Acts 17:16-31 Sermon at Athens: What you worship as unknown, I proclaim to you.
Paul is safely in Athens while fleeing from Thessalonica. Paul is here in safety, awaiting the arrival of Silas and Timothy. Paul is in the synagogue and in the marketplace, preaching, evangelizing, arguing, and debating. He isn’t completely successful –Acts tells us they called him a babbler. So, they take him to the place where they talk about these things, and Paul presents the case for Christ.
His sermon/argument is that he proclaims something that they knew of, but had no words for; that their unknown god is known in Jesus Christ. Paul also attacks their system of idols and temples and the idea that the divine rests in statuses and thing made by humans. Some scoffed – some wanted to hear more.
Ultimately, I think this happens to many of us along the faith journey – that we know there is something out there, but have no words for it. What might our temple of an unknown god be like? What did we hear that made us want to hear more, or that compelled us to listen longer?
