Blogging toward Sunday

In this series, authors offer reflections on the Sunday lectionary texts.

By Walter Brueggemann
Sunday, May 13
Acts 16:9-15

Here is a narrative in which a vision leads to a new practical beginning. Paul was ready for a vision. He was seeking a way of ministry “out of no way.” That new way was given “in a vision,” a perception of reality outside the ordinary and beyond all conventionalism. This “chief apostle” is “on the loose,” unencumbered and ready for what is given by God—not a bad characterization of the church and its ministry when that ministry is not imprisoned in old thought categories or paralyzed by its traditions (or its property).

The vision led to proclamation of the news. This “pre-institutional” church was free for news that challenged all old patterns and that invited to new life. We are not told the substance of his preaching. But we know it from his preaching in Acts and in the Epistle, even given the critical tension between the two. The news is that in Jesus of Nazareth, the world has become open to God’s generosity; Paul’s listeners are invited to generosity based on God’s bottomless mercy. Paul did not need a vision to get “the message.” He needed a vision only to find a venue for his preaching.

That venue, to which he came almost randomly, (a) was in a place already known as a place of prayer, (b) was on the day of sabbath when routines of management are suspended and there is a patterned receptivity, and (c) was an assemblage of women. I doubt if I would make much generically that here, as with Dorcas, it is a woman. . .except to notice that Paul’s subjects appear to be particularly open and receptive, likely the work of the Spirit and not “gender advantage.”

In any case, Paul’s “good news” reaches Lydia. We may observe two things about Lydia. First, she listened eagerly to what was new to her…even though she was already “a worshiper of God.” She listened and, consequently was baptized and embraced a new life.

Second, she responded with hospitality (v. 15). Perhaps everyone wanted to host “the visiting preacher.” We are not told. But observe; preaching evokes hospitality, a most crucial gift and practice in the early church (see Rom. 12:13). We are not told more than that; but let us entertain the thought that Lydia, newly baptized, embodied the teaching modeled by the departing Jesus. “Like Jesus. . .like church!”

•Lydia, like Jesus, had no troubled heart (John 14:17). Indeed we are told she had an open heart.
•Lydia, like Jesus, found that the “ruler of this age” now had “no power over me.” She received, in her baptism, the freedom to be God’s child.
•Lydia, from Jesus, was recruited for the new commandment of love. We only know of her immediate hospitality, but we may extrapolate a new obedience of life.

Try out these marks of the church embodied by Lydia:

•open heart, no troubled heart (among those so troubled by the ideology of the Right or of the Left)
•freedom, emancipated from the powers of this present age
•capable of the new obedience of love

All these gifts, we are told, arise from good preaching that comes from a vision beyond our control. The vision given to Paul leads to a new life for Lydia. The spirit of Jesus never “forbids” such newness, not even when we attempt to resist it (see vv. 6-7).

Comments

[Phil in KS]

I am intrigued that in Paul's vision it is a man, and when he arrives on scene it is a woman who he speaks to first.

Does God's vision change, or are we to become open to the possibilites and potential and danger of God's vision?

Thanks for the insights.

[Fran in Iowa]

In this age of what many have seen as The Age of the Spirit (of God), which to our secular world is incongruous and far off, otherworldly, Dr. Brueggemann's insights are stimulating always.
Jesus' image of the one always-open, always-free, always obediently generous in selfless love, is again (always?) in contrast to the opposing national political, or local settings/realities of 2007.
Just the terminologies of "open hearts," the freedom of living as God's children, and love-prompted hospitality, spark longing for that kind of receptivity Lydia showed.
God grant us all as preachers, the receptivity to the Spirit's transformative power and the readiness to participate in our flock's restoration. An open heart and mind are the first steps to hospitality, and the first basic locus of the Spirit's work.
Thank you, Dr. B., for another stimulating blog. Do not be far from us.

[Tay from Toronto]

I'm struck by this idea that Vision->proclamation->hospitality. I think of St. Benedict's understanding of Xn hospitality as essentially sacramental in character. We receive Christ and make Christ real in the world by recognizing Him in those that come to us. A fruitful insight to explore...

[Rev. Robin Y. Franklin]

Dr. Brueggemann's comments about this passage gave me a very different way of looking an evangelism as well as preaching. The way I have seen both activities was fairly narrow and I consider myself an open person as it relates to faith.

[Mel in South Dakota]

I'm preaching on this text because as Paul appeared on the scene, it was obviously Mother's Day at the place of prayer. Lydia is a powerful woman not only in the business world, but in her own home as her household (and maybe even of her colleagues or employees) were baptized. Lydia also has the power to "prevail" upon Paul and his companions as she was a woman whose hospitality the apostles could not refuse. The crux of my sermon will be, as the good news of the gospel prevailed upon Lydia, she was moved to prevail upon others with hospitality, care and grace.