Acts 14:8-13
8 In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”
12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
Reflection
Throughout this week we will look at our task of interpreting scripture. The field of interpreting scriptures is called hermeneutics. This area is named after the Greek god Hermes. This is who the people in Lystra thought Paul was because he performed a miracle. The connection with Hermes is that Hermes was messenger of the gods and was able to go between the human world and the world of the gods. Because of this many people prayed to Hermes to escort them on their journeys. This is why the mythology of Hermes is linked to the interpretation of Scripture because hermeneutics should be our rules and guidelines to help us interpret scripture on our journey of faith. Why do you think it is so important for us to need to interpret scripture?
