Day 339: Priscilla and Aquila (2024) AI transcript and summary - episode of podcast The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

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Episode: Day 339: Priscilla and Aquila (2024)

Author: Ascension
Duration: 00:15:50

Episode Shownotes

Fr. Mike reminds us that God uses crooked lines to make a straight story, like Paul’s witness to Priscilla and Aquila as they encounter the person of Christ and become missionaries. Just like Apollos accepted correction, Fr. Mike invites us to courageously open ourselves up to learning and growing. Today’s

readings are Acts 18, 1 Corinthians 16, and Proverbs 28:19-21. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Summary

In Day 339 of The Bible in a Year podcast, Fr. Mike Schmitz examines the pivotal relationship between Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila as they engage in missionary work together. They illustrate the importance of openness to learning and personal encounters with Christ, demonstrating how such relationships foster growth in faith, as seen in Apollos' readiness to accept correction from Priscilla and Aquila. The episode draws from Acts 18, 1 Corinthians 16, and Proverbs 28:19-21 to discuss the transformative power of God's Word in the lives of believers and the significance of collaboration and humility in ministry.

Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (Day 339: Priscilla and Aquila (2024)) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.

Full Transcript

00:00:00 Speaker_01
Hello everybody, my name is Father Mike Schmitz. I want to let you know about a one night only opportunity we have in Newark, New Jersey on Monday, December 9th. It's right after the start of Advent.

00:00:09 Speaker_01
We're doing an Advent Night of Reflection and Q&A at the Newark Performing Arts Center. Again, Monday, December 9th. at seven o'clock. If you're interested in finding out more about this, go to ascensionpress.com slash father mike tour.

00:00:20 Speaker_01
Basically, a night of reflection, diving deeply into what it is that we're preparing for in the season of advent.

00:00:26 Speaker_01
If you're interested at all on Monday, December 9th, seven o'clock, Newark Performing Arts Center, go to ascensionpress.com slash father mike tour. That's f-r-m-i-k-e tour. God bless.

00:00:40 Speaker_01
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.

00:00:49 Speaker_01
Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today.

00:00:56 Speaker_01
It is Day 339, reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 18, as well as First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 16, the conclusion of the St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. and Proverbs chapter 28 verses 19 through 21.

00:01:07 Speaker_01
As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the revised standard version, second Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.

00:01:13 Speaker_01
If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates.

00:01:22 Speaker_01
This day is day 339, Acts chapter 18, 1 Corinthians chapter 16, and Proverbs chapter 28 verses 19 through 21. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 18. Paul in Corinth. After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth.

00:01:40 Speaker_01
And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them.

00:01:49 Speaker_01
And because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they worked, for by trade they were tent makers. And he argued in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded Jews and Greeks.

00:01:58 Speaker_01
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with preaching, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be upon your heads.

00:02:11 Speaker_01
I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justice, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.

00:02:23 Speaker_01
Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing Paul, believed and were baptized.

00:02:31 Speaker_01
And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not be silent. For I am with you, and no man shall attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.

00:02:43 Speaker_01
And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

00:02:47 Speaker_01
But when Galileo was pro-council of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack upon Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, This man is persuading men to worship God contrary to the law.

00:02:57 Speaker_01
But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, I should have reason to bear with you, O Jews.

00:03:06 Speaker_01
But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things. and he drove them from the tribunal.

00:03:16 Speaker_01
And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Galileo paid no attention to this. Paul's return to Antioch.

00:03:26 Speaker_01
After this, Paul stayed many days longer, and then took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Sincraia he cut his hair, for he had a vow. And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there.

00:03:39 Speaker_01
But he himself went into the synagogue and argued with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them, he said, I will return to you if God wills. And he set sail from Ephesus.

00:03:51 Speaker_01
When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

00:04:04 Speaker_01
ministry of Apollos. Now, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures.

00:04:13 Speaker_01
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

00:04:22 Speaker_01
He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and expounded to him the way of God more accurately.

00:04:29 Speaker_01
And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to receive him.

00:04:34 Speaker_01
When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully confuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

00:04:53 Speaker_01
Now, concerning the contribution for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.

00:05:00 Speaker_01
On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when I come.

00:05:08 Speaker_01
And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. Plans for travel.

00:05:18 Speaker_01
I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia. And perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may speed me on my journey wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing.

00:05:31 Speaker_01
I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

00:05:40 Speaker_01
When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord as I am. So let no one despise him. Speed him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brethren.

00:05:53 Speaker_01
As for our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brethren, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity. Final message and greeting. Be watchful. Stand firm in your faith. Be courageous.

00:06:09 Speaker_01
Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Now, brethren. You know that the household of Stephanus were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints.

