A Riot in Ephesus
Acts 19:23-41
23 About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. 24 A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans. 25 These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, ‘Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business. 26 You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods. 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.’
28 When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ 29 The city was filled with the confusion; and people rushed together to the theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travelling-companions. 30 Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him; 31 even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theatre. 32 Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defence before the people. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ 35 But when the town clerk had quietened the crowd, he said, ‘Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple-keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven? 36 Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37 You have brought these men here who are neither temple-robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38 If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another. 39 If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly. 40 For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.’ 41 When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
With such a long text to read the comments are short today. With this one we end our journey through Acts for the moment, since Advent begins on Sunday, Dec. 3.
The riot is brought about because Demetrius, a silversmith who made his living from making and selling statues of Artemis, believed that his income was being impacted because people were becoming followers of Jesus. The presence of Artemis’ temple in Ephesus made the sale of Artemis pieces a profitable tourist business. Followers of Jesus did not buy Artemis stuff, because just as there was not room for Jesus and magic – there was no room for Jesus and Artemis.
A single-minded loyalty to Jesus changes the way we live our lives – our shopping lives, our leisure lives, our life in the community lives. A single-minded loyalty to Jesus changes the ways we use money and things and the way we relate to people. It leads to a simple question, how has following Jesus changed the ways you spend money, the ways you relate to the neighbour, what you do with your leisure time.
Loyalty to Jesus does not require us saying negative things about other viewpoints – rather there is so much good to say about Jesus we don’t need to “go negative”.
PRAYER:
We thank you, O Lord, for the book of Acts. Guide us to be shaped by its teaching so that we might live single-minded as your people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.