Thursday of the
Sixth Week of Easter
(Acts 18:1-8; John 16:16-20)
Although Christians comprise a small fraction of the
Pakistani population, in raw numbers they are more than two million people. Missionaries in that land in the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries did not convert many Muslims or Hindus but found the animist
peoples open to the word of God. Evidently,
all-encompassing religions like Islam have arguments to counter another
religion’s claims but traditions without established theological traditions
offer much less resistance to new religious preaching. This idea will explain Paul’s frustration in
preaching Christ to the Jews.
In Corinth as in other major population centers of the
Mediterranean world in Paul’s days there is a synagogue. Paul finds it the natural place to speak
about Christ. As a matter of fact members
of the synagogue in the town of Berea give Paul a friendly ear, but those of
the synagogue in Corinth as in Thessalonica are much less amenable. Still Paul makes progress in Corinth perhaps
because Aquila and Priscilla have already did some spade work in planting the
seed of Christ.
Even though we are not willing to give up our commitment
to Christ for anything, we still might dialogue with people of other faiths. Learning their traditions not only broadens
our knowledge but likely will deepen our appreciation of Christianity. We believe
that Christ died to save all people.
Deliberately refusing to share our knowledge of him by neglecting opportunities
to dialogue would mean a loss on all sides.
