Acts, Chapter 19 (NRSV)What I notice about today's reading in Acts is the operation of two different ways of interacting with world around us. As the circle of conflict that Paul is encountering grows, he is starting to face increased opposition from the established pagan institutions in western part of Asia. The core of the conflict in this chapter seems to be about the way we interact with the divine.
Earlier in our readings I mentioned in passing the difference between magic and faith. Magic is an attempt to control the world around us, usually by some sort of mechanism that binds greater power to our will.
The story which we read today about the exorcists who started using the name of Jesus to try to cast out demons is an excellent example of this. Jesus' name in this case doesn't represent a sign of a relationship between the exorcist and Our Lord. It's a token of power that the exorcists hear being used by the followers of the Way, and which the exorcists decide to add to their bag of tricks. But as the demons say in response, "Jesus I know, Paul I am familiar with… but who are you?" Using the name of Jesus not in response to the urging of the Spirit, but rather at ones desire for personal gain, doesn't turn out well. It's a magical use. And it's not what God would have us ever do.
Paul's ability to have a relationship with Jesus is the root of "unusual miracles" that are being performed in his presence. Paul is not seeking to do anything for himself. Certainly he is not seeking money in the way that the exorcists were doing. You can see this in action in how the great miracle, the gift of the Holy Spirit, happens in the very beginning of the chapter.
Paul meets believers who had not yet been baptized into a relationship with Jesus. They knew the baptism of John, which was meant to be a sign that pointed to Jesus, but they had not yet encountered the living words. Paul baptizes them in the name of Jesus and then lays his hands upon them. (The laying on of hands by the apostle, which is described a number of times in Acts is generally used as the scriptural warrant for the rite of confirmation by a bishop by the way.) Paul does not call down the Holy Spirit. The Spirit comes when the Spirit decides to come. But in this case the way for the believers to enter into a relationship with God has been opened by the baptism which binds them into relationship with Jesus. Paul's action of laying on of hands represents their being bound in a relationship with the whole of the Church.
Now reread the last part of today's chapter. There's no mention of relationship between the silversmiths and the "image of Artemis which fell from the sky". At least there's no personal relationship, no emotional connection. The relationship is only one of personal gain. The silversmiths sell copies of the image to people who travel to Ephesus. And I'd wager that the people who bought them weren't planning on using them to deepen their emotional connection to their goddess. They most likely bought them to serve as amulets or as a form of spiritual protection. The way those particular cults worked was that you offered something to the god, and if the god decided your offering was sufficient, the god would do what you wanted. That's magic.
Faith, on the other hand, grows from relationship. And relationship is based in a sort of mutuality, a shared engagement with one another and even a vulnerability that simply isn't present in an attempt to control. Faith (trust) finds God active and present in everyday life and seeks to understand what this presence can teach us. Faith expects that God is already active in our lives and does not need to be bribed. Faith receives from God and does not dictate to God. When miracles occur, they are clearly a result of placing ourselves more fully in the presence of God, not as a result of some form of trickery or binding of God.
There are some scholars who argue that Christianity (and Judaism) is not a religion in the strictest sense of the word, but really a philosophy. The argument is based in the ideas that I'm writing about here.
How often to you go to God attempting to make a bargain that you do "this" if God will do "that" for you? How does that work out when you do that? In my case, it hardly ever turns out well. What does seem to "work" is for me to open myself to what God has in mind in any particular moment, and if it turns out to be something I feared, looking to find a way to trust that God was present in the moment all the same. Have you managed to do that at one time in your life? How did that work out?
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