以弗所的暴動
21這些事完了，保羅心裏定意經過了馬其頓、亞該亞，就往耶路撒冷去；又說：「我到了那裏以後，也必須往羅馬去看看。」 22於是從幫助他的人中打發提摩太、以拉都二人往馬其頓去，自己暫時等在亞細亞。
23那時，因為這道起的擾亂不小。 24有一個銀匠，名叫底米丟，是製造亞底米神銀龕的，他使這樣手藝人生意發達。 25他聚集他們和同行的工人，說：「眾位，你們知道我們是倚靠這生意發財。 26這保羅不但在以弗所，也幾乎在亞細亞全地，引誘迷惑許多人，說：『人手所做的，不是神。』這是你們所看見所聽見的。 27這樣，不獨我們這事業被人藐視，就是大女神亞底米的廟也要被人輕忽，連亞細亞全地和普天下所敬拜的大女神之威榮也要消滅了。」
28眾人聽見，就怒氣填胸，喊着說：「大哉，以弗所人的亞底米啊！」 29滿城都轟動起來。眾人拿住與保羅同行的馬其頓人該猶和亞里達古，齊心擁進戲園裏去。 30保羅想要進去，到百姓那裏，門徒卻不許他去。 31還有亞細亞幾位首領，是保羅的朋友，打發人來勸他，不要冒險到戲園裏去。 32聚集的人紛紛亂亂，有喊叫這個的，有喊叫那個的；大半不知道是為甚麼聚集。 33有人把亞歷山大從眾人中帶出來，猶太人推他往前，亞歷山大就擺手，要向百姓分訴； 34只因他們認出他是猶太人，就大家同聲喊着說：「大哉！以弗所人的亞底米啊。」如此約有兩小時。 35那城裏的書記安撫了眾人，就說：「以弗所人哪，誰不知道以弗所人的城是看守大亞底米的廟和從宙斯那裏落下來的像呢？ 36這事既是駁不倒的，你們就當安靜，不可造次。 37你們把這些人帶來，他們並沒有偷竊廟中之物，也沒有謗讟我們的女神。 38若是底米丟和他同行的人有控告人的事，自有放告的日子，也有方伯可以彼此對告。 39你們若問別的事，就可以照常例聚集斷定。 40今日的擾亂本是無緣無故，我們難免被查問。論到這樣聚眾，我們也說不出所以然來。」 41說了這話，便叫眾人散去。
各位平安，我們今天讀的是《使徒行傳》第19章下半段的故事。就像我們昨天所說的，保羅在以弗所這個地方傳福音，使神的道大大興旺，讓很多人轉向信基督。甚至許多靠算命和從事邪術賺錢的人都甘心樂意地把他們的邪術的書拿出來燒掉，等於是放棄了很多財富。所以，我們看到保羅在這裡傳福音取得了很大的果效。
傳福音的時候，我們當然也會知道一件事情，就是屬世的信仰和這些邪惡的信仰是不會善罷甘休的。因為當越來越多人轉去相信基督的時候，自然而然地就越來越少人來相信本地的宗教信仰，也就是他們的亞底米邪神。所以，靠著這些宗廟生意發財的人就開始不滿意了。他們看到過去這兩年，保羅不斷地宣揚福音，越來越多的人相信了福音，他們的信徒勢必會開始減少，他們已經感受到受到威脅和壓力了。
所以這邊我們就看到一個叫做底米丟的人，他看起來是這裡製作宗教器具的一個工會會長。是他讓這些手藝人的生意發達，因此聚集了所有同行來挑戰這個不斷在擴張的福音信仰。他說保羅在迷惑許多人，並且很聰明地把這件事情扯到他們的女神身上。在這個題目之下，有一些人就莫名其妙地相信他。大部分的人都知道這其實只是為了生意的緣故，但是當他使用宗教這個藉口時，他就有了一個名義來糾集所有的信徒來反抗保羅及他的福音。
其實，這樣的手段在今天我們也都看得見。許多神棍假借宗教之名行斂財之事，或者是假借一些異端邪說，用一些莫名其妙的藉口，像江湖騙子們一樣，向有信仰或希望找尋信仰的人榨取他們的財物。在非常多的地方，我們都看見人們心甘情願地奉上大把的錢財，只為了從他們認為的信仰中求得一些言語的安慰或一些虛假的承諾。
很遺憾的是，底米丟的話術非常厲害，他成功地煽動了一些人開始喊叫，並帶動了整個局勢，結果滿城都轟動起來。要知道，這時候的以弗所可是有超過十萬人的大城市。你可以想像一下，如果整個城市的人都轟動起來，會是什麼樣的場景，那是一個非常驚人的景象。
與保羅在一起的同伴，如該猶和亞里達古，都被這些暴民抓了起來，非常危險。這甚至驚動了當時省裡的重要官員，這些省級大官，也是保羅的朋友，都來對保羅說：「你最好不要出來，現在外面非常混亂。」
所以，我們看到了一場非常大的混亂，甚至很多人根本不知道是怎麼一回事就被拖進了暴民的團隊裡面。整個城鬧了起來，只因為幾個人煽動了民眾。很多百姓其實茫然不知他們到底在吵什麼事情，而官員們也非常緊張。
於是，這個城的書記，也就是相當於市長的人，出來安撫大家，說：「如果有事情，那麼就在法院裡面好好地解決，不要鬧。」，幸好這一場混亂沒有演變成為暴動，我們所知道的是，羅馬人非常看重秩序。如果這些混亂變成了暴動，羅馬軍隊會毫不留情地鎮壓，那就不僅僅是造成一些人的受傷，可能會有許多人死亡。所以，這個書記官為了保護自己的官位，也完成了一件重要的事情，將整個以弗所從混亂的邊緣拉了回來。
經常性地，保羅在傳福音的道路上，不僅要面對同族的困難，也要面對這些迷信的困擾。這些迷信根深蒂固，形成了非常龐大的經濟體系，這些經濟體系已經不再只是宗教本身，而是為了賺錢。保羅所傳的福音經常在破壞這些已經建立的利益結構，因此，他到的地方常常會引起很大的困擾。
阻礙信仰和真理的，通常都不是其他的宗教，而是最強大的宗教——金錢。路加把同一個故事的兩面放在同一個章節，真是相當高明的手法。我們既看到一些行邪術的江湖騙子改邪歸正，聆聽福音並且用行動表達自己的改變，另外一邊則是不甘於自己的斂財手段被破壞，糾結群眾來阻礙福音的傳遞。
在以弗所的三年，保羅在這個地方建造了重要的以弗所教會，接下來保羅繼續他的旅程，而且他為了要從他建造的教會中收集捐款，並且送到耶路撒冷教會，他就走到馬其頓，走遍了那一帶地方。我們繼續來研讀第二十章，感謝各位的聆聽。
The Riot in Ephesus
23About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. 24A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. 25He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 26And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. 27There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”
28When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29Soon 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 theater together. 30Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.
32The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. 33The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. 34But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? 36Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash. 37You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. 38If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. 39If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. 40As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.” 41After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
Dear brothers and sisters, peace be with you. Today we are reading the second half of Acts 19. As we mentioned yesterday, Paul preached the gospel in Ephesus, causing God's word to flourish greatly, leading many people to turn to Christ. Even those who made money through fortune-telling and practicing sorcery willingly brought their books of magic and burned them, effectively giving up a lot of wealth. So, we see that Paul had great success in preaching the gospel here.
