This morning, Jesus promises to send the "Spirit of Truth." This is God, the Holy Spirit, and He will "lead us to all truth" -- and that truth will set us free.
It is God the Holy Spirit who speaks through the Church such that "whoever hears you (Apostles), hears me (Jesus)" (Luke 10:16). When the Church speaks with authority on matters of faith (doctrine) and morals (how to live), it is Jesus Himself that is speaking. He is "declaring to you everything that I have received from the Father" (cf John 16:13-15).
Paul typically preaches in the Spirit and you can tell the Spirit's effects: it cuts "sharper than a two-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12). When Paul preaches in the Spirit, typically two things happen: first, many people are converted; and second, many people want to kill him. Such is the two-edged sword of the Spirit of Truth. It cuts to the heart.
But when Paul preaches in Athens (Acts 17:15ff), we do not see many conversions, nor do we see people trying to kill him. What is the reason for this? Did Paul not preach in the Spirit?
In brief, there are two reasons. The first deals with Paul; the second deals with the Athenians.
Paul tries too hard to reach where the Athenians are at; he tries to craft the message to their sensibilities. This can certainly be considered preaching in the Spirit and is a good, reasonable approach, as the Latin proverb rightly says: quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur (See St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa I, 75, 5). That is, whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver. Because the Athenians are more educated, more cosmopolitan, Paul finds it opportune to preach in a more educated manner, hoping that, because they are educated, they will receive a more educated argument.
But they don't.
The Athenians simply don't care about the matter at hand. While it is true that they have an Altar to an Unknown God, they don't care to know what is unknown. For them, the matter is settled: there are gods that are unknown and so, shrug, let's be on our way. Paul sees the altar and thinks: they are searching!
When, really, they are not.
So, the two reasons it didn't work in Athens: first, the Athenians were too comfortable; and second, Paul was too nice.
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I think these passages are very instructive for us in our day, both in how we receive the teaching of Jesus and in how we present the message of Jesus. Both need the inspiration of the Spirit -- and thus an openness to be taught, in addition to the boldness required to tackle tough topics. We need to be on fire with the Holy Spirit -- or else we will be in the fires of hell.
That kind of line would get the attention of modern-day "Athenians," would it not?
Paul, to be more effective, it would seem, would have needed to break through the comfortable ethos of the Athenian culture. He would have had to say something like, "You have an altar to an Unknown god, and thus it would seem that you worship such a god, but do you really? where are the sacrifices to it? And why would you sacrifice your lives to something Unknown? Athenians, you pride yourself on your logic and argumentation, but your logic is full of holes. Do you know how foolish you are?"
There are two responses to this: Quick! Let's kill him! and ... conviction: Paul's right.
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Let's take this for a spin in our current culture.
When it coms to the human being, it is understood that a human being has two legs. If a human being did not have two legs, we would quickly understand that something was wrong, something had happened: a war injury requiring amputation; an accident; an infection; a birth defect. There would be attempts to heal the leg or replace the leg with a prosthetic. And that there is the use of a prosthetic, to give the human being two legs again, shows us that two legs is the norm.
The exception -- the loss of a leg -- proves the rule: human beings have two legs.
It would be silly to say that one-leggedness is the norm.
In much the same way, there are two kinds of human beings: male and female.
If a human being is confused on this matter and says that something is wrong or something has happened -- an injury, a trauma, an illness, a birth defect -- there should be attempts to heal what is wrong. It would be silly to say that gender confusion is the norm. In fact, the culture today proves this. When a man mutilates his body so as to transition into a woman, he tries to transition into a woman -- not into a third gender.
The exception -- the confusion of gender -- proves the rule: human beings are either male or female.
In much the same way, if a human being has two legs, it would not be in good medicine to remove one of them just because he emotionally feels like he should only have one. Rather, the human being needs to heal his mind to adapt to the reality: he has two legs.
In like manner, if a man is in his body a man -- well, just because emotionally he feels like a woman, he needs to have his mind healed so to adapt to the reality that he is a man.
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Let the Spirit speak further!
If a government or a corporation demands that its citizens or its employees act as though two legs were not normative, can they be surprised that thinking human beings rebel?
If a government or a corporation still demands allegiance -- indeed, celebration -- of this falsehood, they are no better than Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel (chapter 3) who threw the boys in the fiery furnace or the king who cut off the tongues and martyred the mother and sons in the Second Book of Maccabees (chapter 7). God will reward the martyrs and will punish the unjust.
More, if parents and teachers should teach these errors and confuse their children that we are not simply male and female, may they hear the words of Jesus Himself who said, "It would be better for you if a millstone were tied around your neck and you and it be hurled into the sea than to lead one of these little ones into sin" (Luke 17:2).
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The Spirit of Truth casts "fire upon the earth" (Luke 12:49). For those who receive it, it is encouraging, strengthening, and full of truth and charity. For those who cannot receive it, it is, like Christ, an obstacle and a stumbling block -- and a precursor to the eternal fires to come.
Phew. That's uncomfortable.
And it's uncomfortable because it forces us to think and to decide.
For the Athenians, they could just continue in their comfort. And so Paul can walk away.
Had he made them uncomfortable, he probably would not have escaped Athens. But he probably would have made more than just a handful of conversions.
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