Day 67: Epistle of Joy, Apostle in Prison

These four short chapters Paul writes to the Philippians while he is in prison somewhere.  Some people think he is in prison in Rome, others suspect an earlier imprisonment.  The church in Philippi, which is not a wealthy community, has sacrificed several times in order to send Paul help, and this letter is a thank you note.

For a man in prison, Paul is in incredibly good spirits.  He puts a good construction even on those who oppose him (those who are preaching Christ, but not from good motives), saying to the Philippians that it matters not what the motives are, only that people are preaching and hearing the gospel.  While he is imprisoned, he also encourages them, for he considers that they too live in difficult circumstances (their poverty), and he tells them to look to Christ as they live together in community.  So they are to serve each other, become slaves to one another, as Christ became a slave to us, in order to set us free.

Philippians 2:6-11 is often called "The Christ hymn", is could possibly be a quote from an early Christian hymn.  It expresses the downward ascent of Jesus, who gave up equality with God to walk with us, even to each, and whose name is now exalted above every other name.  This downward ascent Paul also notes is a mark of the Christian life.

Chapter three is memorable to me for a weird reason:  because my uncle (amateur theologian) used to use it as an example of the colorful, earthy language in the Bible.  In chapter three Paul is trying to describe that it is really true, he is really willing to give up everything, everything, for the sake of knowing Jesus and being found in him.  He's not just willing to give up his sins and the things that weigh him down, but even the things thought valuable, his birthright as a Jew, his righteousness by the law.  All these, Paul says, he counts as "loss", or "rubbish", compared to Christ.  Except that he doesn't use the word "rubbish."  He uses the Greek equivalent of the word "shit."  At least, that's what my uncle told me, when I was an impressionable age.  "We try to make Paul and Luther too genteel," he would say to me.

There's a tantalizing little detail here about a couple of women named Syntyche and Euodia.  They are (um) having a fight (even in the early church, there were fights).  Paul takes a little time to tell them to find a way to agree in the Lord.  For there is important work to do, and they are an important part of it (no mere women's work for Euodia and Syntyche).  

Finally, Paul closes this letter with memorable words of Joy.  We are tempted to consider Paul a Pollyanna, saying that he has learned how to be content with plenty, and with scarcity, that they should rejoice in the Lord always, that they should not worry about anything.  He seems a sort of Pollyanna, telling them to "Accentuate the Positive, and Eliminate the Negative", until you remember that he is in prison.  He is not telling them to put on a happy face.  He's telling them to look all the reality of this life in the face, and still believe that God is with them, that God is blessing them, that God is near them.

Day 41: Controversies, Arguments, Imprisonment: The Grace of God

So Paul and his companions have been finding some success preaching the gospel of Jesus among the Gentiles, when there appears a competing group who also preach Jesus -- plus circumcision.  This development leads to the first church convention, where the topic at hand is:  What should we do with all these non-Jewish people who want to be Christian?  Some people thought they ought to be circumcised; others (including Paul) did not.

Success has its price.

As well, note that even at this early date, there were disagreements among believers.  In this case, after heated discussions, the church came to an agreement about what they would ask from the Gentile believers:  not circumcision, but abstaining from eating blood, and food sacrificed to idols, and sexual immorality.

Having dodged this bullet, however, Paul and Barnabas somehow couldn't fix a rift that developed between the two of them.  We really don't know much about the rift, except that it had to do with John Mark.  Barnabas wanted to take him along with them; Paul did not.  On the basis of something as simple as this, Paul and Barnabas part ways.  Paul teams up with Silas, and eventually Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman and a Greek father (interesting that he has Timothy circumcised because of the company with whom he expects to be traveling.)

It's sort of sad that the church could come to an agreement with respect to the first controversial issue they faced, but that Paul and Barnabas couldn't come to an agreement with regard to John Mark.  But that's the way it is in churches sometimes, isn't it?  It is the (seemingly) little things, the rifts between individuals, that catch us up, oftentimes more than the big and controversial theological issues of the day.  it is the arguments about which songs we sing and who distrusts who that end up generating the heat, even now.

That being said, Luke is still pretty clear that it is the Holy Spirit that directs or impedes their progress.  The Holy Spirit leads them to Macedonia, where Lydia hears the message of Jesus and believes.  Later on, though, Paul casts an evil spirit out of a young woman.  This good deed is rewarded with time in prison for Paul and Silas.  (it seems that the evil spirit was a source of revenue for the owners of the young woman.)

As has happened before, a way for the apostle to escape from jail presents itself:  an earthquake!  but this time, instead of escaping, Paul and his friends stay put, and in this way confess their faith in the one who has set them free.

There is more than one kind of captivity
And more than one way to be free.

The Acts of the Apostles..... are to be continued.