NONSENSE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.

The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash. You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.”

After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

Acts 19:29-41

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Led by a silversmith named Demetrius, the Ephesian craftsmen, who were profiting nicely from everything associated with the goddess Artemis, were up in arms.

The Apostle Paul was winning more and more believers for Jesus Christ and the power of God’s word was spreading like wildfire throughout the city. If enough people turned from worshiping the false Greek gods, many of the tradespeople would find themselves in economic hardship. As we looked at in yesterday’s message, their concerns were totally self centered and money-centric vice goddess-centric.

As we look at the closing verses of Acts 19, we find the entire city of Ephesus stirred up into an uproar which had to be instigated by Demetrius and his group of craftsman. Of interest, they went after two of Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia instead of Paul himself. This was surely because they knew that there was a special power possessed by Paul, one they definitely wanted to keep on the sidelines. We read where even the province officials asked Paul to stay away from the theater for fear the already caustic environment could end up out of control.  

And the scriptures tell us that the people seized “Gaius and Aristarchus” and brought them into the Theater of Ephesus, the largest public arena in the city. The theater’s capacity was around 25,000 so you can get a sense of just how chaotic everything was. It had to be incredibly intimidating and scary for Gaius and Aristarchus who I’m pretty sure were wondering whether they could escape alive.  

As for the assembly of Ephesians, there wasn’t much organization for we read where there was mass c as “some were shouting one thing” while others shouted something else. I’m sure they were trying to shout over one another so much that you couldn’t discern what either side was saying. And if that wasn’t crazy enough, some people were present, not even knowing what was going on nor what their role was in the midst of it.

Did I mention the atmosphere was chaotic?

Well, things changed somewhat when the “Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front” while shouting instructions to him. It’s not known exactly who Alexander was. Some believe he was a coppersmith who was mentioned in Paul’s two letters to Timothy but there is no certainty of this. What we do know is that Alexander was a Jew and his fellow Israelites believed he could make a defense to appease the crowd. But as soon as the large Ephesian assembly saw Alexander was a Jews, they shouted him down for about two hours, shouting in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” I don’t know about you but I can’t imagine being in the midst of that. Yes, chaotic.

Finally, we read where the “city clerk quieted the crowd” and said the following:

“Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash. You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.”

And with that, the city clerk dismissed the assembly. Enough was enough. The whole scene was nothing but nonsense. No one was following legal protocols and there was absolutely no evidence that Gaius and Aristarchus had done anything wrong. They hadn’t “robbed temples nor blasphemed” the goddess Artemis. If Demetrius and his band of craftsmen had a grievance with Paul’s traveling companions, they would need to do it properly before a legal counsel. That was definitely not what this assembly was. In fact, the city clerk likened the gathering to a riot, something obviously forbidden in Ephesus unless there was a good reason for it and there wasn’t one in this instance.   

And just like that, it was over, just as God intended it to be. Yes, I know the scriptures don’t directly mention God at work here but it’s not really necessary. God is always at work. He never stops. And He certainly will intervene and waylay any nonsense that might get in the way of His purposes being fulfilled. Gaius and Aristarchus had things to do for the Lord in Jesus’ name. The ludicrous, unnecessary, disoriented gathering of Ephesians were getting in the way of God’s work getting done and so He put an end to it and allowed His two servants to return to Paul and the Gospel work that needed done.

Tomorrow, we’ll see what happens next after the day that God stopped the nonsense in Ephesus.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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