Acts 19.41 After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly. – St. Luke
In Acts 19, (Cf. Vv. 23 ff.) is the account of a near
riot in Ephesus. (And we thought riots were only for today.) Riots are usually
a push back against a threat of some kind.
Note, in this story there is the protagonist: the apostle
Paul; actually, there is a second
Protagonist: the Lord, Jesus Christ. And Paul's ‘protagonism' was the gospel of Jesus Christ. One thing is always
true: the Gospel of Jesus Christ, always creates push-back. In Paul's day, the
Gospel of Jesus Christ was responsible for violent push-back: riots,
imprisonment, and death. Riots are always against something.
Now, in this story there is also the antagonist:
Demetrius; a silversmith. (Actually, there is second antagonist, the goddess
Diana (or Artemis of the Ephesians)). Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen made
silver trinkets for people to buy and use as religious props for the worship of
Artemis.
The rub comes when the true Protagonist pushes up against
the antagonist. Demetrius, a salesman, felt as if another salesman
(Paul) was encroaching on his territory. Salesmen don’t like encroachment. And
many were following Paul and the revenues from Artemis trinket sales were being
threatened. So, to resolve the problem Demetrius started a riot. That ought to
get someone’s attention.
Now, the riot starts out as a protest but quickly
escalates into full-fledged pandemonium, to the point, there is so much
confusion, that most of the people don’t even know what the problem is; they
only know to carry on as if they do. And at just the last minute, the city
clerk of Ephesus (I can see a be-spectacled, wizened, balding older gentleman in
this role) steps up and addresses the crowd.
He tells them there is no need for such an uproar
because: 1.) they have no proof, 2.) there are lawyers for such things, and 3.)
there are dangerously close to being charged with rioting – something the Roman
government takes with a dim view. And he then dismisses the crowd.
There is a right and proper use for bureaucrats: sending the
crowd home is one example. The other is civic duty and keeping law and order.
The clerk did such a thing; politics wasn’t on his mind. He did make use of
extraordinary caution – mentioning the riot and all that – and he made his
point: fear of the overlords got everyone’s attention.
Paul tells us in Romans 13 that government is there
for such a reason. Do
you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right
and you will be commended. (Romans 13.3) And sometimes rather than
armed forces, God uses a bespectacled, wizened older man to get His point across…
Father,
thank You for the authorities you’ve established whether we like them or not.
It seems there is a lot of unrest today and I pray that cooler heads would
prevail. I pray for the right use of force by the authorities You’ve
established and that we as a divided nation can somehow pull it together. In
this instance Lord, it wasn’t the army that showed up – it was a guy from the
Public Works Department. Huh! Whodda thunk it! Amen.
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