Fr Matthew Reese

“When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted, ‘The gods have come down to us in human form!’ Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice.” —Acts 14:11–13

On the eastern border of Syria lies the ruined village Dura-Europos. Rediscovered in the 1880s but not excavated until 1922, Dura-Europos was an extraordinary archeological find. Buried under the sands since the third century, it was uncommonly well preserved––baths, shops, barracks, temples. At its height, there were probably only 10,000 people in Dura-Europos… but nineteen temples. Temples to Artemis, Atargatis, Mithras, Bel, Adonis, and three incarnations of Zeus––just for good measure. There was an exquisitely painted synagogue. And in a small, inconspicuous house, a chapel and baptistry with the oldest known surviving depiction of Christ.

Dura-Europos may have been a provincial garrison town, but it had a thriving religious marketplace. Temples and gods to suit every purpose, every desire, every anxiety… This is the world of Barnabas and Paul.

In today’s lesson from Acts we find a rather different reception than that to which the apostles were accustomed. Not persecution, but deification. “The gods have come down to us in human form,” they shout! “Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes.” How easy it might have been for these men to assent to the lie. “Why yes, now that you mention it, I am Zeus… and while I have you, Zeus has some demands.”

But they don’t do this. Not only do they deny the charge, they run into the fray: “Friends, why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them!”

I haven’t heard much about the Cult of Mithras lately, but certainly our own “spiritual marketplace” is just as bewildering, just as commercial, just as full of false idols––and idols of our own making. Yet in that fray there is always the spirit of the living God, guiding, encouraging, sustaining––a still small voice of calm. May we, like Barnabas and Paul, have ears to hear.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Matthew