Our texts highlights just the first four verses of the chapter, leaving out Paul’s success in making both coverts and enemies in Corinth. We’re left with the oddly peaceful image of Paul making tents by day with Priscilla and Aquila, and preaching in the synagogues on the Sabbath.
Read the text: here.
Read O. Wesley Allen’s Working Preacher commentary: here.
Priscilla and Aquila are a remarkable pair, and their friendship with Paul is striking.
Of the six times that the two of them are mentioned in the Christian scriptures, their names are always joined. Tradition generally names the man of a pair first, but these two split the credit, with Priscilla / Prisca (two forms of the same name) coming first in three of the mentions. Our glimpse of them reveals a sense of shared purpose, joining together in paid work and in proclaiming the good news. They also show us a kind of gender balance that is soon lost in the early church.
Aquila is a Jew, pushed out of Italy by the persecutions of the Emperor Claudius in 52 CE. They’re on the move again with Paul, traveling with him to Ephesus and working there even after Paul leaves. Eventually, the two host a church in their home, as we hear from Paul in Romans. “Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, 4and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. 5Greet also the church in their house.” (16:3-5) Later in this chapter, they take Apollos aside and help him channel his enthusiasm and expand his knowledge. In doing so, they model how a way of being part of this new movement. As Acts 18:26 says, “6He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately.”
For those worried about 1 Timothy’s instruction that a woman should not have authority over a man, or be his teacher, Priscilla is a living counter-example. She teaches Apollos and many others, and has Paul’s personal stamp of approval.
Paul’s journeys are full of arguments, violence and hardship. The scene in this snippet of the chapter shows us a brief respite from all of that. From all accounts, he was fiery and stubborn, and yet here we get a picture of a deep friendship. In a safe, stable place, Paul has both work and a chance to share the good news, in the company of treasured friends. We can imagine that these gifts fueled his continuing work, and gave him a balance to it.
The sermon might explore:
• What role does friendship play in our lives? We are supported by friends, and challenged by them, nurtured and sometimes aggravated. Where do they give us the gifts of truth, solace and laughter that we need for our work in the world?
• Paul, Priscilla and Aquila share the work of ministry in several places. What do they show us about working in community with other people? How can we share in ministry in this same spirit? Where do we fill in the gaps in each other’s gifts?
• What is the rhythm or work and rest in our lives? Are we overbalanced on one side or the other? How do we help each other find a grace-filled balance?
• Ministers are religious professionals, but many people work in auto repair, nursing, banking or teaching all week, and then find time to serve God in addition to that. The sermon might explore the ways the church would be incomplete without all of the people who do something else for pay, but also serve God deeply. The sermon might honor the extra level of work they – like Priscilla and Aquila – do for God.
• What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below. We look forward to continuing the conversation.
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I preached on this last week as our Youth Group is doing the service this Sunday. I went a slightly different way and talked about what we need to build a church:
http://ministerialmutterings.blogspot.ca/2016/04/looking-forward-to-april-17-2016-easter.html
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I like that take, my church is/has been in a transformation over the last few years. It is good, but there are certainly some tired people and people who just want us to do the way we’ve always done it. The idea about continuing to build leaders not to do it the way we did, but the way it needs to be done now.
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I think I’m going to end up drawing more on the 1 Corinthians reading…I have titled the sermon “you belong” and I’m hoping that I’ll be inspired to connect to last week–when I asked the congregation to think about what we could do as a body that would be so faithful, people would know about us even in other towns. I asked the children to look at something from a new angle. So I don’t want to let those go, I need to tie them back in this week somehow.
For the moment I’m pondering what it means to “belong”…to Christ, and to the Body of Christ, and to one another (as Paul puts it in Romans 12). Paul “belonged” with Priscilla and Aquila, because they shared the same trade…we often say that “belonging” is the primary need that people have when they first darken the doors of a church building…what does all that mean? And put together with the song we sing at baptisms (I am so wishing we had one this week!)–“You belong to Christ, in whom you have been baptized”–I feel like there’s something in there that can be made into a sermon…I hope.
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That sounds like a sermon! The question of belonging is interesting, especially as we all belong to fewer and fewer things in life. We’re not the Rotary, women’s club, Lions generation…but we do have that deep place to belong through our faith.
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My way to early (actually late) thoughts are about division in our political system. In my town there are a bunch of people running for different offices (I’m running for school board) and there are a bunch of different signs in yards. I also wonder about how we identify with “belong to” particular candidates or parties and how that relates to the early churches “belonging” to the person who baptized them.
Another thought is something my old head of staff say. He used to talk about unity not uniformity. How that might relate to the gifts people bring and use both inside and outside the walls of the church.
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I’m the second interim pastor following a 30 year pastor who retired. (The first interim retired too, scary pattern!) Now in my 4th month here I’ve been working hard at providing new models and new experiences of good ministry and good worship. (I brought my dog in as part of the sermon two weeks ago.) This week I am putting up a tent as part of the sermon: to illustrate Paul and Priscilla and Aquila’s work, but also to talk about how we are in this tent together, even when we are different. The trick is to have that “same mind and purpose” Paul talks about and urges in Corinth. Here we have the traditional/ contemporary split, and the diminished membership. There is sorrow, but also a renewing vigor, however strong or fragile I cannot say. I do so hope this church will pull together and be ready for the new pastor God will send, in God’s own
good and perfect time.
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