A Private Sermon


"I spoke to Paul last night," I told my father as we ate next evening.

"And what did he say?"

"He said that he would be willing to come, provided that everybody in the household was assembled to hear him. He said that his message about the Christos was for everyone, free or slave, man or woman."

My father raise his eyebrows. "Slaves?"

"Oh go on, Lycurgus," my mother urged. "Let's hear him. After all, the mystery of Bacchus is open to slaves as well as free, so there's nothing new there."

"Why are you so anxious to hear about this Christos?" my father asked. "Do you want to follow Athenodorus' example and worship him?"

My mother giggled. "Not really. The gods of Greece are good enough for me, though I must say, if the Christos can make me as happy as He has made Arxes' girl, it would almost be worth while becoming a Jew."

"Oh?"

My mother explained about how happy Cartimandua had seemed ever since she heard Paul speaking at Athenodorus' symposium and the difference it seemed to make in her relationship with me. Father looked across at Cartimandua.

"Do you believe in this Christos, girl?"

Cartimandua had been listening anxiously, her eyes shifting from mother to father and back again as they talked. Now she jumped and almost dropped her platter of uneaten food. Her face went pale but she looked directly at my father.

"Yes, lord."

"Has she been initiated, Arxes?"

I shook my head. "Oh no. Nothing like that."

"Well, be careful. She's your girl, but don't go spoiling her. Really, you ought to be teaching her to worship our household gods. That's her duty as a woman."

Cartimandua opened her mouth and I feared that she was going to say something about worshipping only the Christos. I nudged her with my foot and shook my head slightly when she looked at me.

"So what will I tell Paul?" I asked.

"Oh, I suppose you can invite him. I'll never hear the last of it from your mother if I don't.

Back in our room Cartimandua faced me.

"Please, lord. I worship only the Christos. Paul say no other gods."

"Shhh." I raised my finger to my lips. "You're my slave, remember? You worship the Christos, that's all right by me. Just don't go making trouble with my father, ok?"

"Yes, lord. I thank you. I obey you, like Paul say, but only I not worship other gods."

I thought of telling her that if my father made a fuss she would have to at least appear to worship the household gods, but then I remembered Alexander and how he reacted towards what he called "idols". I decided to say nothing and hope that she would have abandoned these fanatical ideas by the time of the great festivals229.

The next day I went to Paul and arranged for him to come the following week. As a mark of honour I went in person on the appointed day to escort Paul to our house. While I was putting my cloak on Cartimandua came up and whispered in my ear.

"I come too, lord?"

"Why not?" I replied, and watched indulgently as she ran to fetch the old cloak my mother had given her.

She chattered happily the whole way and seemed to have a comment on everything we saw. Her accent continued to enchant me and her misuse of the Greek language often made me laugh. Still, she quieted down and walked respectfully behind me as we approached the weavers' tent. As before, Aquila came out to meet us and welcomed us into the tent while Paul made ready. Priscilla greeted Cartimandua warmly, which rather surprised me. After all, she knew now that the girl was my slave and not proper company for a respectable woman, yet it seemed to make no difference to her.

It was quite dark by the time we set out on the return journey and Paul and I walked directly behind the torch bearer. Cartimandua walked behind me, and Silas and Timothy, who came as well, followed her but a little to either side so as to benefit from the light of the torch. Paul and I talked as we walked and he told me a little of his travels. He must have been everywhere in Asia as well as in Syria and Judea. I doubt that even Hephaeston has travelled as much as Paul has.

Father was waiting for our visitor and came out of his study as soon as Antiochus opened the door. He smiled at the three strangers.

"Sirs, you are welcome in my house."

Paul bowed graciously. "I thank you for your welcome, Lycurgus. May the blessing of God and of His Christos rest upon this house."

Father bowed his thanks. "Sirs, I would gladly offer you food or drink with us, but if that is against your religion I will not take offence. If, however, you are willing to partake of my hospitality, but in a room apart, you are my guests and what is pleasing to you is pleasing to me."

"Thank you," Paul said. "We will be proud and happy to eat with you and in the same room as you."

Father's eyebrows rose, but he clapped his hands and the slaves came running to remove the visitors' shoes, pour water so that they could wash their hands, and escort them into the dining room. While Paul was busy with this my father came up and whispered in my ear.

"Either this man is a true philosopher or a very bad Jew. I've never known a Jew willing to eat with us Greeks before."

"Well, he did eat at Athenodorus' symposium," I whispered back.

