Preke - Sermons - 2022

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.

18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”

21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

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.

Our Bible text for today is the beginning of the famous Areopag speech. The Evangelist Luke calls this speech the most important turning point in Paul's work as an apostle. What is then so important in this speech? Up till now Paul always addressed faithful Jews on his missionary travels where he tried to convince them to the new faith. Now, in Athens, at the market, he has to speak to a very different kind of people. Let us imagine it: It is a colourful lot of people who gather at the marketplace. For

Paul, this is an entirely different situation: he has to tell them about what is important to him. It is far more complicated, difficult and challenging.

There is another difference: Up to now he had traveled to small rural towns. Now he was venturing into a big city: into the lion's den. Athens is, together with Rome, the cultural centre of the Roman Empire. A city with thousands of inhabitants; with time-honoured traditions, with famous philosophical schools; with priceless cultural wealth; For Paul this strange. We can imagine how difficult it was for him to find his way in this city. As he walked through the streets he was surprised to see that so many different religions had settled there. Here in Athens we found almost everything religion could offer. Paul was astonished to see so many temples for all possible gods. There were statues and altars. There were magicians, and prophets, gurus, religious orators, charlatans. All forms of adoration were there and all possible cults. The people of Athens had thought of everything. And for in case they had forgotten something, they even had an altar for an unknown god. Because you never know....

It was popular to belong to more than one cult. Maybe we can gain something from another cult... better to not miss something... They mixed their own religious cocktails. A bit of Zeus and a bit of Athena; that was tradition. A bit of philosophy, a bit of skepticism, the more the better. A little bit of eastern mysticism was the 'in thing'. To meditate was also 'in'. And always keep your eyes open for something new. It was no wonder that Paul was unhappy with what he saw. Then he thought that maybe some of the Athenians would be interested in what he has to say. Maybe they will listen to his story.

Paul was angry about what he saw. He did not want to support any of what Athens had to offer. For him it was a horror. The Athenians built temples for their gods so that they could be happy in there. They served their gods an brought sacrifices to keep their gods in a good mood. And actually they did not take their gods or themselves seriously.

What was he doing here with these saturated, overstimulated, bored people? They will probably listen to him but will he be able to convince them? Will he be able to motivate them? Paul did not want to be used as amusing entertainment. He was nearly losing his temper. But he knew that that would bring him nowhere. He also knew that the people who listened to him on the Areopag Hill were nor bad people. They were curious. So he let himself be convinced to go to the Areopag. He went to the time-honoured place where the Athenian authority for education and science was situated. No easy task was waiting for Paul if he wanted to give more than an entertaining little speech. How was he to present something that was so radically different from everything that Athens could offer.

It was important to start correctly. He had to catch the people's attention in the first two sentences. He had to say something that would awaken the curiosity of the Athenians.

How does Paul do that?

I read to you the start of his speech:

“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.

I find it a very good way to start his speech. “ I see that you take the honour of your god seriously” And then : “I saw an altar with the inscription: To the unknown god”. With this opening Paul could explain his own theological concept. He then followed it up by posing questions on the religious ideas of the Athenians. He stressed the point that they had honoured this unknown god already for a long time. They had honoured him without knowing him. So he had a legitimate reason to talk about this god.

Paul proclaims this unknown god to the people of Athens. And that is more or less our own situation now 2000 years later. God has become unknown to us. The God that we read about in the Bible is an indisputable fact. Many people today do not know how to deal with this God anymore.
About ten days ago I had a discussion with young people on the topic of “Faith in God”. The young people had difficulties with this topic. I think many people have difficulties with this. The God of our childhood, the friend, the old man with white hair , sitting on a cloud, is gone. When we are not young

anymore, we say: those were only pictures. Reality is something else. The God of our childhood has no place in our world. Only fragments of it remains. It is very sad that we have only fragments left in our hands. The fragments have no fascination anymore. We are left with only nostalgic feelings. We have a longing for something more than the fragments we have. It is this self same longing of today that was the fertile soil in which Paul's words fell in Athens. It is this longing that drives people to church on Christmas eve every year. It is this longing that makes people search for what they once had.

After the tactical start of his speech , Paul continues: The pictures they have of their gods are childish. No wonder that the Athenians are looking for other gods. Paul tells them: God does not live in a temple that was made by hand. He does not let people serve him with their hands as if he needs something. The Athenians could not answer him back. We also do not have an answer to Paul's message. In fact, is it not a relief when someone says exactly what we knew all along?
For many of us, our religion came to and end when we lost our childhood faith. In the life of an adult there is no time or place for such childish pictures. Only rarely do we still look at those childhood pictures.
Only a few find a new entrance to religion. And mostly it is a long difficult way. How does one find a way back to religion?
Paul shows us a way that can help us: that we must learn again how to marvel and not take everything for granted. Paul talks about the mystery of life. Is life not a miracle in itself? Life with its peculiarities and its precipices is a miracle. We did not take life; it was given to us. Is the birth of a child not a miracle? Out of one minute cell comes life; comes a person with feelings and dreams. Paul also mentions that life has its limits. One day this life will come to an end. We will only live for a finite time. We landed on earth without doing anything ourselves. We must be amazed about so many aspects of our lives. Our lives, even our adult lives are shrouded in mystery; that we cannot understand and we don't have words for it.
Maybe we remember our childhood pictures of which only fragments remain. When we look at the fragments we are not so sure anymore that it was childish. The pictures we had in our childhood are broken; maybe they must be broken because we had outgrown our childhood. But who knows, maybe the pictures will become whole again, the fragments will shine once more with a light we cannot measure and cannot understand. But we may one day see a bit of of the mystery behind it all. We distanced ourselves from it. And now it is closer to us again. For Paul says:

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.

Dear congregation, all is not said yet. Paul knows that it is only the beginning. He continues with his speech and his pictures of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. But today is about something else. Today is about becoming uneasy and searching anew. More questions and answers will come at its own time and of its own will.