Sermon preached by Jacob (Jaap) Theunisz, Reader, in St. Anna and St. Mary Anglican Church in Haarlem (the Netherlands).
Readings: Acts 17:22-31; 1Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21.
The book of Acts describes some of the earliest interfaith dialogues – friendly discussions between Christians and representatives of other religions, in this case the Greek. It so happens that this past week the Anglican Church published a Guide for Interfaith Dialogue, with an introduction from the Archbishop. It is so new that I haven’t read it yet, but should you be interested, I can tell you where to find it. But now back to our text…
The Areopagus was the council or court of Athens. There, the apostle Paul had been required to give an account of his novel teachings. This was after he had been preaching the gospel for some time in Athens and having disputes with the philosophers.
And before that St. Paul had seen in a vision that he was needed in Macedonia. By the time he arrived in Athens, he had already had a number of experiences in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. He had even been imprisoned. The people in Athens were more open, as is explained in the verse just preceding our reading. It says, “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas”. We can see a parallel with our time, with its rapid succession of theories, therapies and fashions.
The opening sentence of St. Paul’s speech is rather interesting, as it can be translated in various ways. According to the NRSV Paul compliments the Athenians on their being very religious. Other translations speak of being over-religious, superstitious or idolatrous. The Greek word is derived from the word for demon , and this can mean either a god or an evil spirit. The word demon in turn is derived from the verb ‘daio’, which means to distribute fortunes. So basically we are talking about any power that is worshipped for something we hope to gain.
The more modern translations and commentators all agree that Paul was not trying to offend the Athenians, but that he used their spirituality and openness as a starting point for preaching the gospel. That does not mean that he approved of everything they did, for in verse 16 it says that he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. Neither does it mean that he was showing an artificial friendliness. For it is no contradiction to be distressed and at the same time to respect other people’s religion.
After all, these people were doing what he describes in verse 27, namely “seeking God, and perhaps reaching out for him”. If St. Paul calls them ignorant in verse 29, it is not because they had a statue for the unknown God, but because many thought that the divine being Himself was like gold or silver or stone. The statue for the unknown God represented the doubt in their mind whether God was to be found in any statue, and it was therefore a good thing. The only disadvantage of course being that it was still a statue.
“Unknown” is an important aspect of the true God. Even as Paul passes on the revelation of God in Christ the Messiah, he hints at the mysteriousness of God, a God who is both the Creator and at the same time someone (and I quote) “who is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.” Notice this last sentence. It does not just say that God is everywhere, but that he is intertwined in His creation, that all energy is God’s energy and all existence is part of His existence.
I wonder what the apostle Paul would think of religion in the Netherlands or in the West in general. As he would look upon all the New Age shops, all the churches, religious symbols and practices from all over the world, he would have to repeat, “The God of heaven and earth does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.”
In so called “negative theology” we recognize that whatever we know about God is always at best incomplete and often plain wrong, because His ways are not our ways. In negative theology we arrive at a partial knowledge of God by saying what He is not. That is how we know that He is not a creed, not the sum of our spiritual gifts, neither a force nor some kind of super-human, not an idea, not a name, not a book, not its author, etc.
The Jews knew this principle as well, and they symbolized it, among other things, by not mentioning the name of God. So the unknown God was not unfamiliar to St. Paul. And when he proclaimed the power of the resurrection of Christ, he did not claim that he found out everything about God, but he called for repentance . Many of the Greek philosophers already knew that the power of the gods was not in the statues. Many even knew that their various gods were only human multiple descriptions of one divine reality. But the daily practice in the city was still one of vain repetition and superstition.
And so it is today. Few people know nothing about the spiritual world, and no one knows everything. Many are confused or misled or pretend to know a great deal. So what should our attitude be?
The lectionary has another text for today, which we have not read today. It comes from the first letter of Peter. It says that we should always be ready to give an account of the hope that is within us. Notice that he does not ask us to give an account of our knowledge or dedication, but of our hope. Thanks to Jesus Christ, our hope is more certain than our knowledge or our merit. And Peter adds something that is often forgotten, namely to give this account with gentleness and reverence . Reverence for what? Reverence both towards the gospel, towards ourselves, the situation and the other person! To those who are too modest, perhaps because of their own failures, he says: “Do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord”. And in verse 21 he explains that being a born again Christian is not about being fanatical, but about a purification of one’s conscience, a reconnection to the source of our being. This reading also contains the mysterious text that speaks about Christ’s proclamation to the spirits in prison. I will not elaborate on this, but suffice it to say that it underlines once more how God speaks to people in the most unusual ways, not always via the church.
But what does it mean when our gospel reading, while announcing the Day of Pentecost, says that the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth, because it neither sees nor knows Him? Is that not proof that there is no real life outside the Christian church?
Here we should consider the meaning of “the world” as well as the role of the church. Even conservative theologians admit that the Greek word cosmos that is used here, can have at least 7 different meanings. Here it does not refer to the universe and all living creatures, as we might think. Neither does it refer to everything outside of the Christian church or outside of Israel. Here it means everything that wilfully and knowingly opposes the kingdom of God.
Now, before we conclude that something or someone opposes the kingdom of God, we should be very careful, because many wars and injustices have been started over a mistaken idea of what was opposing the kingdom of God. Even if something opposes the church, that does not mean it will harm the kingdom. A church organisation is a means to proclaim the kingdom of God and a place where the principles of the kingdom of God can be rehearsed. But we cannot say that the kingdom of God is limited to any particular church body. And within the church we sometimes find a disobedience to the spirit of Christ!
Therefore I think the most important part of our gospel reading is the last verse: “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Jesus starts with the commandments of love. If we have an awareness of these principles and apply them, then we will also love Christ. And then we will, one way or another, receive further revelation. So the order is: The commandment of love, then loving Christ, then further knowledge. The place to worship and develop the love of Christ is in the temple of our heart. This is a shrine that has not been made by human hands, it was made by the creator. Here we should repent from all superstition as well as from all pride. Here we who are his offspring, will not be left like orphans, but will find the unknown God.Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