Father accompanied Paul into the dining room, but before I could follow Cartimandua plucked at my elbow and when I turned she put her hand behind my head and drew my ear down to her mouth. "Lord, I can listen too?"

"Of course. Everyone has to be there. That was Paul's condition."

"You help me understand him?"

"Sure, if you want."

"So I will sit next to you, my lord?"

Cartimandua sounded oddly pleased. She kissed me, then released me and disappeared out towards the kitchen, leaving me staring after her back. After a moment I shrugged and went into the dining room. Who can understand women?

As soon as we men were reclining on our couches mother and Cartimandua came and took their places, mother sitting on the couch beside father and Cartimandua on the end of my couch. Syros, our butler, brought the first course in and laid it on the table in the centre of the room. Father gestured towards the dish.

"Help yourselves, sirs. It is lentils and vegetables. I know that you Jews don't eat pork, but if there is anything else that offends you, please say so."

"We have a beef stew next," mother offered. "Is that all right?"

"That will be fine, thank you lady." Paul responded, helping himself to the food in the dish.

The meal ended with honey cakes and as we were eating these my father touched on the subject that had been puzzling him.

"Paul, if I may call you that. How is it that you, a Jew, are willing to eat with us Greeks?"

Paul smiled, his white teeth flashing in the lamp-light.

"As you know," he said, "we Jews are not supposed to have any contact with those we call 'gentiles'. We may not eat with them, we may not enter their houses, we may not do or wish them good - and if we have gentile slaves, we may not set them free230."

Father whistled between his teeth. "Why? Why do you hate us so much? Mind you," he added, "to be fair, we 'gentiles' have often acted badly against you231."

Paul dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. "It is the tradition of my people. The point is, that Jesus the Christos has swept away everything that stood between you and us. We are no longer divided by the old wall of customs and traditions. Because I follow the Christos I am free to come and eat with you."

"Are you free to eat pork?" Mother asked.

Paul made a face. "I would prefer not to - the mere thought disgusts me - but anything which God has created to be received with thanksgiving may be eaten. Man is not made unclean by his food or his drink, though he may be made unhealthy by it."

Father nodded and smiled a little wryly. It is well known in our home that salt pork does not agree with father's digestion. He pushed away his plate and sat up.

"If you are ready, we are more than willing to hear your message. I suggest that we meet in the courtyard as none of the rooms in the house are big enough to hold us all."

"You have so many slaves?" Paul queried as we left the room.

"Not household ones," Father replied over his shoulder. "I've also summoned the slaves from my country estate and invited the piece-workers who supply me with cloth."

There were nearly thirty people gathered in the courtyard when we went out. As soon as we appeared a dead silence fell and all the slaves stood up respectfully to greet their owners. Syros and Antiochus bustled around with chairs for us and a stool for Cartimandua, who sat by my feet, her hand resting on my knee. Paul refused a seat and stood facing us. When we were seated he raised his hand and smiled at us.

"My friends, I thank the noble Lycurgus for inviting me to speak to you all, for what I have to tell you is the most important story in the whole world. I speak of the all-Highest God, Who is above even Zeus or Jupiter, and of His Christos whom He has sent now, in the last age of the world, to be a Saviour to all men.

"These events, which I am about to narrate to you, took place not long ago. Jesus, the Christos, was born in Judea at the time when Quirinius, the man who accused his wife of trying to poison him232 , was governor there."

I sat back and listened to the story I had heard three times before, though this time with more details. Everyone gasped when Paul spoke about the crucifixion of the Christos and Cartimandua gripped my knee so hard it almost hurt. Then Paul went on to speak about the resurrection, but when he began to talk about his own experience my father cleared his throat and raised his hand. Paul stopped and smiled at him.

"Yes, Lycurgus? You have a question?"

"What happened to those who did this terrible thing and crucified the Christos?"

"Well," Paul hesitated, "Caiaphas was removed from his office not long afterwards and Pilate, as we all know, was recalled in disgrace a few years later."

"But was there no divine vengeance?" my father demanded. "Didn't the earth swallow them up or thunderbolts233 strike them down?"

Paul shook his head. "God is merciful, but their judgement is sure234 , for the Christos will return in power and glory and then they will be punished."

My father sat back and Paul continued with the story of how he himself had met the Christos while going to Damascus to arrest those who believed in Him.

