In the Footsteps of Paul: Seeking Resilience in Athens

In the Footsteps of Paul: Seeking Resilience in Athens; Acts 17:16-31

Sometimes it’s hard to see the good in people. We all have those days, or weeks when it seems like we are surrounded by idiots.

• This fall someone in South Carolina was upgrading their property for hundreds of dollars, and a tourist was having a good old time in New York–all with my credit card number.
• Last week someone told me about a terrible experience at a business where everything was done wrong, and they were most interested in asking them not to give a bad Google review.
• Or we all have those days when we can’t ever get to a live person on a customer service line.
• Some days, we’re doing the best we can, but someone decides to go off on us anyway.
• And then there's those uninformed social media rants…

At times like these, our resilience has disappeared. It’s hard to get up on the right side of the bed, feel like we live on the sunny side of the street, full of the light of Christ, with prayers, hope, and good will toward all. How can we get our resilience, our bounce-back-ability back?

I imagine the Apostle Paul wondered the same thing. I am not sure what happened to him between setting up churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea before arriving in Athens. I know he can be arrogant, but something made him cranky, and it was hard for him to see the good in people when he arrived in Athens. Paul most likely travelled by boat from northern Macedonia. Maybe he got sea-sick. Maybe he felt lonely, leaving Silas and Timothy behind to support the churches he had already established. Maybe his early successes made him cocky and full of himself and he expected immediate success.

Whatever it was, when he arrived in Athens, he behaved like a jerk—like someone who had lost his resilience and ability to engage with people. What did he encounter? Paul would have seen much of what we see today. Paul would have seen the Acropolis- - except they weren’t ruins, they were active Temples; they were not white marble–they were garishly painted in bright reds, vivid blues, striking golds--even pillars themselves were painted. By the time Paul arrived, Athens' political and economic glory days were 500 years in the past. Athens still had universities, philosophy, and temples, but it was not important politically or economically.

First Paul went to the Agora–the marketplace, and center of commerce (in Roman cities it would be called the Forum). It would have been dusty, noisy, full of stalls, statues, and people debating, buying, teaching, and worshiping. There would have been government offices and entertainment. Paul would have spent his time in the back, in the 3rd Stoa arguing. “Stoa” is where we get the word “stoic” philosophers.

Paul also went to the synagogue, which was his practice in every city –where he would debate, sharing Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. But Paul walked through Athens with all these idols and temples to pagan gods, and he thinks, “they are wrong, wrong, wrong! If they had any brains, they would listen to me and hear that I am right about God in Jesus Christ! Granted, Paul was highly educated and trained as a Pharisee, the strictest sect of Judaism, but in Athens, he comes off accusing people of being stupid and thick-headed. The other philosophers of Paul’s day called him a “pretentious babbler.” In polite company, we might call him a jackass.
Not the way to win friends for Christ, nor influence people. Not very resilient after his work establishing the last three churches. Today there are statues of the important philosophers of west and the east– Socrates and Confuscious.

Paul did make enough of impression to be invited to the Areopogus (that's in the Acts passage we read). 

It’s a pretty big rocky hill. Areopagus Greek word for “Mars Hill”- Mars was the Roman God of War. Aries-Mars, opagus-hill =Mars Hill. This was not just any place–it was a place where court was held and very serious decisions were made. Trials of the most dangerous criminals were held here–murders and enemies of the state.
Paul was on trial with his life, and to speak at the Areopagus was loaded with significance. You can see how close it is to the great temples of Athens on the Acropolis. What does Paul see and understand? You can see the Acropolis from everywhere! Even from the highest point in Athens, Lycabettus Hill, the Acropolis stands out with the Aegean Sea behind it. The Acropolis dominates the landscape, even today--their religion and spiritual life matters to them.

The entrance to the acropolis, which was never completed, is called the Propilia. It was majestic, so people entering would know they were coming to a Holy place.
Some scholars think Paul would not have entered this place. I don’t agree. Paul would have had to go to the places that meant so much to the Athenians to speak authentically with them about Jesus.

