Reading Luke/Acts Together #70 – Immediately!

The opening of Acts 16 shares a remarkable turning point in the Church’s history, and in Paul’s vocation: for the first time, Christianity got on a boat, left Asia, and set foot on European soil. Three items in this brief passage speak volumes to us today.

One night, Paul saw – or rather heard! – a man crying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” Paul didn’t say “Our hands are already full with our work here in Asia.” Paul heard the cry, and went. For us to hear the cry for help today, we have to listen – although not all that hard! The cries rise up all around us: the hungry for food, the homeless for shelter, the unjustly treated for advocates, the lonely for a friend, the hollow for meaning, the despairing for hope.

In fact, not to hear requires a willful deafness – like those monkeys covering their eyes and ears: see no evil, hear no evil. Christians see, and hear, and respond, making no excuses, not playing it safe or limiting what God might do through them. How do you discern God’s call? Listen to the cries in the world, in the news, all around us.

Once Paul had heard the plea for help, how long did it take him to get moving? Immediately! (Acts 16:10). Way too often, we sense a call, but we wait for a more convenient time, until things calm down, when the kids are grown or we’ve retired or there’s more spare time or the project is one that suits me… But when did Jesus’ disciples drop their nets to follow him? Immediately (Matthew 4:20). Think about those crying for help: when Simon’s mother-in-law was ill, they asked for Jesus’ help immediately (Mark 1:30). Suffering cannot wait; true discipleship refuses to wait.

And then, interestingly enough, when Paul gets going immediately, he boards a ship in Troas, makes straight for Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis (Acts 16:11). We skim right past those words, lacking familiarity with the places, or the challenges of first century seafaring. Luke’s first readers would have said “No way! You’ve got to be kidding! That’s gotta be record time. The winds and currents must have been just perfect.” Or divinely orchestrated? Acts doesn’t mansplain – but there’s a hint in the itinerary that this is God’s endeavor, and God is already prospering it before they even get started.

Oddly, when Paul wanted to go to Iconiuim to preach, he was forbidden by the Holy Spirit; then Paul tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow it (Acts 16:6-7). Doesn’t God want us to do good? It seems God has something specific God wants us to do; we are called to this but not that. God seems a bit put off by generalized doing good; God has a particular calling, not where you happen to want to be, no matter how good you imagine it might be.

Sometimes we cling to our own goodness instead of to God; our good behavior and good deeds might actually shield us from the living God. Bonhoeffer wrote that “some people prefer simply being good – but we are called by God not to be about our own goodness, but the will of God; instead of keeping our hands clean, we may be called to get our hands dirty in the service of God.” The Spirit might actually prevent you doing some good of your own preference, inviting you to the specific, and thus more important, wonderful work to which God is personally calling you – and us together as the Church!