Common Ground - July 31

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 75, 76; PM Psalm 23, 27; 2 Samuel 5:22-6:11; Acts 17:16-34; Mark 8:1-10

Today’s Reflection

In Acts 17, we hear the story of the Apostle Paul’s visit to the city of Athens, a center of learning and culture in the ancient world. For Paul, an educated man who grew up in the city of Tarsus, another center of learning in the ancient world, I imagine he was excited to present his case for Christ to people in Athens. Here, we find Paul being on called to present his ideas at the Council of Areopagus, equal in importance to someone presenting a case before our Supreme Court today. The address Paul gave is considered an excellent public address because of how Paul tailors his argument so perfectly to the Athenian cultural context.

We read in Luke’s account here in Acts 17 that Paul was deeply distressed, because there was a lot of idol worship going on. People were worshipping things that they shouldn’t have been worshipping. We don’t use that language of idol worship so much anymore, but we do see it in our own cultural context: Many people make career their God—or technology, or healthy eating, or exercise, or politics, or so many of the other things we put up on pedestals today.  

Paul was distressed to see that in Athens lots of people were worshipping these idols. He went to the synagogue and there he argued with the devout persons—and he was also out in the marketplace, arguing and debating with people there, too. People were thinking, this man Paul needs to come and talk in front of the Areopagus. They brought him before the Areopagus, where those gathered asked him “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?” They wanted to know more, because as they said, “It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.”

Although Paul has a reputation for being too blunt or ‘in your face’ at times (depending which commentaries you read), in this situation Paul did not alienate everyone. He was out there, in the synagogue and in the marketplace, discoursing with people, discussing things that were controversial with people, but the way that he did it didn’t drive them away. Instead, what he was saying and how he was saying it made them more curious—they wanted to continue to hear more from Paul.

Paul goes before this council, the Areopagus, and he says: “’Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’” The point I want to make here about what we can learn from Paul at the Areopagus is this: He observed the culture around him. He did not cut himself off from it. He didn’t identify with it, but he was very familiar with what is going on in the culture so that when he spoke to people who had this different cultural perspective than this own, he was familiar with their practices.

Paul listened to what they were saying, and he looked at their objects of worship so that he could speak meaningfully to them. In other words, through observation and listening he learned about what people on the other side of the issue believed. Paul realized that these idol worshippers were people who were searching for something—they may have searched for it in different ways, but he acknowledged that they shared this concern with him. He found some common ground. He recognized how they were divided: he worshipped God, while they were worshipping idols. But Paul also realized that they, too, were searching for truth, something to give meaning to their lives.

He even showed that he was familiar with their literature and their culture. He quoted their poets: “‘In him we live, and move, and have our being,’ as even some of your own poets have said. ‘For we, too, are his offspring.’” Paul immersed himself in the local culture, different than his own cultural perspective or worldview, and he realized that there was something they had in common. This line, “In him we live, and move, and have our being,” has become important in our own canon of scripture.” Many people don’t realize that Paul, in fact, was quoting these lines from another author in a different cultural tradition.

At the end of his presentation at the Areopagus, one point of contention was whether there was a resurrection of the dead: “When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’ At that point Paul left them. But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” Paul went out there, amid this controversy, and those gathered gave him a hearing. In return, he acknowledged their views, learned about them, and the result was that, while some scoffed, there were plenty of people who said, “You know what, Paul, we would like you to come back. We would like to continue this conversation with you.”

Paul conducted himself in conversation in such a way that it opened the possibility for future conversations to unfold. And there were other people who, because of the way he had presented his ideas, said, “You’ve convinced us, and we will come over to your point of view.” Now that won’t always happen. But the way that Paul had conducted himself in his public discourse with these people with whom he had many differences, it helped them to be open to listening to his point of view.

—Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

What do you do to learn more about the perspectives of those who think or believe differently than you do? How comfortable or uncomfortable do you feel when you find yourself in a discussion about a potentially controversial topic? Beyond this story of Paul at the Areopagus, what others passages of scripture inform how you approach your relationships with people with whom you disagree on important issues?

Daily Challenge

Today’s reflection is an excerpt of a Sunday Forum presentation given at Saint Stephen’s in October 2020. You can find the complete video of “Speaking the Truth in Love: Following Jesus in Our Public Discourse” in our Christian Formation archive on the Saint Stephen’s YouTube channel.