Acts 17:22-34, Part 2
Morning Prayer
Well, it seems Paul had the Stoics and Epicureans with him (or at least not stoning him) for awhile. That is, until he comes to the heart of his message: “He has given proof of this to everyone by raising that man from death!” The response – ridicule: “When they heard Paul speak about a raising from death, some of them made fun of him.” But what exactly, was the source of the Athenians’ shock and extreme skepticism?
In our own time, I suspect that the main source of resistance is the assumption that such a thing is impossible. Our powers of observation have increased so much that it our view of “reality” is often limited by our senses. Only that which can be verified through the senses can be real. And resurrection seems to be unverifiable. Now, in fact, I believe that an objective investigation of the events surrounding Jesus’s death, the empty tomb, and the disciples’ outlandish claims, for which they were prepared to die, actually leads to Resurrection as the most likely cause of the Easter story.
But, this skepticism isn’t the source of the Stoics’ and Epicureans’ scoffing. Remember that the Epicureans believed that the gods, if they existed, had no involvement with this world. So, happiness in this world was the most you could hope for. Stoics believed that divine reason was in all things, and they sought to free themselves of emotion and be in harmony with this divine reason permeating all things. Either way, they believed that this life was it. The Epicureans’ motto was: Live today for you shall be dead tomorrow. For the Stoics, it was: Don’t be seduced by your emotions, or else you will blow your opportunity to find peace and harmony with the divine in this world; then you’ll be dead and far away from this world.
Either way, their only hope for happiness or peace was to be found now. Paul’s suggestion that life continued after physical death, and that happiness was possible after physical death, was the most outrageous thing he could have said. Does that mean that happiness in this world doesn’t matter at all? Does that mean that this life is unimportant? Sadly, I suspect that the answer which too many in the Church have given is, Yes. This body becomes a prison, for which death becomes a release into “heaven,” where we are finally happy. That isn’t what the first Christians meant by Resurrection. More on that tomorrow.
Morning Prayer
Well, it seems Paul had the Stoics and Epicureans with him (or at least not stoning him) for awhile. That is, until he comes to the heart of his message: “He has given proof of this to everyone by raising that man from death!” The response – ridicule: “When they heard Paul speak about a raising from death, some of them made fun of him.” But what exactly, was the source of the Athenians’ shock and extreme skepticism?
In our own time, I suspect that the main source of resistance is the assumption that such a thing is impossible. Our powers of observation have increased so much that it our view of “reality” is often limited by our senses. Only that which can be verified through the senses can be real. And resurrection seems to be unverifiable. Now, in fact, I believe that an objective investigation of the events surrounding Jesus’s death, the empty tomb, and the disciples’ outlandish claims, for which they were prepared to die, actually leads to Resurrection as the most likely cause of the Easter story.
But, this skepticism isn’t the source of the Stoics’ and Epicureans’ scoffing. Remember that the Epicureans believed that the gods, if they existed, had no involvement with this world. So, happiness in this world was the most you could hope for. Stoics believed that divine reason was in all things, and they sought to free themselves of emotion and be in harmony with this divine reason permeating all things. Either way, they believed that this life was it. The Epicureans’ motto was: Live today for you shall be dead tomorrow. For the Stoics, it was: Don’t be seduced by your emotions, or else you will blow your opportunity to find peace and harmony with the divine in this world; then you’ll be dead and far away from this world.
Either way, their only hope for happiness or peace was to be found now. Paul’s suggestion that life continued after physical death, and that happiness was possible after physical death, was the most outrageous thing he could have said. Does that mean that happiness in this world doesn’t matter at all? Does that mean that this life is unimportant? Sadly, I suspect that the answer which too many in the Church have given is, Yes. This body becomes a prison, for which death becomes a release into “heaven,” where we are finally happy. That isn’t what the first Christians meant by Resurrection. More on that tomorrow.
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