In today’s first reading from Acts we meet a very interesting couple, a Jew named Aquila and his wife Priscilla. They were Jewish Christians originally from Pontus but had moved to Rome to ply their trade and evangelize. Luke tells us they had recently arrived at Corinth from Rome because the Emperor Claudius had expelled all the Jews from Rome. Aquila, Priscilla, and Paul were all tentmakers, so they worked together and evangelized together. Some scholars suggest their workshop was one of the places where they evangelized: “Get your tent and your gospel at the same place!”
Paul preached to both Jews and Gentiles, no one was excluded. Every sabbath he would go to the local synagogue “testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.” Some accepted Paul’s teaching and put their faith in Jesus as the Messiah or Christ. Others opposed Paul and his preaching. This pattern was repeated in each city or town where Paul evangelized. He began in the Jewish synagogue where some accepted his message, and others did not and then he would turn to the Gentiles. Even when Paul was rejected by the Jews in one town, in the very next town he would go to his fellow Jews again.
Some Christians over the centuries have argued wrongly that the Jews are no longer God’s people, but Paul explicitly rejects such a view: “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Of course not!” (Romans 11:1). Roman Catholic teaching is that the Jews were and remain the people of God. The Gospel proclaims that membership in the people of God has expanded to accept Gentiles.
Aquila, Priscilla, and Paul teach us that we can evangelize anywhere, at work or at home. We evangelize more by our actions than by our words. God wants to welcome all people, no one is rejected or excluded. Evangelization is not judging and condemning but preaching the Gospel message of God’s love and mercy.
Image: “Tent makers take a moment from sewing for an informal portrait” by 5min.pw is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.