Today’s post is written by the Revd. Sarah McGiverin.
Track One Reading: Acts 25.1-27; Track Two Reading: Acts 24.10-23
When I was 19, I was accosted by an evangelism team at the shopping mall. I was on my way to a movie with my little brother, when this couple approached and asked me if I was saved. “Yeah, I mean, I believe in Jesus,” I said. “But do you speak in tongues?” They asked, and proceeded to tell my brother and I (in a creepily cheerful tone) that we were doomed to hell because we had not been given the gift of tongues – and that they sure hoped that we would come visit their church sometime, and be really saved.
This was the last straw for me. I was through with church goers, and their self-righteous “Ask me why Jesus loves me better than you,” sales pitch. And so about 6 years passed of me going to church maybe 3 or 4 times a year – trying this church or that church, and deciding (in my own adolescent self-righteousness) that they weren’t “getting it right.”
As I look back over the experience of trying to find my way back to church, it is probably more true to say that (for the most part) I went to a series of churches that were not particularly interested in me. They were interested in themselves – in their programs, in their dwindling numbers, in their past glory, in their wants and needs. If I was even noticed upon walking in the door, I was not noticed as an individual, but as a “young person” who might breathe life into the congregation.
But I didn’t have a lot of life to breathe into anything at the time. I was floundering and needing help. I felt lost – I felt insignificant in the eyes of God and the church and the world and everyone. Saving me was really a simple matter of seeing me.
When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, what impressed her most of all was that, “[he] told me everything I have ever done!” Jesus wasn’t speaking to her as a seeker, as a prospective member – he spoke to her as a person, as a particular individual with a unique life story. Jesus saw the woman at the well, really saw her in particular, and she was saved in the seeing.
I was struck by how, in today’s reading, Paul doesn’t say any more about his faith than is appropriate to the occasion. All he really says about the Way is that it is in continuity with Judaism. Paul presents himself as a Jew who believes in the resurrection of the dead – a Jew just like those who seek to accuse him.
Paul knows why he has been brought before the governor – he is on trial. He does not question Felix’s authority in this matter (though Paul could easily have done so, given his belief that the only law he was subject to was the law of Christ.) His speech before Felix is appropriate to the occasion – he conforms himself to the situation at hand, and to Felix’s expectations – he is a humble supplicant before the power of Rome.
And because he meets Felix where he is, because he sees Felix for who he is, Felix opens the door to Paul – Felix seeks out Paul later and asks for his testimony at a later time. Perhaps Felix was thinking, “At last, a reasonable Christian! Not a raving lunatic, but someone who will answer my questions judiciously.”
This picture of Paul’s interaction with Felix is consistent with what Paul writes in his letters. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul writes about making himself “all things to all people” in order that some might be saved – Paul reaches out to those around him, meeting them as they are, looking for a point of contact, seeking what they have in common as a starting point for a new relationship. (And in order to do this, he must begin by looking hard at the other, by assessing the situation, by seeing the individual before him.) But in Galatians 1, Paul cautions us that it remains important in all things to remember that we do not live to please people, but to please God. And so it is that Paul does not offer a bribe to Felix, though Felix continues to hope for one. Paul will concede Felix’s temporal authority for the sake of the gospel, but he will not cross the line into dishonesty by buying his freedom under the table.
Christ reminds us that the very hairs of our head are numbered – that God knows us intimately, down to the (seemingly) most insignificant detail. This is what it means to be loved by God – we are seen completely, and treasured in our entirety. This is very Good News!
If we are to proclaim this Good News, we must do our best to live into it – loving the individuals who cross our path – who enter our place of worship! – as individuals – meeting them where they are, seeing them. All those who have experienced God’s saving love are charged with proclaiming that gospel – but the medium is indeed part of the message. A shotgun, one size fits all approach says, “you are just a number to us.” Instead, if we reach out in love to real people with unique stories, conforming ourselves to their needs and expectations (as nearly as we may while remaining true to the gospel), if we find the starting point for a new relationship with the one who is aching to be seen, then the day will come when they ask us to tell the story we are burning to share.
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