The Early Church Avoided The Great Theatre of Ephesus

Welcome to Van Life Devotions Season 3 where today we are in the ancient city of Ephesus, and this is its Theatre. Every major city in the Roman world had a theatre, and this theatre is spectacular. The excavations of the Great Theatre reveal that it was first constructed about 250 B.C, and then enlarged during the Roman period fitting around 25,000 people.

Theatres such as this one were used for both entertainment and religious festivals. Regular plays, dramas (often portraying the myths of the gods), comedies, and satires typically began with sacrifices to Dionysus (the god of theatre) and other deities to dedicate the presentation to the gods.

During a festival honouring a particular god or goddess, a procession would begin at the god's temple and parade through Ephesus. Led by priests, priestesses, and cult members, the celebrants and pilgrims would carry the symbols and statues of their deity. Passer-by would honour the god with gifts or by placing incense on altars placed along the route. The procession typically ended at the theatre, where the statues were placed on pedestals and worshiped. People then gave speeches, sacrificed animals, and offered the meat on altars in the stage area. Faithful devotees would then eat the roasted or boiled meat, symbolizing their communion with the deity.

All this made it difficult, if not impossible, for Christians in Ephesus to frequent the theatre. They would not participate in sacrifices before dramatic presentations, were offended by stories of gods that the human imagination had created and refused to eat meat sacrificed to gods that represented demonic powers. No doubt the citizens of Ephesus hated the Christians-not so much for their beliefs but for their refusal to compromise and honour the deities that other people worshiped. As emperor worship became more prevalent, Christians risked their lives to avoid such celebrations.

In a previous Van Life Devotions, we shared about Paul’s influence in this very city through the preaching of the gospel and miracles, and how people were converted from their pagan way of living to join “the Way” which the Christians were known as in those days.

This meant a loss of income for the silversmiths who made shrines of Artemis for the locals and visitors. Demetrius, a silversmith, brought together workers and spoke against Paul for threatening their income and the good name of Artemis. Luke tells us what happened next – “When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theatre together” (Acts 19:28-29 NIV).

In comes the people into this very theatre. By now the Apostle Paul hears about this and wanted to rush down here and appear before the crowd but the church stopped him including some of the city’s officials who were Paul’s friends. Here, in this theatre the crowd were agitated shouting in unison for two hours “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians”! Finally, the city clerk quietened the crowd. Rome disliked any civil disturbances resulting in officials losing their jobs. After settling the crowds down, he dismissed them. Paul’s companions were saved.

Throughout the centuries, similar stories are told. Darkness does not like to be exposed by The Light. Our role today is the keep reflecting the light of Christ so people’s deeds will be exposed resulting in justice for the vulnerable and others becoming followers of Christ.

Let’s pray.

Dear God. Help us to reflect the Light of Jesus so that Your mission in the world of caring for the vulnerable and reaching the lost will be fulfilled.

O God, preserve us who travel; surround us with your loving care; protect us from every danger; and bring us in safety to our journey’s end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

David Moyes