Status Update

Yesterday in one of my classes we were talking about the Apostle Paul's interaction with the people (and eventually church) of Philippi. My professor was speaking about the chase for honor and status in the Roman culture at that time and how Paul was decidedly counter-cultural. Here's the basic synopsis....

In Acts 16 we find Paul and Silas traveling to Philippi which, according to the author Luke, is a Roman colony. At first glance that doesn't seem like a big deal. There were, however, multiple places where Paul visited that were Roman colonies that Luke doesn't point out. For some reason Luke makes the point of emphasizing that Philippi was Roman.

Not too long after his arrival Paul finds himself speaking to a woman named Lydia who recieves the Gospel right away and encourages the men to stay longer. Things seem to be going so well that a fortune telling slave girl (who is possessed by a spirit) begins following Paul around proclaiming that, "these men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." In my mind this would seem like free advertising. But Paul is annoyed. Maybe she isn't the write mode for the advertisement. It seems like she was harming Paul's message and his credibility. Eventually, Paul turns to the girl and commands the spirit to leave her and it does.

Well, it turns out that one man's annoyance is another man's cash cow. When the owners of the girl discover that they can no longer make money with the girl they drag Paul and Silas to the authorities. After accusing them of being Jews who tried to advocate unlawful customs the rulers have Paul and Silas whipped and imprisoned.

You probably know the rest of the story. While in prison there is an earthquake and Paul's shackles were undone and the doors were open. It seemed obvious that all the prisoners would leave and so the Roman jailor decided to kill himself (it would be shameful and possibly result in his death if prisoners escaped under his watch). But before he has a chance to end his life Paul remarks that all the prisoners have stayed. This blows the Jailer away and he immediately asks, "what must I do to be saved?"

In the morning the rulers decided to let Paul and Silas go. When the jailor tells him that they are free to go Paul demands a trial. He remarks that they have beaten him when he has done nothing wrong. He also throws in the fact that he is a Roman citizen.

When the rulers found out that Paul was a Roman citizen it says they became "alarmed" and went to Paul and apolgized immediately. Why were they alarmed? Why did everything change so quickly?

Well, it meant something to be Roman in that day. If you were Roman you were considered more honorable than non-Romans and enjoying more rights than others. In fact a Roman citizen was not to be whipped or flogged. This action, which brough dishonor to the person, was only reserved for slaves. Rome actually had a tradition of prosecuting governors who mistreated their Roman citizens. Hence why the rulers were alarmed when they learned Paul was Roman.

So why didn't Paul and Silas say something during their beating to bring attention to their Roman citizenship and save themselves?

Well, like I mentioned earlier, Roman culture was very concerned with a person's honor and status. Archaelogical discoveries have uncovered tombs that look like resumes. A person would have their accomplishments, family, and citizenship listed. So life was lived to gain honor and climb the so-called "status ladder." If you had Roman citizenship it was expected that you would use this to your benefit.

Yet, when it seemed like the most opportune time, Paul does not use his citizenship to his advantge and takes the beating reserved for slaves.

Even though it was a Roman colony, only 40% of the population of Philippi had Roman citizenship. So the church that Paul was planting would be made up of those who had a higher status naturally and those who did not. It could be incrediably devisive if some members of the church began appealing to their citizenship to climb the ladder while others were unable to.

Paul is making the point that the Church and the kingdom of God doesn't play the honor game the same way. It's not about elevating ourselves for our own benefit. Rather, we are all called to be "slaves" and "servants" of God and others.

To me, this makes Pauls words in Philippians 2:1-11 (his letter to the church in Philippi) even more poignant. In a cultural context where everyone around them was climbing the status ladder, Paul was urging the church to look at Jesus who "did not consider equality with God something to be exploited, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a slave." Paul is flipping the honor game. Well, Jesus flipped it first. But Paul also demonstrated it in not using his Roman citizenship to his advantage. Taking the slave's beating was not disgraceful to Paul. In fact when he wrote to the church latter he begins the letter with, "Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus."

Okay, I'm not done yet.

I began thinking about what the implications are of this for my life. What status do I have and how am I using it for others and not for myself?

This class discussion and my reflection all happened on Thursday of this week. I was still reflecting when I arrived at the church college group I help out with. This week there were several new people. I met one of him during small groups named Mac.

For some reason I've always had a heart for people who are out of their cultural/language element. Mac moved to Orange County two months ago from Cairo, Egypt. I like to think I would have befriended and attempted to make him feel comfortable anyway. But when I learned he was Egyptian I perked up even more so.

I went to Egypt ten years ago as part of a missions trip with my church. I had been a Christian for only a year so it was wild to go to a place where Christianity was despised and many of the churches there existed in secret. I told Mac about my experience.

To Mac, I was someone who had an idea about his world. He lit up. He asked me about where I went, what I did, what I liked, and what I ate. We talked about camels, pyramids, Alexandria, falafel, and humidity.

At some point he asked me where we stayed. I told him we stayed in a flat (apartment) near a palace. He wanted to know which palace. I had no clue. My only response was, "The one where they get mad if you take a picture of it."

I explained that when we were there we kind of got in trouble. One night we got a knock on our door late at night. When we opened it, in rushed six or seven "secret police." They wanted to know why we were taking pictures of the palace. We explained that we were tourists. This didn't fully satisfy them so they took two of our leaders away for further questioning. We were worried.

Then I told Mac that our leaders were brought back in the morning and everything was okay. At that point Mac interrupted me with, "that's because you're American."

Huh?

He explained that since we were Americans they brought us back. He then said that if it was him or another arabic man they would take him away and never bring him back. "I would probably spend my life in prison," he said.

Because of a piece of paper that states that I'm an American I recieve better treatment. And what did I do to earn it....I was born.

And its a status many in the world would and have literally died for.

How do we use our status for the benefit of others and the Kingdom? Where are we at danger of "exploiting it" for our own benefit?

Honestly, I don't know what the full application of this is. It's getting me thinking about my status as a child in a family and as someone who has an education and a college degree.

My hope is that we look at our status and privilege and reflect on how we are using it.

Grace and Peace,

Blake