Thursday, 10th Week of Ordinary Time

Acts 12:18-25

Accommodation and confrontation. Both are in ample supply in today’s reading from Acts, which is also the “midpoint” of this book. All the action up to this point has taken place, over a period of 11 years, in that part of the world that today we call, “The Holy Land,” Israel up the Mediterranean cost of present-day Lebanon, and as far north as Antioch, which today is in the far southern tip of Turkey. Most of the rest of Acts will take place wherever Paul is sent by God on his mission trips. The original 12 apostles have figured prominently in the story up to this point. From this point on, Paul steps forward as the principal “hero” of the story.

And today, for the first time, it is “Paul,” not “Saul.” Saul is Hebrew, Paul Greek. And Paul is traveling in prominently gentile country. But “Paul” is not a direct translation of “Saul.” The problem with that Hebrew name is that sounded much like a Greek word that referred to walking effeminantly, like a “sissy” to use a schoolyard term. And so, accommodating the culture in which he walks, Saul goes by a name that sounds like “Saul” but avoids the unhelpful connotation.

And while Paul is known today as the “Apostle to the Gentiles,” he never considered himself no longer a faithful Jew. Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. And Jesus himself said that he had been sent first to the lost sheep of Israel. So today we see the beginning of a pattern repeated wherever Paul went. He goes first to the synagogue, and only he has won as many believers from among the chosen people, does he go to the Gentiles.

Of course, when you break through the barriers by which people create artificial divisions between themselves, you can expect opposition. When you begin to leave the familiar places you’ve known, and venture out to new lands, you can expect opposition. And on the island of Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas were just getting their feet wet in the unfamiliar. Barnabas, after all, was from Cyrpus. But opposition they meet from the magician Elymas, who was not so much an illusionist, but someone who claimed to understand the forces that move the world. And this isn’t like “The Force” of Star Wars, which its adherents understand is something you can’t control or manipulate, but flow with.

Elymas claimed to be able to control these forces, and use them for his own purpose. Today, people read horoscopes, pursue tarot cards readings, and play Ouija. Are the real “forces” there, or are they just illusions? I’m not sure. Are they demonic? Is that what made Elymas a “son of the devil.” Personally, if such “forces” do exist, it is not the forces that are “demonic,” or not. What is wrong is the attempt to use those forces to ward off the unexpected occurrences of life. What is wrong is to use such forces as a means to procure benefits for ourselves, rather than accept God’s blessings, which we can’t control but that come by God’s grace.

Paul accommodates the culture he is evangelizing. He accommodates the tradition of his people. But he is not afraid to confront the forces of the world to which we give power over our lives, and calls us to accept God’s unmerited grace, and abundant blessings.