Text: Acts 17:22-31
Theme: "Remembering Dionysius and Damaris"
6th
Sunday of Easter
May
25, 2014
FIRST
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Denton,
Texas
Rev.
Paul R. Dunklau
+In
the Name of Jesus+
22 Paul
then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very
religious. 23 For
as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even
found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are
ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim
to you.
24 “The
God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And
he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself
gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From
one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and
he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their
lands. 27 God
did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find
him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For
in him we live and move and have our being.’[a] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[b]
29 “Therefore since we
are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or
silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In
the past God overlooked such
ignorance, but
now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For
he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to
everyone by raising him from the dead.”
There you have it: a good,
solid passage from the book of Acts. Acts,
in a nutshell, tells us that Christianity is a missionary faith. It doesn't
sit still. Acts gives us the
record of how the gospel picked up steam,
gained traction, and hit the road.
Acts begins with the Ascension of the Lord and then the Day of Pentecost
in Jerusalem. From there, the narrative
is like a travelogue with the ultimate destination being Rome, the capital city
of the world at the time. Finally, the apostle Paul arrived there through an interesting set of circumstances.
But that story is for another day.
He, Saint Paul, took at
least three missionary journeys after he was converted to Christianity. On one of them, he stopped in Greece. And it
wasn't just any place in Greece; he went to Athens. And it wasn't some Athenian
street corner where there might be a 7-11 today. No, he went to the Areopagus. It was a place where the civil and criminal
issues of the day were judged and resolved.
It was like a court. If you were a member of the Areopagus, you were an
Areopagite. It was also a central gathering place for the
great thinkers of the day to share their thoughts on philosophy, politics, religion, and all other various and sundry
"hot button" topics. Everything
was fair game to be sliced, diced, and discussed. The Areopagus was sort of a "think
tank." If you wanted to get in on
the latest and greatest things being tossed around intellectually in the
Greco-Roman world, there was no better place than the Areopagus. There had to have been the ancient version of
a Starbucks nearby. "I'll have a
venti Greco-Romanio with three extra shots of expresso, thank you!
The Romans named the Areopagus "Mars Hill" for the Roman god of
war. But there was no fighting going on
that day. The old god Mars must have
been resting. Paul took his leisurely time strolling around the area. He was just another face in the crowd and
indistinguishable from all the rest. He
does marvel at Athenian culture and notes that they appear to be a very
religious people. There were shrines and
little temples everywhere for every conceivable deity. Just in case they missed anything or anyone,
there was even an altar where sacrifices could be made to "An Unknown
God." If you are truly to be cosmopolitan and inclusive of all ideas, then
you best have all your bases covered. "There might be a god we don't even
know about, so best have a place to go worship him, her, or it."
Inevitably, Paul got his vocal chords into gear. Christianity is a
missionary faith, and it is also a vocal faith.
It needs a voice. He gains
admission to a meeting of the Areopagus and apparently is given speaking
privileges. Referencing his discovery of the altar to the "Unknown
God", he declares: "So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship
-- and this is what I'm going to proclaim to you."
With an economy of words, with a few short phrases, he gives them
the history of salvation which reaches its zenith in the resurrection of
Jesus. His challenge is not for them to
build more shrines and have more discussions about the next set of gods --
known or unknown -- to come down the pike.
His call is to repent, to change one's mind about God and then to believe that God, in Jesus,
will come back one day to judge the world.
The resurrection is proof of that.
How did it go over? How did
it all turn out in the Areopagus? Did
his listeners sit there spellbound? Did
babies stop crying? Could you hear a pin
drop? Well, things in Christianity don't
always go over like gangbusters. Not
everyone is going to sign on, join up, repent, believe, and order a new Bible
on Amazon.com. While the gospel is
"the power of God unto salvation," it does suffer itself to be
rejected. You can say no to Jesus, think that His existence and his death and
resurrection are all a bunch of nonsense, and go on your merry way. In cosmopolitan and inclusive America, no one
is going to shake a stick at you for that.
It's freedom; it's your prerogative.
In the book of Acts, we are told of the reaction: "When they heard about the resurrection
of the dead, some of them sneered."
They gave Paul what some today call the "stink eye". Others "said 'We want to hear you again
on this subject.'" They remind me
of those nowadays who are "curious" about the faith -- maybe not a
lot curious but just a little. The church, for better or worse (and, in my
opinion, mostly for worse ) labels them
"seekers."
The text says that when Paul left the Areopagus, some followed him
and believed. Two from that group are
mentioned by name: Dionysius (a man and
a member of the Areopagite Council) and Damaris (a woman). All we know of them from the Bible is that
they heard and received the good news proclaimed by Paul, and they
believed. That's all; that's it; that's
the sum total of what we know of them.
Later tradition says that Dionysius would eventually become the
Christian bishop of Athens.
Dionysius the Areopagite.
His name goes into English as Dennis.
Nothing changed for him that day except everything. And what of Damaris? Every year, on October 3, the eastern
orthodox churches observe Saint Damaris's day.
And if you visit modern Athens,
you may find yourself on the Odos Damareos -- the "Damaris Road."
There's nothing -- not the least little bit -- about the awards
these two won, about the degrees they earned, about the wealth they may or may
not have generated or kept, about their achievements or the status -- celebrity
or otherwise -- that they reached in life. They are all but unknown -- inconsequential
at best and non-existent at worst -- to the world. All that is said of them is that they heard
and believed.
On Memorial Day Weekend, a wreath is laid -- with much civic
ritual -- at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery
across the Potomac from our nation's capitol in Washington D.C. The names of the soldiers buried there who
were killed in action in American wars, the monument says, are known only to
God. All we know about them is that they
gave "the last full measure of devotion."
We have the names of Dionysius and Damaris. But there were others,
Acts tells us, who heard and believed
Paul's message at the Areopagus, and we don't know their names. Like the unknown soldiers, they are unknown
followers of Christ -- unknown to us, that is.
But they are known to God.
What is that brings you the most comfort -- that you know God or
that God knows you?
Just to review: we have
observed that Christianity is a missionary faith; it's always on the move. Second, we've learned that Christianity is a
vocal faith; it has a message -- specifically, the good news of Jesus -- to be
spoken. Third, the faith can be sneered
at, "stink eye"'d, and rejected.
And finally, it is a faith of being known. You see, it's not that we know God but that
God knows us. Better yet, God loves us.
"God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son."
There may be times when you feel like little more than a number on
someone else's ledger. You may feel
unknown -- unknown by others and not even sure if you know yourself
anymore.
When that happens, remember the Areopagus; remember what God's
Word has shared this day. Remember that
great word from God and make it your own:
"Do not be afraid. I have
ransomed you. I have called you by name. You are mine."
Amen.
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