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4 posted on 05/14/2018 7:57:00 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: All

From: Acts 20:17-27

Speech of farewell to the elders of Ephesus


[17] And from Miletus he (Paul) sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of
the church. [18] And when they came to him he said to them: “You yourselves
know how I lived among you all the time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,
[19] serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which befell
me through the plots of the Jews; [20] how I did not shrink from declaring to you
anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,
[21] testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance to God and of faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ. [22] And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, bound in
the Spirit, not knowing what shall befall me there; [23] except that the Holy Spirit
testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and inflictions await me. [24] But I
do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may ac-
complish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to
testify to the gospel of the grace of God. [25] And now, behold I know that all you
among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will see my face no more.
[26] Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you,
[27] for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”

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Commentary:

18-35. Paul’s address to the elders of Ephesus is his third great discourse related
in Acts (the others being his address to Jews in Pisidian Antioch—13:16ff—and to
pagans at Athens—17:22ff). It is, as it were, an emotional farewell to the churches
which he had founded.

The address divides into two parts. The first (vv. 18-27) is a brief resume of Paul’s
life of dedication to the church of Ephesus, which he founded and directed, with
hints of the difficulties which he expects to meet in the immediate future. Two
parallel sections (vv. 18-21 and 26-27) frame the central passages of this section
(vv. 22-25).

In the second section the Apostle speaks movingly about the mission and role of
elders. Two series of recommendations (vv. 28-31 and 33-35) hinge on the central
verse (v. 32).

The pathos, vigor and spiritual depth of the discourse clearly show that it is Paul
who is speaking. Here we have the Paul of the letters addressing a community
which has already been evangelized, and inviting them to get to know their faith
better and practise it better.

18-20. Paul is not embarrassed to set himself as an example of how to serve
God and the disciples in the cause of the Gospel (cf. 1 Cor 11:1). He has worked
diligently, steadily, out of love for Jesus Christ and the brethren, doing his duty,
conscious that this kind of patient, persevering work is the way of perfection and
holiness that God expects him to follow.

The Apostle has learned to imitate Christ both in his public life and in the long
years of his hidden life, ever deepening in his love. In this connection, St Francis
de Sales writes: “Those are spiritually greedy who never have enough of exerci-
ses of devotion, so keen are they, they say, to attain perfection; as if perfection
consisted in the amount of things we do and not in the perfection with which we
do them. [...] God has not made perfection to lie in the number of acts we do to
please him, but in the way in which we do them: that way is to do the little we
have to do according to our calling, that is, to do it in love, through love and for
love” (”Sermon on the first Sunday of Lent”).

St Catherine of Siena understood our Lord to say to her something along the
same lines: “I reward every good which is done, great or small, according to the
measure of the love of him who receives the reward” (”Dialogue”, chap. 68).

As in his letters, Paul associates the idea of service with humility (cf. 2 Cor 10:1;
1 Thess 2:6), tears (cf. Rom 9:2; Phil 3:18) and fortitude to keep on working des-
pite persecution (cf. 2 Cor 11:24; 1 Thess 2:14-16). The Apostle’s true treasure is
humility, for it allows him to discover his shortcomings and at the same time tea-
ches him to rely on God’s strength. As St Teresa says, “The truly humble person
will have a genuine desire to be thought little of, and condemned unjustly, even in
serious matters. For, if she desires to imitate the Lord, how can she do so better
than in this? And no bodily strength is necessary here, nor the aid of anyone but
God “ (”Way of Perfection”, 15, 2).

21. This very brief summary of Paul’s preaching to Jews and pagans mentions re-
pentance and faith as inseparable elements in the new life Jesus confers on Chris-
tians. “It is good to know”, Origen writes, “that we will be judged at the divine judg-
ment seat not on our faith alone, as if we had not to answer for our conduct; nor
on our conduct alone, as if our faith were not to be scrutinized. What justifies is
our uprightness on both scores, and if we are short on either we shall deserve
punishment” (”Dialogue with Heraclides”, 8).

The presence of grace and faith in the soul equips it to fight the Christian fight,
which ultimately leads to rooting out sins and defects. “From the very day faith
enters your soul,” Origen also says, “battle must be joined between virtues and
vices. Prior to the onslaught of the Word, vices were at peace within you, but
from the moment the Word begins to judge them one by one, a great turmoil ari-
ses and a merciless war begins. ‘For what partnership have righteousness and
iniquity?’ (2 Cor 6:14)” (”In Ex Hom.”, III, 3).

22. The Apostle is convinced that God is guiding his steps and watching over him
like a father; but he is also unsure about what lies ahead: this uncertainty about
the future is part of the human condition. “Grace does not work on its own. It re-
spects men in the actions they take, it influences them, it awakens and does not
entirely dispel their restlessness” (Chrysostom, “Hom. on Acts”, 37).

“The true minister of Christ is conscious of his own weakness and labors in humi-
lity. He searches to see what is well-pleasing to God (cf. Eph 5:10) and, bound
as it were in the Spirit (cf. Acts 20:22), he is guided in all things by the will of him
who wishes all men to be saved He is able to discover and carry out that will in
the course of his daily routine” (Vatican II, “Presbyterorum Ordinis”, 15).

23. “No man, whether he be a Christian or not, has an easy life. To be sure, at
certain times it seems as though everything goes as we planned. But this gene-
rally lasts for only a short time. Life is a matter of facing up to difficulties and of
experiencing in our hearts both joy and sorrow. It is in this forge that a person
can acquire fortitude, patience, magnanimity and composure [...].

“Naturally, the difficulties we meet in our daily lives will not be as great or as nu-
merous as St Paul encountered. We will, however, discover our own meanness
and selfishness, the sting of sensuality, the useless, ridiculous smack of pride,
and many other failings besides: so very many weaknesses. But are we to give
in to discouragement? Not at all. Together with St Paul, let us tell our Lord, ‘For
the sake of Christ, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions
and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong’ (2 Cor 12:10)” (St. J. Es-
criva, “Friends of God”, 17, 212).

24. Paul has come to love Jesus Christ so much that he gives himself no impor-
tance: he sees his life as having no meaning other than that of doing what God
wants him to do (cf. 2 Cor 4:7; Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24). He sees holiness as a
constant, uninterrupted striving towards his encounter with the Lord; and all the
great Fathers of the Church have followed him in this: “On the subject of virtue,”
St Gregory of Nyssa, for example, writes, “we have learned from the Apostle him-
self that the only limit to perfection of virtue is that there is no limit. This fine, no-
ble man, this divine Apostle, never ceases, when running on the course of virtue,
to ‘strain forward to what lies ahead’ (Phil 3:13). He realizes it is dangerous to
stop. Why? Because all good, by its very nature, is unlimited: its only limit is
where it meets its opposite: thus, the limit of life is death, of light darkness, and
in general of every good its opposite. Just as the end of life is the beginning of
death, so too if one ceases to follow the path of virtue one is beginning to follow
the path of vice” (”On the Life of Moses”, I, 5).

26. “He considers himself innocent of the blood of the disciples because he has
not neglected to point out to them their defects” (St Bede, “Super Act Expositio,
ad loc.”). Paul not only preached the Gospel to them and educated them in the
faith: he also corrected their faults, putting into practice the advice he gave to the
Galatians: “if any man trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spi-
rit of gentleness. Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Gal 6:1). “A disciple
of Christ will never treat anyone badly. Error he will call error, but the person in
error he will correct with kindness. Otherwise he will not be able to help him, to
sanctify him” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 9).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.


5 posted on 05/14/2018 7:57:57 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies ]

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