection of Jesus. Although some in the crowd, like Dionysius, accepted the faith, the majority of the Epicureans and Stoics could not accept Paul’s doctrine about life after death. They were slow to raise their minds to heavenly things, preferred a purely material explanation of the world, and placed pleasure or virtuous duty as their ultimate happiness. They rejected that our true delight is in God alone and did not see that human virtue is not enough for true happiness. Our Catholic faith teaches that true happiness, seeing God face to face, is a gift, not a human conquest. And this eternal life begins in us in this life through faith, hope, and love.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the true philosopher and lover of wisdom. You teach the truth about all things and the path that leads to true happiness. Welcome me into your school of wisdom and let me learn from you each day.

Living the Word of God: What do I place my happiness in? What do I pursue most in this short life? Money? Possessions? Health? Pleasure? Honor? Seeing the Face of God? How can I correct my pursuit of ultimate happiness?