Unknown
/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.’ - Acts 17:23
I’ve never been to Athens, but I’ve seen lots of pictures of the ancient ruins of the acropolis, the parthenon, the many ancient temples and marketplaces. Whenever I read this passage in Acts, I realize that Paul was walking around exploring that city when all these buildings and temples were whole and functioning. It must have been a grand place to visit!
Acts says, “While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the market-place every day with those who happened to be there.” The picture above is of the ruins of the Agora, or marketplace, so perhaps this was the very place in which Paul was hanging out and arguing. He even struck up a debate with some Stoic and Epicurean philosophers who found his ideas quite novel. “So they took Paul to the Areopagus and asked him, ‘May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.’”
The Areopagus was a kind of court where cases were tried, but it was also where philosophers came together for debating, almost like a sport. The book of Acts says that the Athenians were always looking for a new idea to debate and chew on, so they brought Paul with them there as a new curiosity to consider. Can you imagine what that must have been like? Surrounded by temples dedicated to Greek gods, debating with actual ancient Greek philosophers. This passage tells the story of Paul coming up against the stuff of legends!
Paul begins his presentation by praising the people of Athens for being extremely religious, as witnessed by the many stone temples dedicated to every God imaginable. He notes that while he was walking around, he came upon one altar built ‘to an unknown god,’ and praises how comprehensive these Greeks were! They wanted to make sure they’d covered all the bases by constructing an altar for any god they hadn’t yet discovered or thought about yet. Of course, Paul being Paul, he uses this as a way to share about Christ - introducing them to the God they have not yet met. He tells them about the one Creator God who made all things - a singular God very different from the wide Greek pantheon of Gods. He knows this will be an intriguing new idea to them. This singular God, he tells them, made heaven and earth and all of us! Paul then proceeds to tell the story of God’s creation of the world and subsequent redemption of the world through Jesus’ resurrection, sharing the whole story with Greek references and quotes his audience would know about, but also as a sweeping narrative of his personal encounter with Christ - almost like a Greek legend. The philosophers were intrigued enough by this new angle to want to hear more details and keep thinking further about it at another time (as philosophers do), but there were some others who heard Paul’s passionate testimony and were touched by the spirit of his story and followed him as he left the Areopagus.
Paul felt a kinship with the Greeks’ unknown God, because he knew that you just can’t wrap your mind around God, no matter how deep a thinker you are. But you can share your own true stories about your experiences of God, and those stories can resonate deeply with others. God is far bigger than any stone altar or temple or anything made by human hands. Although we tend to keep God in a safe little understandable box (as humans do), we profess there is always more to be mined and discovered and received through opening a deeper relationship with God through Christ.
Acts tells us that Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, along with a few others followed Paul as he left the Areopagus that day. I find myself wondering what the ongoing sharing and prayers among them that night were like. In what ways did they go beyond debating philosophical ideas? Did they share their personal experiences? Their feelings, their questions, or their wounds with each other? How did they encounter the living God among them in a way that transformed their hearts more deeply?
How and where do you encounter the living, mysterious and un-containiable God? when have you caught glimpses of the God who who is known to our deepest hearts?
The readings for this Sunday are HERE