"Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles."
Romans 16:3-4
This past Sunday we finished up our "wiretap building" stage of our new sermon series on Paul's letter to the church in Rome. That is, in order to understand more fully what Paul was actually saying to these people in Rome, we've spent about three weeks putting together a mental device that will help us to overcome some of the obstacles that make the meaning of Paul's writing less than obvious. Two Sundays ago we talked about the importance of understanding the writer. Last Sunday we talked about the importance of understanding the listener.
Knowing who the listener is might not seem like a key element of understanding a conversation (which Romans certainly is). Imagine, however, two people talking in an Apple store. We all know that the words of the conversation take on different meaning if the person doing the talking is an Apple salesperson. But they take on an even more different meaning if the listener is an NBA superstar (this really happened...my friend's friend was working at Apple store in the Mall of America in Minnesota when the Lakers came to town. One of their players came in to have his iPod fixed -this was when iPods were still a new thing- and my friend's friend ended up fixing it, then delivering it personally to the hotel room where this NBA player was hanging out playing video games with other members of the team. True story).
But, back to the point: changing the listener changes the conversation.
So on Sunday we spent some valuable time getting to know who the Christians in Rome were. It turns out that there's quite a lot about them that isn't readily available or preached about, and we highlighted some of those things. What I want to share with you here, however, is the story of just two of the people Paul mentions, Prisca and her husband Aquila.
We meet these two along with Paul in Acts 18, where they all worked as tentmakers (a la REI) in Corinth. The two of them actually started to follow Christ when they were living in Rome. It's not exactly clear how they became followers of Christ, but most likely Prisca, who was a Jew, heard about Jesus of Nazareth first from some other Jews who had begun following Jesus, then told her husband (who had moved to Rome from Turkey) about him.
All the Jews were kicked out of Rome, however, a few years after they started following Christ, and so Prisca and her husband ended up moving to Corinth. When Paul arrived there sometime later, he sought them out personally because he was not only a follower of Christ himself, he was also a member of the same tentmakers' "guild" that they were (guilds were kind of like unions or fraternities). They worked together so well that they even ended up traveling with Paul when he went to Ephesus, helping him to establish the church there. When they were able to return home to Rome, however, they did, becoming two of the pillars of the church there.
So why highlight these two today? I love these two because of what they teach us about how God works, and specifically how God works through us. First, from the world's perspective, there is really nothing significant about Prisca and Aquila. Yes, the two were more or less successful, able to make a steady living. But Prisca and Aquila weren't a wealthy family, nor were they famous philosophers or powerful politicians. They had to get their hands dirty and work hard every day just to make it. Yet in the family of God, they were some of the most generous benefactors. They took the lead, hosting worship gatherings in their home, accompanying Paul as he went to go preach, and even correcting the famous Christian preacher Apollos when they heard him teaching some misguided things about Christ to listeners.
I see a lot of Priscas and Aquilas in the church today, as well as a lot of potential Priscas and Aquilas. We have many in the body of Christ who might not be seen as world-changers. But the truth is you don't have to be a preacher or a missionary to be a key factor in God's Mission. Prisca and Aquila were so vital to Paul's efforts because of their steady support, their willingness to host and forge relationships with their newfound brothers and sisters in Christ (even those members who's lifestyles might have normally offended them), and their own well-cultivated relationships with God through Christ (which enabled them to know when even someone as learned and eloquent as Apollos was accidentally leading people away from Christ).
Not everybody needs to be Paul. In fact, the church would be in big trouble if that were the case. What has always been the backbone of the body of Christ has been regular people following an extraordinary God.