"I saw Him235," Paul declared and shivers ran up and down my spine at the ring of certainty in his voice. "I heard Him speaking to me and I realised that this Man, rejected by my people, crucified by the Romans and now proclaimed to you, has been exalted by God to the right-hand of His throne. He has been given a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, whether of powers and authorities in the heavens, men on earth or even those who rule in the Underworld."

"So what must we do in order to be saved?" my father asked when Paul had finished his oration.

"The answer is simple: believe that Jesus is God's Christos, repent of your sins and be baptised in water. Will you accept this salvation, Lycurgus?"

"This is not a thing I would do in haste," my father replied. "I would like to consider and study a little more."

"May I ask the same question of your household?" Paul asked.

My father looked uncomfortable. On the one hand he was gravely suspicous of new-fangled Jewish doctrines, yet on the other hand it would be rude to refuse a guest. Finally he nodded his head.

"If any of you wish to follow the teachings of Paul, you have my permission."

At once Cartimandua stood up. "May I, my lord?"

My father stared at her. "I said I don't mind, my dear, but you'd better ask your owner."

She turned to me. "May I? Please?"

Before I could reply my father broke in. "Arxes, does this girl of yours know what she is getting herself into? How much does she understand of what Paul said?"

Cartimandua's eyes widened and she turned to my father. "I understanding everything, my lord. Paul speak to me in my language."

"What's that?" my father looked puzzled.

"Cartimandua says that Paul spoke in Gaulish at the symposium," I told him.

"And did he?"

"Well," I temporised, "I only heard him speak Greek. Mind you, when Athenodorus was initiated I did hear him speaking some strange language, but he said that he was talking Greek the whole time."

My father turned back to Cartimandua. "Swear to me, child."

Cartimandua lifted her chin and stared at my father. Her face looked very white and solemn and she stumbled over the words. "My lord, I swear by all the gods, by my own life and by the genius of the emperor, I hear this man speak my own language, not Greek."

"Those are solemn oaths, girl, and very dangerous ones." My father spoke quietly and sat in thought for a moment. "Very well, provided your owner has no objections, you may be initiated."

Paul waited for a moment but no-one else came forward. "Lycurgus, I thank you for listening to me. I pray that you and your entire household may yet accept the Christos." He turned to me. "Arxes, will you bring your girl tomorrow night and we shall initiate her."

"Yes, sir."

The slaves and workers dispersed and after some more conversation Paul and his friends left as well. My father rose from his seat.

"How much is this going to cost, Arxes?"

"Nothing. Christians make no charge for initiation."

"Really? Who ever heard of a wandering prophet236 who initiated people for free?"

"Well, Paul initiated Athenodorus and didn't charge him a drachma."

"Hmmm." Father looked thoughtful. "Maybe there is something in what Paul says. I think I would like to hear him again."

229 We cannot be sure what ceremonies were carried on in Corinth. As a Roman colonies these may have been exclusively Roman, but there were many Greeks in the city and they may well have practised their own religion and celebrated the Greek festivals. Return

230 The Babylonian Talmud, tractate Baba Kama, tells a story about Gamaliel, Paul's former teacher. He had a slave called Tabi, a good man but a gentile. Gamaliel wished to free him but was forbidden by Jewish custom and law, so when, one day, he accidentally put out Tabi's eye he was delighted. According to the law of God a master who injured his slave was obliged to set him free.

While the doctor was attending to Tabi's injury Gamaliel happened to meet a colleague, Rabbi Joshua, and confided in him. Rabbi Joshua, scandalised that a gentile might get his freedom, immediately objected. According to tradition, if a culprit confessed to his crime he was freed from the penalty of his misdeed. Claiming that what Gamaliel had told him amounted to a confession, he declared that therefore Gamaliel could not suffer the penalty of freeing his slave. There was a good deal of argument as to whether Gamaliel's words amounted to a confession or not, but in the end he was persuaded not to free the slave.

Tractate Berakoth of the Talmud refers to the death of Tabi and makes it plain that he was still Gamaliel's slave at the time of his death. Return

231 In his The Twelve Caesars Suetonius gives a couple of examples of Roman anti-Jewish prejudice. Speaking of Augustus, he says, "On the other hand, during his journey through Egypt he would not go out of his way, however slightly, to honour the divine Apis bull and he praised his grandson Gaius for not offering prayers when he visited Jerusalem." (p. 104) Tiberius "abolished foreign cults at Rome, particularly the Egyptian and Jewish, forcing all citizens who had embraced these superstitious faiths to burn their religious vestments and other accessories. Jews of military age were removed to unhealthy regions, on the pretext of drafting them into the army; the others of the same race or of similar beliefs were expelled from the city and threatened with slavery if they defied the order." (p. 132) Return

