Apollos: Deepening our faith
May 11, 2024 - Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Acts 18:23-28; Psalm 47:2-3, 8-9, 10; John 16:23b-28
Today, in the first reading, Paul embarks on his third missionary journey. This journey mainly focuses on strengthening the Christian community established during his first and second missions. In the Gospel, Jesus also strengthens his disciples with the incredible promise: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete" (John 16:23-24). Until now, Jesus provided for everything. Now, He was to return to the Father, and they would have to learn how to live by faith.
While Paul was strengthening disciples in "the region of Galatia and Phrygia" (Acts 18:23), Luke takes us to Ephesus, the capital of the Roman province of Asia, and famous for the nearby Temple of Artemis - a goddess of childbirth. He introduces us to Apollos, a Hellenistic Jew from Alexandria, the capital of Egypt.
I like the description of our faith in those initial days of the Church: "the way of the Lord/God" (Acts 18:25;26). The word "religion" does not appeal to contemporary people. "Religion" is often associated with dogmatic statements that seem to be challenged by our scientific worldview and with a moral code that curtails our freedom. On the other hand, many people are searching for a way of life that would bring them happiness and fulfillment. Unfortunately, because of its negative association with religion, they do not consider Christianity as a viable option in their search. I think that we need to help the world rediscover that Christianity is the way of life, that as Christians we are the followers of the Way and the messianic people.
When and how Priscilla and Aquila arrived in Ephesus is not clear, but for the second time, Luke makes that couple instrumental in the life of another disciple of Christ. In Corinth, they helped Paul; now, in Ephesus, they took Apollos under their wings. They continued the catechesis of that unknown person(s) who introduced Apollos to all the facts about Jesus and taught him about the baptism of John the Baptist. Luke does not tell us what was the content of that additional instruction given by Priscilla and Aquila to Apollos. I can only think that it had to include the teaching about the necessity and the meaning of Christian baptism and introduction to the mystery of the Holy Spirit.
Let us go back again to the great promise of Jesus recorded in John's Gospel (see John 16:23-24). The question is: what should we ask for? What was the early Church asking for after the risen Jesus returned to the Father? They were praying for the fulfillment of Jesus' promise about the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is what we should ask for, "so that [our] joy may be complete" (John 16:24). That is what the baptism of John lacked and what the Christian baptism brings to our life. The Holy Spirit comes upon us, and we become a living temple of God.
Apollos, properly instructed in "the Way of God", moved from Ephesus to the province of Achaia of which Corinth was the capital. Luke tells us that "he gave great assistance to those who had come to believe through grace" (Acts 18:27). That is what happens to a person transformed by baptismal grace and the power of the Holy Spirit. Through such people, the Gospel spreads across the globe, and the people acknowledge Christ as the promised Savior and as the Ruler over all the nations (see Ps 47:8).