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OPEN BOOK – HINTS FROM THE SPIRIT OF HOLINESS: THE GOSPEL SPREADS THROUGH MACEDONIA

Thessalonica

BRUCE C WEARNE, in his look at the book of Acts, examines how, in chapter 17, Paul took the the Gospel into Macedonia – and the sharp reaction it received in Thessalonica…

BriceNow having passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. A Jewish synagogue was there which Paul attended, as was his custom, and for three [successive] Sabbaths engaged in [a series of] Scriptural exegesis by which he opened the scriptures, in terms they could grasp, that Christ had to suffer and had to rise again from the grave. He said, “This Jesus, who I am proclaiming to you [in my discussion of these scriptural texts], is the Christ [the Anointed of God].” And some were persuaded, joining Paul and Silas along with a great many devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews [who did not believe in that place] were intensely jealous, and taking some scoundrels from among the market’s labour exchange, they proceeded to unsettle the city, focusing their attack upon the house of Jason in order to have them brought out face-to-face with the mob. But when they could not be found, Jason and some of the brothers were dragged before the magistrates with this shouted accusation: “These are the men who have turned the entire civilized world upside down and have now come here, with Jason here welcoming them; they are all acting in breech of the decrees of the Emperor, by saying that there is another king, Jesus.” When they heard this, the people and the city authorities were disturbed. But when bail had been taken from Jason and the rest, they let them go. – Acts 17:1-9/transliteration by Bruce C Wearne

Thessalonica

THESSALONICA TODAY: When Paul and Silas visited Thessalonica, some Christians – including Jason – were dragged before the magistrates. PICTURE:  Bgabel/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 2.0 (image cropped)

IN A NUTSHELL
The work continued through Macedonia. Paul spent three weeks teaching at Thessalonica’s synagogue. Jews opposed to the message worked hard to discredit the movement, but the church was established even though new converts suffered for their faith. 

The story of the spread of the Gospel also becomes the story of the founding of the church in various places – “to the ends of the earth”. It is the story of the people involved and Luke tells us of the tension that was generated by the opposition to the message. The accusation of the Jewish opponents of Paul and Silas seems to have been a formal statement of some kind.

These are the men who have turned the entire civilized world upside down and have now come here, with Jason here welcoming them; they are all acting in breach of the decrees of the emperor, by saying that there is another king, Jesus.

Maybe this is a view expressed to the Thessalonican city authorities based upon communications received through the synagogue network. Clearly, this involved a deep tension among Jews.

There were those who were persuaded by what Paul and Silas had professed. Opposed to them there were those who not only wanted to be free of this message and its messengers, but to suppress it and wipe it out. The second half of the statement reads as an appeal to the authorities to clamp down hard on the movement.

The only other reference to a Jason is in Paul’s greetings at the close of his letter to the Romans where he is mentioned along with Timothy (16:21). This Jason was indeed one of those in that place who had gladly received the Good News. We do not know for sure that he was not Jewish; from his Greek mythological name we can conclude he had some relation to the many devout Greeks who believed.

But no sooner had he believed than he was called upon to cover for his fellow believers, Paul and Silas, who had evaded the mob. But it meant more.

He had to put up bail, a cash security payment that seems to imply that the believers were required to not engage in the subversive activities of which Paul and Barnabas had been accused. This then was a church begun under incredible threat, of persecution and of violence. Jason was made to pay for his faith out of his own pocket. The cold hard cash is testimony to his faith.

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