232 In the same work Suetonius records an incident in the life of Tiberius: "As the years went by his stinginess turned to rapacity. It is notorious that he forced the wealthy Gnaeus Lentulus Augur to name him as his sole heir and then to commit suicide by playing on his nervous apprehensions; and that he gratified Quirinius, a rich and childless ex-consul, by executing the highly aristocratic Aemilia Lepida - she was Qurinius' divorced wife and he accused her of an attempt to poison him twenty years previously!" (p. 138) Return

233 This is one of the arguments Celsus uses against Christianity in his On the True Doctrine. "Silly as they are, one finds them standing next to a statue of Zeus or Apollo or some other god and shouting, 'See here! I blaspheme it and strike it, but it is powerless against me, for I am a Christian.' Does this good Christian fellow not see that I might do the same without fear of reprisal to an image of his god? And further: those who do stand next to your little god are hardly secure! You are banished from land and sea, bound and punished for your devotion to your Christian demon and taken away to be crucified. Where then is your god's vengeance on his persecutors? Protection indeed! You ridicule the images of the gods; I doubt you would be so brave were you to come face to face with Herakles or Dionysus himself; but that is hardly my point. I would call your attention to the well-known fact that the men who tortured your god in person suffered nothing in return; not then, nor as long as they lived. And what new developments have taken place since your story proved false - something that would encourage someone to think that this man was not a sorcerer but the son of God?" (p. 119)

We can contrast this with the universal conviction that the ancient gods did indeed punish those who offended against them. Pausanias, in his Guide to Greece VII.xxv records one such instance. "But at a later time, when the Achaians of Helike pulled ritual suppliants out of the sanctuary and murdered them, the vengeance of Poseidon was unhesitating. There was an earthquake in the country that demolished every constructed thing, until the very foundations of the city were lost beyond the inquisition of future ages. . . . There was a sudden shock from the god and with the earthquake the sea ran back, dragging down Helike in its backwash with every living man." Return

234 The question of why Divine punishment was delayed was a common one in philosophic circles and a number of solutions were current. In his essay On God's Slowness to Punish, Plutarch presented most of them, including punishment in a future life, punishment in the underworld, punishment through the offender's children and so on. He also suggested that God gave a perfect example of self-control by punishing well after the offense rather than in the heat of anger. After talking about various people who displayed this virtue, he says, "So if recalling what people have said and taking about what they have done, can decrease the violence and extremity of anger, it is considerably more likely that when we see God, who has nothing to fear and no regrets, still deferring retaliation to the future and allowing time to pass, we will become circumspect in similar circumstances and will regard the patient magnanimity which God displays as a godlike aspect of virtue, because although it doesn't commonly use punishment to improve people, yet it does benefit and chastise a lot of people by taking its time over punishment." (p. 257) Return

235 Greeks would recognise this as a most unusual privilege. In Euripides' Hippolytus, the hero of the play claims to have a special relationship with the virgin goddess Artemis and, indeed, to go hunting with her. He greets her statue with these words: "Dear mistress, permit a devoted hand to set this garland on your golden hair. For I am the only mortal who has this privilege; I am at your side, I talk with you and am answered, hearing your voice but not seeing your face." (p. 133) In his book Pagans and Christians Robin Lane Fox shows that the expression "beside" or "at your side" is a technical one denoting the presence of a god. Return

236 Celsus, in his On the True Doctrine, claimed to have personal knowledge of these wandering prophets. "For example, there are countless in that region [Phoenicia and Palestine] who will 'prophesy' at the drop of a hat, in or out of the temples. Others go about begging and claim to be oracles of God, plying their trade in the cities or in military outposts. They make a show of being 'inspired' to utter their predictions. These habitually claim to be more than prophets and say such things as 'I am God' or 'I am a son of God' or even 'I am the Holy Spirit' and 'I have come to bring life, for the world is coming to an end as I speak and the wicked will perish in the fire for their sins. I shall save you; you will yet see me, for I am coming again armed with heavenly powers.' . . . This sort of thing is heard all over Judaea by these most trivial of prophets and they go on, after parading these threats in front of an audience, to babble about the signs of the Last Days. . . . Indeed, I have talked with any number of these prophets after hearing them and questioned them closely. On careful questioning (after gaining their confidence) they admitted to me that they were nothing but frauds and that they concocted their words to suit their audiences and deliberately made them obscure." (p. 106) Return