May 1st, 2021

The Fifth Sunday of Easter continues with the First Reading from the book of Acts, this time from chapter 8[:26-40]; and the texts will continue to move toward the end, until the last Sunday of Easter, when we will go back to chapter 1 to prepare for Pentecost. The gospel text is again from the Gospel according to John; this time it also progresses farther along in Jesus’ life [15:1-8], and Jesus is about to be arrested.

The differences between the first three gospel accounts and the Gospel according to John have, for a long time, been the source of some long discussions. Questions related to this issue are difficult to answer because the issue has recently been framed with a chronological question, rather than a theological, literary, or even a general historical one. Usually the question is asked, ‘Which account was written first?’ Unless there is some exceedingly strong evidence, it will always be hard to answer that question.

It is also very hard to say when the writing of the four accounts started. Perhaps just one or two of Jesus’ disciples were adept at writing. Jesus certainly was! (See John 8:6 & 8.) And since he was literally the ‘perfect teacher’, he certainly could have taught ALL of his disciples how to write. But that is not in ANY text.

There MAY be a hint of something being written down in Acts 6. William Farmer writes about this ‘principle’ in his book, The Formation of the New Testament Canon:

The first evident need for writing down the words of the Lord may have been in connection with the need for the oral tradition to be translated in a reliable way into languages other than that spoken by Jesus, or other than that spoken by Christian prophets speaking in the spirit and name of Jesus [William R. Farmer and Denis M. Farkasfalvy, The Formation of the New Testament Canon: An Ecumenical Approach, New York: Paulist Press, 1983; page 50].

The first thing to note is that the author writes that the words of the Lord MAY have been written down at this particular point. There is no guarantee of this. But, within Acts 6, it looks like there is a desire for the words of the Lord in the Greek language.

This is the start of talking about the ‘seven’ who helped the twelve. From the names of the seven, it looks like they were Greek, or at least they had some Greek connections. How these ‘seven’ got started is given in the following verses [6:1-4], and this is in a somewhat-literal translation:

And in these days, the disciples being multiplied, there was a murmuring of the Hellenists toward the Hebrews, because the widows of them were overlooked in the service, the daily one. And the twelve, having called the multitude of the disciples, said, ‘Not pleasing it is for us, leaving the word of God to serve tables. But look out, brothers, for men from you, being witnesses to seven full of Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint over this office. But we, ourselves, will keep to the prayer and to the service of the word.

Usually it is thought that these Hellenistic widows were overlooked in terms of receiving food. While that was probably the case, the way in which they were overlooked could have been more multifaceted.

The twelve said that they did not want to be leaving the word of God to serve tables. The phrase ‘word of God’ is used here and tends to appear more in the first part of Acts; it also has more of a Jewish connection; the phrase ‘word of the Lord’ will become more popular in the latter part of the book of Acts, and that phrase has a more Gentile connection. (You might wish to note a gradual transition from the use of the word ‘God’ to ‘Lord’ in Acts 8.)

With all that in mind, perhaps you can imagine what it might have been like for one of the twelve to visit a Greek widow. While at the Jewish widow’s house, this man who followed Jesus around for three years may have related a lot of things that Jesus did, but for the Greek widow, that person may have basically just dropped the food and left; he may not have even stepped inside of the house. Very little was probably said, especially if it was spoken in Greek. Very little COULD be said, especially since the numbers of followers were increasing dramatically. There was very little time to do anything. So this may be what was meant by ‘to serve tables’.

A Greek widow who was a follower of Christ would no longer have a man as the spiritual leader of her household, and these Greek men could have been placed into that role. And these seven may have been asked by these widows for some of the things that Jesus said and did. These men would want to get the details correct, and so, some of these events and words of Jesus MAY have been written down in Greek.

The false witnesses that speak against Stephen, later in the chapter [6:13-14], say this about him; this, again, is a somewhat-literal translation:

This man does not cease speaking words against the place, the holy one, and the law. For we have heard him saying that this Jesus, the Nazarene, will destroy this place and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.

It seems that the message he was preaching was about Jesus. If he had just continued to deliver the food and kept his mouth shut, it seems like there would have not have been any trouble. But there will always be trouble for the Lord's Church ... until the Final Day.​