Description
The Book of Acts tells how Jesus’ early followers, led by the Holy Spirit, spread the good news about Jesus “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). It is the story of the Christian movement which began among the Jewish people in Jerusalem following the ascension of Jesus and continued, empowered by the Holy Spirit, after the day of Pentecost.
Acts 16:9-15 is part of the Apostle Paul’s second missionary journey and is full of details of the geography of the journey’s itinerary. In previous verses (Acts 16:6-8) Paul had changed direction twice at the Spirit’s prompting. He was in the region of Phrygia and Galatia. He was then blocked at the boarder of Mysia, so he headed west to the port of Troas. He and his companions had reached a blockage.
Now prompted by a vision, Paul sails across the Aegean Sea to Macedonia (modern day Greece). This is the first record of the gospel travelling to Europe, another barrier overcome. The travel detail is interesting if you are into maps. However, the reading also reveals how the Holy Spirit led the early church, and how Paul and his companions followed the Spirit’s guidance into new places and to new opportunities to make disciples.
It is also at this point in verse 10 that the language changes from “they” to “we”. The author of Acts, or one of its writer’s sources, is included in the narrative. In this reading there is a sense of a team working with Paul to spread the gospel – “from there we travelled to Philippi a Roman colony and the leading city of the district of Macedonia. There we stayed for several days” (Acts 16:12).
The next part of the journey is also about walls being broken down. On the Sabbath, Paul and his companions went outside the gates of the city to the riverbank where a group of women had gathered to pray. Paul and the group sit and talk together. This is most unusual, and a breach of religious tradition in an era where men did not speak with women who were strangers. Remember Jesus’ teaching in John 4 when he meets the woman at the well.
One of the women Paul met, Lydia, was a worshipper of God. Lydia was likely to be gentile, and a woman of wealth and independence. Acts identifies her as having her own household and that she dealt in purple cloth. Lydia opens her heart to the Gospel, and to those who proclaim it. She offers hospitality and the gift of table fellowship – a mark of Christian service and welcome.