When preaching the gospel, we must be aware that worldly beliefs and evil practices will not give up easily. As more and more people turn to believe in Christ, naturally, fewer people will believe in the local religions, including their goddess Artemis. Therefore, those who made a living from these religious practices began to be dissatisfied. They saw that over the past two years, Paul had been continuously spreading the gospel, and more and more people were believing in it. Their followers would inevitably start to decrease, and they felt threatened and pressured.
So here we see a man named Demetrius, who appears to be the leader of a guild of craftsmen making religious artifacts. He helped these artisans prosper, and he gathered all his fellow craftsmen to challenge the ever-expanding Christian faith. He said that Paul was misleading many people and cleverly linked this to their goddess. Under this pretext, some people inexplicably believed him. Most people knew it was really for the sake of their business, but when he used the religious excuse, he had a pretext to rally all the followers to oppose Paul and his gospel.
In fact, we can still see such tactics today. Many charlatans use the guise of religion to extort money or use heresies and strange excuses to exploit those with faith or those seeking faith, just like con artists. In many places, we see people willingly giving large sums of money, hoping to find comfort or false promises from what they believe is their faith.
Unfortunately, Demetrius was very persuasive, successfully stirring up some people to start shouting and inciting the whole situation, causing the entire city to be in an uproar. You must understand that Ephesus at that time was a large city with over 100,000 people. Imagine what it would be like if the entire city was in an uproar—it would be a very frightening scene.
Paul’s companions, such as Gaius and Aristarchus, were caught by these rioters, which was very dangerous. This even alarmed the high-ranking officials of the province, who were also Paul’s friends. They came to Paul and said, "You better not go out; it's very chaotic outside right now."
So, we saw a very big commotion, and many people were dragged into the mob without even knowing what was going on. The whole city was in chaos because a few people incited the crowd. Many of the citizens were confused about what they were even arguing about, and the officials were very nervous.
Then the city clerk, equivalent to the mayor, came out to calm everyone down, saying, "If there is any issue, it should be resolved properly in court, not by causing a disturbance." Fortunately, this chaos did not escalate into a riot. We know that the Romans highly valued order. If these disturbances turned into a riot, the Roman army would suppress it mercilessly, causing not just injuries but potentially many deaths. So, the city clerk, to protect his own position, managed to pull Ephesus back from the brink of chaos.
Frequently, on his journey of preaching the gospel, Paul had to face difficulties from his own people and deal with the challenges from these superstitions. These superstitions were deeply rooted and formed a vast economic system, which was no longer just about religion but about making money. The gospel that Paul preached often disrupted these established economic structures, which is why he often encountered significant troubles wherever he went.
The obstacles to faith and truth are usually not other religions but the most powerful religion of all—money. Luke skillfully places both sides of the story in the same chapter. We see some charlatans practicing sorcery, repenting, and listening to the gospel, expressing their change through actions. On the other side, we see those unwilling to have their means of making money disrupted, rallying the crowd to hinder the spread of the gospel.
During his three years in Ephesus, Paul built the important Ephesian church. Now, Paul continues his journey, collecting offerings from the churches he established to take to the church in Jerusalem. He travels through Macedonia and visits the areas around it. Let us continue our study with chapter 20. Thank you all for listening.
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