Acts 17:16-34I suspect Paul was a little relieved that he got off of Mars Hill, where the Aeropagus was located, with nothing worse than being made fun of. Remember that when I started this series on Monday, I pointed out that by seeming to preach “foreign gods,” Paul was being accused of the same thing for which the Athenians had sentenced Socrates to death. Still, it is sad to see this city, so full of wisdom and cynicism, be so unresponsive to the Good News. Paul may have found a few believers. But clearly, he failed to build a church, a community that would have the power to change the culture of Athens.
But what about us? Where is our Mars Hill? Where do we need to look for the altars to unknown gods as a common base of agreement from which we can then tell the Good News of Resurrection? But most importantly, what barriers are we putting on ourselves and the story we have to tell? That really is the first question we need to ask ourselves before we try to persuade someone else that we actually have good news for them.
For some, there is the Mars Hill of science, where true beauty is found in this world, and the observations of that beauty. Far too many people have heard the message of Resurrection as a rejection of this world, or as a trump card against the death that pervades this world, so that Christians can ignore this world and focus on the next. Paul made it clear that this world is, indeed, beautiful, because God made it so. And the Resurrection of Jesus was not an escape from the physical world, but the beginning of this world’s redemption from death. The Resurrection is for all of us, and we need to look for the sprouts of resurrection all around us, in the beauty of this world, the wonder of life and the mystery of love.
For some, there is the Mars Hill of individual freedom against all the powers of the world that would control us in the pursuit of their agendas. We Americans are very jealous of our freedom, and suspicious of institutions claiming to look out for our good, so long as we accept their version of our well-being. We the Church are more than an institution. We are the Body of Christ, Jesus’s hands and feet, arms and legs, carrying Jesus’s love to those who need it. But we are also an institution, with bills to pay and goals to reach. And we still have a position of privilege in this society that can make us complacent. I remember being at the ecumenical Palm Sunday service this year, and hearing the Preacher complain about there not being enough people there, and all the people who weren’t coming to church, and therefore, weren’t being saved. Perhaps we should ask those people why they don’t come to church, and let their answers sink in, rather than complain about their absence.
Mars Hill is out there. And so is the Risen Jesus, with those who need to hear, not agendas or finger-wagging sermons, but Good News.
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