certain signs

"A Certain Jew", Apollos by name, once went down to Ephesus.

So begins the story recorded in Acts 18:24-19:7.

There he burned by the spirit when he spoke, and taught the things about Jesus "accurately", though he knew only "the baptism of John."

Later, when Paul came to Ephesus, he found "certain disciples". They too had been baptized--into "the baptism of John."

The "certain disciples" lacked, however, one important thing: the Holy Spirit. Like the "certain Jew", they needed a Paul, a la Priscilla and Aquila, to take them aside and explain the way of God "more accurately."

This "more accurate" explanation is the difference between speaking by the spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit accompanies the "more accurate" message about Jesus--the one testified by John.

The text does not tell us much about the message about Jesus that Paul told to the certain disciples at Ephesus. Paul reports only that John told the people to "believe in the one who was coming after him, that is, Jesus, who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit." But beyond this we can infer the gospel story of Jesus' baptism by John in the Jordan.

Jesus' own baptism was also an anointing of the Holy Spirit. It also sealed his royal status, as Israel's Messiah-King. Just as the son of Jesse, whom Samuel anointed king of Israel some 1000 years earlier, the Spirit of God "rested upon" Jesus "from that day forward" (which is not to say, from the gospel perspective, that the Spirit was not present in some way with Jesus before his baptism).

More importantly, Jesus' anointing at baptism signified what kind of king he would be. Matthew's account, for example, highlights Jesus' humility. Though John testifies that he himself should be baptized by Jesus, Jesus insists that his own baptism "is proper in order to fulfill all righteousness." And so the sinless Son of God embraces a baptism of repentance at the hands of a sinner, one not worthy to untie the thongs of Jesus' sandals. Humility personified.

If there were any doubt as to the measure of his humility, the next scene finds Jesus tempted to embrace dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth if he will only bow down and worship the devil. He refuses: "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." Such service to God, in the mouth and in the steps of the Messiah, amounts not to bowing before Satan but before fellow brothers and sisters, even as Jesus has already humbled himself before John. Or as Luke puts it in a scene following directly upon those of baptism and temptation, "the Spirit of the Lord that is upon" Jesus "has anointed him" precisely for a ministry with the broken and suffering children of God: "good news to the poor," "recovery of sight to the blind", "release of the captives". The Messiah's rule will not consist of sumptuous dining in the courts of the rich, waited on hand and foot by inferiors. This Son of Man has come "not to be served but to serve"; this Son of Man has come "to be counted among the trangressors" in his death on a cross, "to give his life as a ransom for many."

This story is of the utmost significance for human life anywhere on the planet, and particularly so in my experience working with so-called independent or spiritual churches and Pentecostals in South Africa. Concern for access to the Holy Spirit is primary; understanding as to the specific life demanded by that Spirit is suspect.

That specific life, as Priscilla and Aquila once proclaimed to a "certain Jew" named Apollos, is Jesus, the Christ. Although he knew "accurately the things about Jesus", this one who burned by the spirit when he spoke had need of "more accurate" knowledge of the way of God. Similarly, when church members testify before the congregation "I am saved" because "Jesus died for me", they are "accurate" but have need of "more."

A young Pentecostal pastor has recognized this tendency. He testified before his congregation one Sunday last month.

"There are certain churches whose members do not even say 'I am saved', because the community must tell them if they are saved. They must know we are saved because they can see that we have good works."

When such "certain members" by their fellows are anointed such, no longer are they "certain disciples". Rather, they have become, as those whom Paul found at Ephesus, "the twelve", Jesus' own disciples, they who speak and walk by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Again Pastor Ntapo:

"I am not greedy for numbers. God wants people who are willing to be thoroughly taught by Jesus."

And with characteristic humility, as if "disbelieving in his joy", he exclaims, "How I wish I really believed the things that I am talking about!"

So be it for us all.

-Joe

Texts referred to or quoted in this entry: Acts 18:24-19:7; 1 Sam 16; Matt. 3-4; Lk. 4; Isa 53:12; Mk. 10:45; Lk. 24:41