Paul's Sermon in Athens: Proclaiming the Truth Amidst Idolatry
May 8, 2024 - Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Acts 17:15, 22—18:1; Ps 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14; John 16:12-15
In today's first reading, Paul is in Athens and delivers his sermon to Greek philosophers at the Areopagus. Saint Luke comments that the apostle "was greatly upset when he saw the city was full of idols" (Acts 17:16). The writers of the Old Testament considered idolatry a sign of human foolishness (see Is. 44:9-20), and Paul saw it as the source of human sinfulness (see Rom 1:18-32). Thus, his statement about the Athenians being "very religious in all respects" could be taken as a tacit rebuke of their religiosity.
The apostle begins his sermon with the declaration of his Jewish monotheistic faith. We have to realize that in the ancient world, the Jews stood unique as believers in only one deity. In proclaiming his faith, Paul is aided by an altar with an inscription: "To an unknown god." He identifies that "unknown god" as the God of the Bible. In the context of so many temples and all the staff needed to maintain the idolatrous worship in those temples, the apostle stresses the fact that the true God, the "Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone" (Acts 17:24-25).
The proclamation of Paul can be further understood with the help of today's Gospel. Today’s Gospel is also prescribed for Trinity Sunday, Year C. From this perspective, we can understand Jesus’ statement: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:12-13). It took the Church many years to realize the true identity of Jesus as both divine and human. It took another few decades to officially declare the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
In our Creed, we profess that the risen and exalted Christ "will come again to judge the living and the dead." That is how Paul was forced to end his sermon. The Greek philosophers did not want to listen anymore. Again, the explanation for such a reaction can be found in today's Gospel: they were not ready to “bear” the whole truth yet. It would take a few centuries before Greece could grasp the whole truth of Paul's preaching. But then, on that apostolic foundation, the Greek Church Fathers built a great theological and spiritual edifice that continues to shape the thinking and worship of the universal Church.
Paul's sermon was cut short, but if the apostle had a chance to continue it, he would probably end with the message of Psalm 148 that calls all creation to worship our awesome God. He began his sermon by proclaiming the truth about God, the creator of heaven and earth, but he was not able to declare something greater, namely that "the first creation finds its meaning and its summit in the new creation in Christ, the splendor of which surpasses that of the first creation” (CCC, 349). The act of creation is the first universal testimony of God’s love and the beginning of the history of salvation, but it culminates in the new creation in Christ (see 2 Cor 5:17; Rom 8:21).