In our scripture readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Paul and Silas make their way from Philippi to Thessalonica, where Paul does his usual evangelizing in the synagogue to the Jews. Many come to faith, but those who reject his message become jealous, and threaten violence. Paul and Silas escape to nearby Beroea, but then the Jews from Thessalonica catch up to them, and Paul is sent further away for safety – to Athens, and then to Corinth, where Paul changes his tactics...and his target audience....
There was an article in the National Post this week about “Canada's Most Dangerous Professor.” If you haven't heard her name before now, Professor Frances Widdowson was at the University of Lethbridge this past weekend, and she was removed from the campus in handcuffs and given a $600 citation for trespassing. She was fired from Calgary's Mount Royal University in 2021, essentially for generating controversy which disturbed her colleagues, by questioning the narrative that has been built on the results of ground-penetrating radar surveys of a residential school site in Kamloops. In February, her presence at the U of L caused jealous people who want to control that narrative to do what jealous people usually do these days – they put together a mob of protesters, who banged drums and shouted abuse at Professor Widdowson, and set the campus in an uproar. And the university responded the way they usually do these days, not by rebuking the protesters threatening violence, but by issuing a trespass notice to Professor Widdowson....
Paul and Silas have made their way from the jail in Philippi, down the east coast of Greece to the city of Thessalonica. And since there was a synagogue in town, Paul started his missionary efforts there, convincing the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. “Some of them were persuaded,” it says, but the rest of them became jealous to the point of forming a mob, dragging Paul's supporter Jason in front of the authorities, and threatening violence to Paul. And that begs the question – jealous of what, exactly?
Were they jealous in the way they explained it to the authorities – jealous on behalf of the emperor looking for the full and unreserved loyalty of the people? Please! There's always a reason that sounds good to authorities, and it's never the real reason. Were they jealous that Paul was gaining influence over the community, a religious influence that the Jews thought should belong to them? That's getting closer, although it might not explain the intensity of their reaction. Were they jealous that the fledgling Christian church in Thessalonica might thrive and their own synagogue might become unviable? That's getting closer, although it might not explain why they continued to harass Paul once he had moved on to Beroea. I THINK the Jews in Thessalonica were jealous the way Cain was jealous of Abel in the book of Genesis. God, their God, the God of Messiah, was rewarding the efforts of Paul and Silas with miracles, and momentum, and growth, and it just wasn't fair. God was picking favourites, and the kind of jealousy produced by this, was able to bring Cain to the point of murderous rage. Then again, THAT explanation doesn't really explain why the Jews of Beroea were more receptive to Paul and Silas, until the Jews from Thessalonica arrived to incite them. Whatever the rationale for their jealousy, the Jews from Thessalonica did everything in their power to sabotage Paul's efforts: they enlisted some ruffians to form a mob, they threatened Paul's supporters, and if they had found Paul or Silas, who knows what violent result would have occurred.
When we look around at the groups who are forming mobs and threatening violence today, of whom and of what are they jealous, exactly? Are they jealous towards those who have money and power on behalf of the poor, who could have so much more if only the rich and powerful had less? Please! There's always a reason that sounds good to authorities, and it's never the real reason. Are they jealous that the rich and powerful have more influence than they do, or that their very existence is threatened by the rich and powerful? That would be the prevailing theme in the media. But I think those who form mobs and threaten violence today are jealous of successful people the way Cain was jealous of Abel. It's just not fair, that the successful are successful. So the system, or the God, that produces their success must be sabotaged.