00:06:21 Speaker_01
I urge you to be subject to such men and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanus and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours.

00:06:34 Speaker_01
Give recognition to such men. The churches of Asia send greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. All the brethren send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

00:06:48 Speaker_01
I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord come. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

00:06:58 Speaker_00
My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. The book of Proverbs chapter 28 verses 19 through 21.

00:07:10 Speaker_01
He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

00:07:23 Speaker_00
To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread, a man will do wrong. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you so much.

00:07:35 Speaker_01
Thank you for your word. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. And thank you, Lord God, for all these people.

00:07:41 Speaker_01
We keep hearing these stories of these men and women who spread your word, these stories of these men and women who laid down their lives, these stories of these men and women who are willing to expose themselves to argumentation and to derision and to being mocked and to being killed.

00:07:57 Speaker_01
for the opportunity to share your goodness, your truth, your love, your hope to the world. Lord, help us to be these kind of people. Help us to be this kind of men and women. Help us to belong to you more and more fully every day.

00:08:10 Speaker_01
In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Kind of a shorter reading today. We have, well, let's start with Proverbs because there's something so insightful.

00:08:20 Speaker_01
I mean, obviously God's word is always insightful. I think I probably always say that. But the last verse we read today is Proverbs chapter 28 verse 21. To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.

00:08:34 Speaker_01
That sense of, it reminds me at least of Jacob and Esau.

00:08:37 Speaker_01
Remember the story of Esau coming in from hunting, coming in from the wilderness, and Jacob had the red stuff, the red porridge, and here is Esau who's willing to trade anything for a bit of stew. That was it.

00:08:48 Speaker_01
And that sense of, ah man, bribery and the way in which we would do anything for it. Maybe it's not a piece of bread. Maybe your price is higher. Maybe my price is higher than a piece of bread. But we recognize, man, Lord, I can be too fickle.

00:09:01 Speaker_01
In fact, too often I can be too fickle. So please help me to be resolute, right? Help me to let you be my north star, your truth, be the guiding compass that helps us walk through this life.

00:09:11 Speaker_01
Because again, when we know ourselves, we know how easily we can be toppled, how easily we can be set off course. Now, at the same time, We have the readings today, Acts of the Apostles, chapter 18, and in 1 Corinthians, chapter 16.

00:09:24 Speaker_01
And we recognize how Jesus speaks to Paul. Here, Paul goes to Corinth, and we already have this. Now, a little backstory, we already talked about this a little bit, but Paul goes to Corinth.

00:09:33 Speaker_01
He's a tent maker by trade, so he meets this guy named Priscilla. Sorry, the guy is Aquila. And he and his wife, Priscilla, are tent makers that came to Corinth from Italy because Claudius, the emperor, had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.

00:09:46 Speaker_01
So here, this incredible way in which God uses these crooked lines to make a straight story, essentially, where we have Priscilla and Aquila, who are in Corinth because of persecution, and they encounter Paul, who brings them to Jesus and sets them on a new course.

00:10:01 Speaker_01
And that's one of the things, you know, Pope Benedict had said this. He said, being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty ideal.

00:10:07 Speaker_01
Basically, not because we're trying to be good or because we're trying to shoot for the stars or because we have like good morals. He says, being a Christian is the result of an encounter with a person.

00:10:15 Speaker_01
And that encounter with a person gives one's life a new horizon and sets it in a decisive direction.

00:10:20 Speaker_01
And you have this right here where Aquila and Priscilla who are in Corinth because of exile and they encounter Paul and that encounter of Jesus through Paul radically transforms their lives.

00:10:34 Speaker_01
It's remarkable because from now on Aquila and Priscilla are going to be missionaries themselves. They're going to be evangelists themselves. They're going to preach the gospel and not just make tents in Corinth, they're going to go all over the place.

00:10:48 Speaker_01
We also have the introduction of how Timothy and Silas got to know the Corinthians, because at the end of the letter here today in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, we have all these people who are named in the Acts of the Apostles, all these people even who are named at the beginning of the letter to the Corinthians.

00:11:03 Speaker_01
I think it's really remarkable that at the close of this letter, here is St. Paul, who, this is going, we jumped over to Corinthians just for a second, that at the end of this letter, St.

00:11:12 Speaker_01
Paul says, when Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he's doing the work of the Lord as I am. So let no one despise him. Later on, St. Paul's gonna say to Timothy, let no one despise you because of your youth.

00:11:23 Speaker_01
So that might be a reason why he's saying, let no one despise him, because Timothy was a young person. And so there is the sense that It could be tempting for the Corinthian church to look down on Timothy because of his youth.

