| Acts 13: 5 – 52 Few populations in South America have as much over which to feel aggrieved as the Argentines. Argentina has defaulted on its debts eight times since its 1816 independence, most recently in 2014, and very soon once more in 2020. The richest country on earth in 1913, Argentina has a penchant for economic suicide. “Argentina is the land of the future…it always has been and always will be,” said Latin American specialist Peter Calvert commenting on the nation’s perpetually unrealized potential. My first summer in Buenos Aires in 2006 the peso traded 10 to the dollar, my last visit in 2016 the Argentine peso was, on the black market, 18 pesos to 1 USD. Today the Argentine peso trades 67 to a single U.S. dollar. Periodically Argentines march through the streets banging pots in shrill and passionate ‘cacerolazo’ protests. I have no dog in this South American fight, though I have Argentine friends for whom I feel deep concern. Sometimes I think, though it is none of my business to have such thoughts, that if folk in Buenos Aires would turn some of that pot-banging toward the nurture of democratic institutions they might, in the long run, be better served. |
| I feel a bit that way about Paul in this section of Acts 13. No one can doubt Paul’s passion and good intent, but his methods seem unduly confrontational. Tensions between Judaism and the formerly Jewish sect of what had become an increasingly Gentile Christianity have been mounting. Family fights, when they occur, are always the nastiest, and the break-up between old Judaism and new Christianity was messy business. There were certainly Jews who took great umbrage at Christian claims, inclusive of aggressive persecution; but also those who felt affinity and even attraction to this balmy wind. The persecuting old-line bred increasing resentment among the emerging Christians, which we begin to see reflected in the Book of Acts, and, much more problematically, in the Gospel of John. With the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire in the early fourth century, the tide definitively turned, and the by-then endemic hostility of Christians toward the Jewish people led to periodic flare ups of persecution and pogrom among Christians against Jews throughout Europe, for which there is no adequate repentance. As anti-Semitism rears it’s ugly head again in our day, Christians have a particular burden, a profound obligation; to oppose and repudiate anti-Semitism in all its manifestations. One wonders if those early Jews and Christians could have found a way to civil discourse, or amicable divorce, history might have looked otherwise. There is another rupture in this chapter. Paul and Barnabas have a falling out over Barnabas’ kinsman and their young prodigy John Mark (some say he later wrote the Gospel of Mark) when John Mark grows discouraged over the rigors of the journey to Asia Minor, and, at Perga, takes his leave and returns to Jerusalem. Barnabas and Paul suffer tension between them because of John Mark’s departure, and eventually a rift between Barnabas and Paul over this incident erupts and endures for years. Much human frailty is on display in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Acts. The Good News of Jesus is presented in the synagogues and is embraced by many, which angers those who hew to traditional Judaism. The Gentiles, however, respond in growing numbers, creating further tension. The Book of Acts says the Jews stirred up women of high standing and the leading men of the city, who then persecuted Paul and Barnabas and drove them from the city. I’m guessing that’s a one-sided presentation of slights received and given, hurts and wounds taken deeply to heart, and loud cacerolazos on both sides. We find ourselves in times of rift and partisanship. We ought take heed and quit banging our pots. That would be one small gift to a future yet unformed. Grace and peace, The Reverend Canon George F. Woodward III In Times of Conflict “O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” The Book of Common Prayer pg. 824 Previous Reflections may be found on the parish website StPaulSMA.com under ‘Blogs’ here. YouTube postings are available here. Previous editions of THE EPISTLE can be found here. |
| St. Paul’s Anglican Church Calzada del Cardo, 6 Centro 37700, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico 415.121.3424 www.StPaulSMA.com |