Today Paul delivers a very powerful message to the Athenians. He congratulates them in being a "religious people" but makes it very clear to them that idol worship in pagan temples is not the way to go. You worship an "Unknown God" – but I will tell you who this "unknown" is. He is the God who made the world and all that is in it – and he does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands because it is he who gives everyone life and breath and everything. He made from one the whole human race. He fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though he is not very far from any of us.
God has overlooked our ignorance and now demands that all people repent because he has established a day in which he will judge the world with justice through a man he has appointed, and confirmed in his task by raising him from the dead.
Paul is a great teacher and preacher – but he knows that his true source is Jesus – who is truth-in-the-flesh. But in the gospel passage we see that Jesus knows how to communicate his truth – in small, palatable amounts. He does not want to overpower us. And with the coming of the Spirit in just a short while – the gentle Wisdom of God itself will be communicated in a very forceful but gentle way! "I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always."
We thank God that he has provided truth for us! We thank Jesus for being that truth! We thank the Spirit for communicating that truth!
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