In those days, Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. And from Miletos he sent to Ephesos and called to him the elders of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
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Clearly the day of Pentecost was a significant day. For the Jews, Pentecost, or Shavuot, is the second of three major festivals; the others being Passover and Sukkot, or, the festival of Booths. Pentecost for the Jews represented the collection of the harvest and the redemption of the slavery of the Jews as well as the giving of the Torah by God to Moses which redeemed the Jews spiritually from the bondage of idolatry and immorality.
These three feasts were known as pilgrimage feasts. In other words, Jews in the Diaspora and elsewhere, were obliged to attend Jerusalem for these particular festivals. When these festivals were held the population in Jerusalem swelled to over a million people. The temple was a huge construction and on those occasions it would have bordered on the chaotic, under the control of temple police. Picture this: people milling in every direction, sellers of animals for sacrifice, money changers undertaking business in order to convert the various currencies into temple money, terrified animals locked in pens awaiting sale and sacrifice, people ritually bathing, preparing themselves for temple, phalanxes of priests and a packed multitude of people speaking a multitude of languages – Parthians, Medians, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judaeans, Cappadocians, Phrygians, Pontians, Pamphylians, Libyans and Egyptians. Indeed, Jews from all over the known world together with proselytes who were seeking to embrace Judaism all added colour, noise and chaos. The air would have been full of incense, the smell of burning flesh of the sacrifice, the braying of animals and the chatter of myriad different tongues would have formed a wall of sound, excitement and anticipation. If anyone wished to spread a new idea there was a ready-made audience available, which audience could, when returning to their dwellings, disseminate new teachings. It must be remembered that the first Pentecost after the Ascension of Christ, the Church, through the Holy Spirit, had manifested itself some 20 years prior. So Christianity was in the religious milieu of the times and had begun to make its mark.
For the Christians, Pentecost was particularly important in that it represented the time when the Holy Spirit had enlightened the disciples and the church itself had commenced its sacred history and mission in the world. However, the great Paul clearly was worried that the church, for all its penetration and zeal may have been regressing. It is a known dynamic that when something new commences, then everybody who embraces it believes it to be the panacea to all things, but when things go wrong people are just as quick to abandon it. You see, sometimes people’s faith is a bit like a grass fire: all flash and no burn. Sometimes people who are newly converted to something show great fervour – even far more fervour than those established in the faith. However, when the first hurdle comes along they are quick to cool, become disillusioned and fall away, looking for the next “big” thing. We would do well to be reminded of the words of Saint Basil, to the effect that one shouldn’t be deviated to the left-hand side or the right hand side of the faith spectrum but rather to accept the royal narrow road which is in the middle. In other words those who are full of zeal are suspect and those who have little or no zeal are equally suspect. As Socrates said, everything in moderation.
The great Paul now needs to remind them once again to keep watch over themselves and over all the flock. In order to do this the Holy Spirit Himself has called and empowered men for this task, including the setting up of bishops to oversee the care of the growing faithful. Simply put, the task of the elders was to shepherd the church of God committed to their care. This was an awe-inspiring task for, as Saint Paul points out, the church was acquired through the blood of God’s own son, Christ. Therefore, the church is precious to God. Therefore, those who were set up as stewards have always had a huge responsibility to maintain the true faith.
This vigilance of faith was of the utmost importance to the early church. Paul himself declares that after he departs from the world, burdensome and fierce wolves will enter amongst them and not spare the flock. In other words, heretical and false teachers would rise, inevitably focused on their own self-interest and in the process of pursuing their own personal gain, would seek to destroy the church. This was a threat both from without and from within the church. Indeed, Paul tells us that even from amongst their very selves men will rise speaking perverse things to draw the flock after them.
Is this not the case also today? One only has to look around to find that we are inundated by these wolves who adeptly use evangelical TV, radio, Internet and all forms of social media to spread their evil. These people, who have as their end goal monetary gain and whose sole purpose is to divide the gullible from their money through the promises of cheap salvation, easily purchased, proliferate. It seems that anyone who professes to be a Christian or monastic can sprout whatever nonsense they choose to about the state of the world and its impending end. It seems that anybody can say anything at any time and, in the process, truth is put to the sword.
That is not our faith. Anyone who promises you salvation in return for your money or gratuitously speaks about the state of the world is not from God. The tragedy of course is that people are not prepared to work at their faith. Yes, they want to be considered as Christians and, yes, they believe that they will be saved. They hold these beliefs because some charlatan has said so. Despite such fraudsters being exposed regularly it seems that the world just doesn’t care.
So here’s the thing: clearly people are like milling sheep not knowing what to trust so they end up believing everything and gravitating towards those who make the more outlandish claims in respect of faith. In a sense, they consider religion like an investment. Why go to a conservative church like the Orthodox Church that, because of its adherence to the teaching of Christ, does not make any extravagant promises? Such a church promises you austerity, discipline and salvation if you follow the Gospel teachings, in the footsteps of Christ, caring for your fellow man and viewing the money that you have accumulated as being under a grave responsibility of stewardship. You can compare such a church to the low rate of interest paid by a large established bank. On the other hand the charismatics can be likened to snake oil salesmen, the sellers of Ponzi schemes and the conmen who promise you a rate of return on your investment which is beyond belief. They prey on the ignorant, the gullible, the fragile and the weak, promising them the moon and sixpence. These poor souls forget the simple proposition that if something is too good to be true then it is too good to be true. One only has to ask themselves how people, who are otherwise intelligent, be so stupid when it comes to matters of faith.
How many tele-evangelists have you heard say like the great Paul: “I’ve desired no one’s silver or gold or apparel?” Or, say to their audience: “you know that these hands (referring to his own hands) served my needs and those with me”, or, “in everything I showed you that by toiling it is necessary to help the weak”? The answer is no one. So here is a simple proposition: those who are from God seek nothing for themselves; those who are not from God seek everything for themselves.
Finally, Paul reminds them all that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Man gives but little but God gives back immeasurably. As we say: if a man receives the glory for his deeds and not God, then such activity is cursed. So, let us give all give the glory to God.
