Knowing the Nearby God
[Paul said], “Athenians, as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ – Acts 17:23 (NRSV)
The Apostle Paul trained as a lawyer, but he could have been an investigative journalist. To learn about the Athenians, he’d walked around their city, taking in the sights—especially the statues and idols. He told the city leaders, “I see how extremely religious you are,” for the Athenians even had an altar dedicated “To an unknown god.” They’d covered all their spiritual bases.
As a Jew, Paul knew God’s commandment against graven images. He could have called down divine wrath on the city. He chose not to.
Paul didn’t condemn the Athenians for their statues. Instead, he bore witness to his own experience of God—a living, life-giving Presence that couldn’t be confined in a piece of stone, no matter how exquisitely carved.
Paul had multiple encounters with that Presence. Sometimes, as on the road to Damascus or in the Philippian jail, the experience came with great drama. Other times, he’d known the living God day by day as he’d walked, ridden, and sailed countless miles across the sea. Paul knew the God of the journey, the God of the next step. No graven image, no “unknown god” could possibly have given him what he needed for such a life. Only a living, ever-present God would be with him every step of the way.
The God Paul knew didn’t “live in shrines made by human hands.” Nor, he proclaimed, was this God “far from each one of us.” Unlike the Athenians, God for Paul was known, and God was nearby.
May it be the same for us.
Prayer
In you, Lord, we live and breathe and have our being. Thank you. Amen.
About the AuthorTalitha Arnold is Senior Minister of the United Church of Santa Fe (UCC), Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of Mark Parts 1 and 2 of the Listen Up! Bible Study series and Worship for Vital Congregations.