Paul's friends

Scripture: Lectionary # 295. Acts 18:9-18. Psalm 47:2-3.4-5.6-7. John
16:20-23:

Paul has many friends through his courageous preaching and teaching. Among
them are a couple named Priscilla and Aquila--probably Roman Jews. They
join Paul for both have the same skill in tentmaking and they share this
with the nimble fingers of the man who wrote many letters! He mentions
them in three of the letters and his travelling companion, St. Luke,
mention them in our chapter 18 which is featured in today's liturgy. Paul
shows us his affection for them in Romans 16:3-5: "Greet Prisca and
Aquilla, who work with me in Christ Jesus, and who risked their necks for
my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the
Gentiles. Greet also the church in their house." We learn much from this
ending section of Paul's most famous letter. We learn of their supportive
friendship and their work both in tentmaking and in bringing the good news
of Jesus to others. Their house is a home church where all are welcome.
Here in their house koinonia or fellowship and hospitality are experienced
just as Jesus had the warmth of the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in
Bethany.

The fact that Paul names so many people and many women offsets what we
sometimes read about him as a mysogynist or a disgruntled celibate. These
friends are co-workers with him and often are found in the cities where he
preached. Ephesus has a gallery of them including Luke, John, Mary the
Mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and others. The fact of two great churches
that have the names of John the Evangelist and a double church in honor of
Mary the Theotokos shows that they were probably there. It was the custom
to name a church after those holy ones who had been in the country where
the churches were built.

With Prisca or Priscilla and Aquila Paul was able to bring Apollos into
following Jesus. Was he possibly the great preacher and writer who composed
the Epistle to the Hebrews? Paul is supported in his apostolate and in his
own need for affection and love by such wonderful people whose names are in
the book of life--the New Testament.
In many of their homes the Eucharist was celebrated and thus Jesus' command
of love was experienced and lived.

We can conjecture that Priscilla and her husband were exiled from Rome by
imperial command in 49 A.D. We hear of them when Paul is at Cenchreae in
Greece and composes his letters in 57 A.D. to the Corinthiians. He may
have been in contact with them up to the time of his death in the early
sixties. Luke tells us in Acts: "After this Paul left Athens and went to
Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had
recently come from Italy with is wife Priscilla, because Claudius had
ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them and because he was of
the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together--by trade
they were tentmakers. Every sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and
try to convince Jews and Greeks." (Acts 18:1-4).

These were the holy ones of God who loved each other and worked both with
their hands and with their ministries of teaching, writing, and preaching.
Paul was not a lone ranger type. He needed people and loved them
passionately. They cherished him both in Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, and
Rome.

One of the most touching scenes of this love and friendship is found in
Acts 20:36-38: "When he (Paul) had finished speaking, he knelt down with
them all and prayed. There was much weeping among them all; they embraced
Paul and kissed him, grieving especially because of what he had said, they
they would not see him again. They then brought him to the ship."

We are led to thank God for the friends that we have. We like Paul cherish
and love them and pray for them. Amen. Alleluiah.