An Ephesian interlude (10): a reflection for Day 18 of Lent

 

“While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Then he said, “Into what, then, were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” (Acts 19.1-3, NRSVUE)

     Acts 19 begins with this fascinating episode of Paul finding 12 disciples[1] of John the Baptist in Ephesus (cf. Ac. 19.7; Lk. 5.33; 7.18; 11.1).  What “in the world” were they doing there?  Though I usually think of John the Baptist’s circle of influence as having been limited to Galilee and Judea, where he seems to have spent most of his time (cf. Lk. 1.39-45; 3.1-3), the book of Acts suggests that his followers, like those of Jesus/Paul, took his message far beyond the limits of the Holy Land (cf. Ac. 18.24-25; 11.19-21).  When you think about it, this actually makes sense.  If John’s message was indeed an eschatological warning to “all Israel” to repent and prepare for the coming One (cf. Lk. 3.3-6, 15-17; 7.18-19), it is perfectly understandable that his disciples would take his message to the Jewish diaspora scattered through the Roman empire (cf. Ac. 2.5-11).

     Indeed, just a few verses before our episode, we find a reference to yet another initiate of John’s baptism – Apollos (Ac. 18.24-25).  It’s not clear what the relationship was, if indeed there was any, between Apollos and the disciples of John that we encounter in chapter 19.  What we do know is that they were all in Ephesus at one point.  In the cause of imaginative reconstruction, let’s say that some of John’s disciples travelled to Apollos’ home town of Alexandria, the university town par excellence at the time.[2]  And let’s say that it was there[3] that a brilliant, young, Hellenistic-Jewish-(eventually) Christian[4] scholar – named for the Sun god – was baptized into John’s program of repentance, covenantal renewal and eschatological expectation.  Now things take an interesting turn – Apollos, we are told, “had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and he…taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John” (Ac. 18.25).  Did John’s disciples teach Apollos about Jesus?  Or had he met some “Jerusalem-authorized” (cf. Ac. 8.14-17; 11.22-24) Jesus followers after having received John’s baptism?  We just don’t know.  At any rate, Apollos comes to Ephesus and starts preaching about Jesus in the synagogue (Ac. 18.26).  Did he perhaps understand himself to be on a mission to the Jewish diaspora, à la Paul?  Was he the one who baptized the 12 disciples that Paul finds upon his return to Ephesus (Ac. 19.1-7)?  Alas, once again, we just don’t know.  Upon hearing Apollos preach – presumably during a Sabbath-gathering – Priscilla and Aquila, a Jewish couple from Rome and friends of Paul[5], take Apollos under their wing and get him up to speed theologically before sending him – full circle – to Corinth, where he puts his eloquence and knowledge of the Scriptures to good use (Ac. 18.27-28; cf. Lk. 24.25-27).

     We must never forget that even Paul, the “apostle to the Gentiles”, understood himself to be on a mission that always prioritized his dispersed Jewish compatriots (cf. Rom. 1.16; 9.1-5; Ac. 9.15-16).  As the narrative of Acts draws to a close, we find Paul, under arrest in Rome, meeting with representatives of the local Jewish community (Ac. 28.17-28).  True to the pattern that has repeated itself since chapter 13, the Jews of Rome have a very mixed response to Paul’s gospel, and he quotes Scripture to justify his “turning” his attention to the Gentiles.  The mission to the Jewish diaspora seems to me to be a somewhat neglected dimension of the narrative of Acts.  However, it was indeed the case that there were Jews in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (cf. Ac. 1.8).  This sheds light on why the risen Jesus gave this answer to the apostles’ question about him “restoring the kingdom to Israel” (Ac. 1.6; cf. Lk. 24.21).  Jesus’ oblique answer was, in effect, Yes!  This is how the kingdom will be restored: you will go to – among many others – the dispersed people of God (cf. Jn. 11.49-52) and witness to my resurrection (my Messiahship).  Of course, the Messiah of Israel is the Lord of the nations (cf. Ps. 2.7-8; Ac. 4.23-28). 

     The “gathering” of the dispersed people of God began at Pentecost (Ac. 2.5-11) and continued whenever Paul and the others make converts in the synagogues of the empire (cf. Ac. 11.19; 18.5-8; 19.8-9, etc.).  Of course, the radical thing about this “in-gathering” of the people of God is that diaspora Jews are being invited to integrate communities composed of both “Jews and Greeks” (cf. Ac. 18.4; 19.10, 17; Gal. 3.28).  The risen Messiah is forming a “new” people – one in which all the nations are welcome.  One world – one God – one Lord – one people (cf. Eph. 4.1-6).  The mission remains unchanged.  Amen.

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[1] Of course there were twelve…this is the last time that John the Baptist is mentioned in Luke-Acts.  There seems to be something “definitive” going on here.  This is the final phase of the transition from John to Jesus, a transition that John had alluded to (cf. Lk. 3.15-17).

[2] Besides its famous library, Alexandria produced scores of philosophers and religious scholars, both Jewish and Christian, including Philo, Origen, Clement, Athanasius, etc.  It was also the home of some famous heretics, like Arius, whose teachings provoked the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, where the “consubstantiality” of Jesus the Son with God the Father was affirmed, contra Arius’ teaching that the pre-existent Son of God had been created.  However, Arius’ teachings would survive the council and it would be up to Athanasius, later on, to contend for Christological orthodoxy (cf. Athanasian Creed).

[3] Or had Apollos been baptized in Ephesus?  Was the group of John’s followers there on a mission of their own (cf. Ac. 19.1-7)?  Or was Apollos the one who baptized the members of that group?  Was he the convert or the missionary?

[4] Cf. Ac. 6.1; Apollos was ethnically Jewish, had been shaped by Greek culture (and named for a Greek god – Artemis’ twin, no less!), and was a follower of the Way of Jesus…who “knew only the baptism of John”.  Got it?

[5] Cf. Ac. 18.1-4.  Paul had met Priscilla and Aquila in Corinth after they had been forced to leave Rome (though Aquila was originally from Pontus).  Once Paul left Corinth, he took this couple with him to Ephesus, and left them there while he travelled on to Antioch (Ac. 18.18-23) before returning to Ephesus (Ac. 19.1).