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 numbers they are more than two million people. Missionaries there 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 Christianity’s claims. On the other hand, religions like animism without established theological traditions offer less resistance to Christian preaching. This is likely the reason for Paul’s frustration when preaching Christ to Jews.
In Corinth, as in other population centers of the
Mediterranean in Paul’s day, 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 an 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 for planting the
seed of Christ.
Even though we are not willing to give up our Christian legacy for anything, we still might dialogue with people of other faiths. Learning their traditions not only broadens our knowledge but will likely 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.