00:11:37 Speaker_01
And yet here, Paul says, let no one despise him. And later when Paul writes to Timothy, he says, let no one despise you because of your youth. And so there's something there that's just so powerful and beautiful.

00:11:47 Speaker_01
You realize these people were very close to each other. They knew each other, they worked together. Not only that, but in Acts of the Apostles today, we encounter Apollos. And we get a little bit of his backstory.

00:11:57 Speaker_01
Here's Apollos, who is a convert, and Apollos who is eloquent, and Apollos who is well-spoken, right? And he spoke accurately about the Lord Jesus, but he only had the baptism of John. So then what happens?

00:12:08 Speaker_01
He gets taught, and this is so incredibly important, when he gets taught by Priscilla and Aquila. he changes. So there's this thing called docility. Sometimes we can think of docility as a bad word because it seems like, oh, you're so docile.

00:12:21 Speaker_01
You're just kind of, you know, passive. It's not. That's not what docility means. Docility means I'm open to being taught. If I'm docile, I'm open to being taught. Here is Apollos, who was incredibly gifted, right?

00:12:31 Speaker_01
He is an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He'd been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately. And then he gets corrected. And what happens? He gets corrected. He lets himself be taught.

00:12:44 Speaker_01
And it goes on to say, it's incredible that when we're open to being taught, when we're open to being corrected, God can do incredible things with us.

00:12:51 Speaker_01
Now, maybe when a person's really talented, they're less open to being corrected, but if a person is talented, gifted, skilled, and open to being corrected, open to being taught, that means there's no limit, really.

00:13:03 Speaker_01
It's almost like the same way or similar to grace, that it's one thing to be blessed by the Lord, It's another thing to allow him to bless abundantly with his grace, every aspect of our lives.

00:13:15 Speaker_01
I think sometimes a lot of us are tempted to only let God bless a part of our lives. God, this is the part of my life you can bless because it belongs to you, but these other parts of my life belong to me.

00:13:23 Speaker_01
And so, I mean, yeah, you go ahead and bless them, but don't use them as well. And of course, that's a trap. Don't do that.

00:13:30 Speaker_01
But here is Apollos, who was incredibly blessed and then even further blessed because he allowed himself to be corrected, allowed himself to be taught. Now, remember at the beginning of the first Corinthians, Paul says that there's factions.

00:13:44 Speaker_01
Some saying, I belong to Paul, some I belong to Apollos, some I belong to Kepha. And yet here, Paul is commending to the Corinthians. Hey, receive Apollos. You know, as for brother Apollos, I strongly encouraged, urged him to visit you.

00:13:59 Speaker_01
Like, you know, it would be one thing if Paul was threatened by this division, if Paul was threatened by the factions, he would say, yeah, Apollos, you stay away. This is, these are my folks and I don't want you to try to win them to your side.

00:14:10 Speaker_01
Instead, he says, no, no, no. At the very end of this letter, I urged, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brethren. He says, but it was not at all his will to come now. Now, that could mean it was not Apollos' will.

00:14:22 Speaker_01
It also could mean that it was not the Father's will. It could mean that it was not God's will for him. But here is St. Paul concluding these words with words that echo Acts 18.

00:14:33 Speaker_01
Now, I'm sorry, I'm going back and forth, right, between Acts and Corinthians. And I apologize if that's one of those things that you're like, this is so confusing, Father. Like, why are you doing this? It's only because it's so connected.

00:14:43 Speaker_01
And it blows my mind. how connected our readings are today, how connected Acts 18 and 1 Corinthians 16 is. Here is Jesus, this is the last thing. Here are Christ's words to Paul.

00:14:55 Speaker_01
And he says, one night in a vision, do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, for I am with you. And no man shall attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city. Now, Paul, ultimately, of course, many times was attacked.

00:15:09 Speaker_01
But he was told by Jesus Christ to be strong, to be courageous, to be bold, to not be afraid. And what does Paul say at the end of this letter to the Corinthians? He says, be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.

00:15:25 Speaker_01
Let all that you do be done in love. What an incredible gift. Paul receives from the Lord these words, do not be afraid, move forward, have confidence in me. And then Paul is able to then say to the people, the people he loves the same things.

00:15:40 Speaker_01
Be watchful, stand firm on your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. And this is the truth for every one of us. Those are words that every one of us can be blessed by because they're the words of Jesus for us.

00:15:52 Speaker_01
Do not be afraid. Walk in courage. Walk in faith. Let everything you do be done in love. Easier said than done. So we just pray. We ask God for his grace to be able to live that way, to be that kind of person, to be that kind of people.

00:16:06 Speaker_01
And I want to be that kind of person. And I know you want to be that kind of person as well. That's why I'm praying for you. And please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.