ROW ROW ROW

ROW, ROW, ROW:

“Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my __________ and __________. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future.” -Acts 26:16

In America we often read the Bible during our quiet time. Google images depicts quiet dreamy moments under trees, in sunny window nooks, or peaceful mornings at the table under a soft white light and cup of joe. In those quiet times we frequently look to mine, extract, and pan for bits of personal theological gold and gems of encouragement to boost our mood, lift our spirits, and energize our souls. Rarely do we stop to determine, or even consider, the historical, cultural, and political context of our private excavation projects. Accordingly, the resulting contemporary applications are grossly misguided miscarriages of divine truth and instruction.

Gaius Julius Caesar was instrumental in the demise of the Roman Republic and its transformation into the Roman Empire. In March of 44 BC he was attacked and assassinated by a group of Roman Senators (including his friend and protege, Marcus Brutus) and supposedly uttered the famous last words, “Et tu Brute?” Three of Caesar’s generals (including his grand-nephew, Octavian, along with Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus) formed a Triumvirate and quelled the senatorial rebellion. But as human history attests - victory rarely leads to harmony. Maybe Sting said it best in his song, If I Ever Lose My Faith in You, “I never saw no military solution that didn’t always end up as something worse.”

The demise of countless empires and nations throughout ancient and modern history can be distilled to one point: transition of power. Octavian (aka Augustus), the heir-apparent, clashed with the combined forces of Marc Antony and Egypt’s Cleopatra. The pivotal moment was a battle of the naval variety - the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. Antony and Cleopatra’s forces were defeated, and they fled to Egypt where both committed suicide. Caesar Augustus’ reign ushered in a relatively peaceful era, known as the Pax Romana, or “Roman Peace,” (27 BC to 180 AD); the backdrop upon which Jesus’ advent, life, ministry, passion, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension all took place.

The book of Acts was written around 63 AD at the height of this “Roman Peace.” The peace that Roman citizens enjoyed was a universally communicated aspect of cultural awareness and literacy. The Battle of Actium might have very well been akin to something like the Alamo for Texans, like 9/11 for Americans, or the Singing Revolution for the people of Estonia. Therefore, when Luke, the author of Acts, wrote in Acts 26:16, “Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my ὑπηρέτην and μάρτυρα. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future.” God wasn’t simply saying through Luke, “... as my servant and witness” as most English translations render it. Other Greek words like δοῦλος or διάκονος used elsewhere in the New Testament tend to more accurately convey the English term servant or attendant.

But the first word in Greek above from Acts 26:16, ὑπηρέτην, literally means under-rower. Roman warships were designed with both an upper deck - where the fighting soldiers and captain were, and an under deck - where “invisible” men worked in instantaneous and harmonious unison responding to their captain’s every command. Sadly, this rich and powerful picture is something completely lost on contemporary readers.

The Apostle Paul likely understood that he was near the end of his life when he appeared before King Agrippa in Acts 26. Jesus had previously told Ananias, “I will show him (Paul) how much he must suffer for my name.”  As Paul prepared to recount his gloriously divine encounter with the risen Christ to King Agrippa, undoubtedly the color, depth, and detail of the account flooded in. The account here in chapter 26 eclipses and transcends the former from chapter 9, which merely recalls Jesus as saying to Paul, “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Is this an inconsistency or textual error? Certainly not. The Bible is literature and must be read accordingly. If one’s desire is to uncover the Bible’s apparent discrepancies rather than to encounter its Author - it will certainly allow you that freedom. The extent of what Paul originally heard was, “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Undoubtedly, as Paul sat in his cell awaiting a potentially fateful audience with King Agrippa, he replayed that Damascus Road Encounter on a seemingly endless loop. Like the cognitive interviews conducted by the FBI’s criminal profilers on the TV show “Criminal Minds,” Paul probably began to recall previously obscure, repressed, and omitted detail...

“Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my under-rower and martyr. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future.”

As you reflect on what the risen LORD commanded Paul to do on the road to Damascus, consider the context of Rome’s military history… the wars and battles, the violence, the struggles and suffering, and the harmonious obedience of under-rowers amid civil war that brought about “peace.” Consider the imagery - not of private quiet times under gorgeous trees shedding their leaves of red, yellow, and orange in fall… not basking comfortably in the warm sunlight of your bay window… not blissfully mining Scripture for gems of individual felicity… not autonomously derived ministerial endeavours, but rather that of unseen, unheard, and unappreciated laborers - intently listening , immediately responding , and grinding out in obscure collaboration toward common goal.

If our approach to Scripture is unwittingly rooted in gleaning bits of private treasure for personal consumption and bliss, then, tragically, we (like Paul) overlook the depth, detail, and beauty of Christ’s revelation. Paul originally heard, “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Later, Paul recalled the fullness of Jesus’ message, “Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my under-rower and martyr. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future.”

That’s not just the LORD’s imperative command to Paul. Instead, that is what Jesus desires for all of us. Not necessarily to preach in synagogues and public squares, not to travel extensively, not to endure beatings, not to experience shipwrecks, cold, hunger, and prison, not operating as rogue paddlers in religious zeal, but rather listening intently to the voice of our Sovereign Captain, straining at the oars of universal blessing in collaborative grace communities, and telling the world what Jesus has revealed thus far - and what we eagerly anticipate in the future.

Are you busy row, row, rowing your own boat, or are you an under-rower on His?

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Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley

aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com