SPIRIT AND STEROIDS

 This week’s post builds on a New Testament verb that I reflected on last week. I had occasion to base a homily on iot a few days later, and a couple of brothers thanked me for my words. (Of course it’s always the Holy Spirit who gives the words, but I gratefully answered “You’re welcome!” as if I had been responsible.) I’m posting that homily with a couple of revisions and insertions, hoping that you might find it useful.

* * * * *

In the middle of today’s first reading we see  Paul and Silas returning to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. This is remarkable because at the beginning of the reading  Paul has been stoned and left for dead by a mob in Lystra. Luke explains to us the reason why they are returning to those hostile towns: 

After Paul and Barnabas had proclaimed the good news to [Derbe] and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. They strengthened the spirits of the disciples…” (Acts 14:21). They returned to strengthen the hearts of their brothers and sisters.

The verb “to strengthen” is a form of sterizo, “to make something more firm, solid.”  It’s the root of our word “steroids.” We know that body-builders take steroids to "bulk up" their bodies, and some professional athletes us them illegally to help build up muscle tissue and increase body mass. I’d like to look briefly at how the root-word sterizo is used in the New Testament. Three examples offer us plenty of food for meditation.

First, we’ve already seen the verb used in describing Paul and Silas in the passage quoted above “strengthening the hearts” of the Christians in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch.

 A second  use of our verb occurs in the first chapter of the letter to the Romans. Paul writes:

"For I long to see you, that I may share with you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened (sterizo)..."

Then, in the First Letter to the Thessalonians he tells the church there: 
“we decided to remain alone in Athens, and sent Timothy, our brother and co-worker, to strengthen (sterizo)… you in your faith, so that no one be disturbed in these afflictions.” 

In each of these three passages, there is also a  parallel verb that expands on the idea of sterizo, “strengthening.”  In each of these passages we find the verb parakaleo. Among its many meanings we find “to encourage, exhort.” It gives us our word “paraclete.”   

On our first passage we read “they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. They strengthened (sterizo) the spirits of the disciples and encouraged (parakaleo) them to continue in the faith,saying ‘It is through many persecutions that we must enter the Kingdom of God’.” (Acts 14:21-22).

The passage from Romans reads, more fully, “For I long to see you, that I may share with you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened (sterizo), that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged (parakaleo) by one another’s faith, yours and mine (Rom 1:11-12) 

Our third quotation reads, again more fully: we decided to remain alone in Athens, and sent Timothy, our brother and co-worker, to strengthen (sterizo) and encourage (parakaleo)  you in your faith, so that no one be disturbed in these afflictions (1 Thess. 3:1-3)”

So, we see how the first Christians “built up” one another: by encouraging one another to bear up under trials and persecutions.

Thus, we have this special pair of verbs: First, sterizo expresses the first Christians’ sense of strengthening one another, of “bulking one another up.  And second, that beautiful Pentecost verb parakaleo, that tells us how they strengthened one another by encouraging each other,  by being “paracletes” to their brothers & sisters. The first Christian  churches, you could say,  were communities on steroids!

Imagine for a moment a monastery on steroids, in which the members strengthen one another and build up one another by  their words and deeds of mutual encouragement.
Maybe sterizo and parakaleo can suggest a vision for us as we enter a new era in our community's history: picture Newark Abbey bulked up on steroids!

* * * * *

Think about your role within your family, community, workplace and so forth. Does your presence make that group stronger? Are you a source of encouragement for others?