The Parthenon, of course had no scaffolding in Paul's day, and it was painted. It’s a temple to virgin Athena who is the patron Goddess of Athens. It stood for 900 years, and then next 900 years it was a cathedral to the Virgin Mary, then the Ottomans, made it a mosque for 200 years. The columns are missing on the west side. After it became a mosque with the Ottomans, they used it to store gunpowder. Then in a war with Venetians in the 1600’s, they lobbed a canon ball up there and the gun powder blew up. Parthenon has been a ruin since 1681. Let that be a lesson– if you value your Temple, building or sanctuary–don’t store gunpowder there!

The Erechtheion was a dual Temple to both Athena and Poseidon, God of the Sea. This is where they Planted a sacred Olive Tree–the sign of fertility and of Life. They also had salt water spring in honor of God Poseidon inside the temple. One can also see Athena Nike, the Goddess of victory. In Greek iconography, it would be woman with wings because Victory is fleeting, and it would go where the gods would have it go. But in this Temple, Nike had no wings because Athenians declared eternal victory in 400’s BC. 500 years later, Athens was a 2nd rate provincial city, so, beware what you claim to be eternal, (other than Jesus Christ our Lord!).

With all of these Temples looming above him and the weight of being on the Aeropagus Paul, with the power of Jesus Christ working through him, gave up his need to be right, arrogant, and cocky, and he met people right where they were, with what they believed. The Holy Spirit revived him because building the movement of Jesus' love and salvation was going to take resilience, and Paul was out of it. So, filled with the Spirit, Paul stopped looking at everything that was wrong with worshipping idols, and he found something positive in it. Paul starts out so differently, instead of berating them, he affirms them:

“Athenians, I can see how spiritual you are in every way! (not stupid idiots).
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.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is the Lord of heaven and earth…he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. ..for indeed this God is not far from each one of us.
For 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."

Just like at other sites of Paul’s ministry–his jail cell in Philippi, and the site of Baptism at Lydia’s river, I sat on the Aeropagus and wept at the enormity of Paul’s ministry. Was he flawed and arrogant? Yes, of course. Did he act like a big jerk, wanted to be right, argued people down, and was he sick of the idiots around him? Yes, sometimes– like all of us. 

But then the life of Jesus would just shine through him–sometimes because of him, sometimes in spite of him. Paul continued to have the resilience to keep going, even when he was fed up with the human race, and cranky because he encountered fools. The point is, Paul didn’t have to muster resilience himself –he asked the Lord for help––to help him see the good, to give him the words, to enable him to look for the positive, to show him the light, to help him give up being right.

The real impact of Paul was seen back down on the ground, near the Stoa and the Agora where Paul was called a pretentious babbler. We could see this Temple off to the side of the Agora when we were on top of the Acropolis. This is the Temple of Hephaestus – He was the god of fire, metalworking, and craftsmanship. The Roman equivalent  of Hephaestus was called Vulcan, the god of fire and volcanos. The word “volcano” actually comes from his name, Vulcan. This temple was built in the 400’s BCE and one reason it’s in so much better shape than other ruins, is that its location meant it was not a target in war. The other reason is it was used for Christian worship beginning in the 600’s and continued into the 1800’s. It’s one of the places of Christian worship that was never turned into a mosque during Ottoman rule. After Greek independence in 1830, it was preserved as an ancient monument.

The very place where Paul seemed to fail the worst, became the very location where Christian worship was central for 1200 years.!And there’s still a strong, beautiful Orthodox Greek church alive and well in Athens. It’s very fitting that the Temple of Haphaestis should be the place of an effective Christian witness after Paul’s initial cranky, arrogant failure there. Haphaestis was the divine blacksmith who created weapons, armor, and beautiful works for the gods. Despite his skill, myths describe him as physically disabled. Paul himself had a thorn in the flesh that he prayed God would take away, but God said that his grace was sufficient. And that’s true for all of us, whatever our limitations, our arrogance, our cranky, bad days or weeks– God can use us, Jesus can shine through us, the Holy Spirit can revive our resilience and give us a fresh way to see, a better way to think, talk, and act.

Our resilience for this new week comes not from trying harder, but like Paul, it comes from asking Jesus to work in us and through us– both because of us, and in spite of us, as we limp along beside Paul. So ask the Lord for the resilience and bounce-back-ability you need at this time, this week. There are people you haven’t talked with, met yet, or encountered in your daily activities that are going to need your particular shine, your light, your kindness, and maybe even, an invitation to an awesome church community!