Acts 16:11-15, 40

We often talk about how the crowds who followed Jesus were mostly made up of the poor and outcast, the sinners and the ones left out of acceptability.  And for the most part, that is true even of the apostles.  But there were exceptions.  Matthew the tax collector was probably well-to-do.  And it is thought that James and John came from a flourishing fishing business.  There were a few who followed Jesus who came from the wealthy class.  And among those who became part of the early church, there were also members of the upper class.  One of those people was a woman named Lydia.

Paul had made the decision to go west to Europe, and he arrived there in about the year 50, accompanied by Silas, Timothy, and Luke.  They first traveled to the Roman colony of Philippi, one of the most important cities in Macedonia.  It was located on a major commercial and military highway, the second most important one in the Roman Empire.  Paul made it his practice to select urban centers along busy highways for his missionary efforts and had great success.  He had hopes of doing the same thing in Philippi.

Paul typically went to the synagogue to begin his missionary work, but there was no synagogue in Philippi.  This meant that there were very few Jews in the city, because it only required ten men to establish a synagogue.  So Paul and his companions went outside the city to a river, where they thought they might find a place of prayer.  And they did come across a group of women there, including some Gentiles known as worshipers of God, people who were attracted to the Jewish faith and who attended services but were not yet converts.  One of them was a woman named Lydia.

Lydia had come from Thyatira, in western Asia Minor, and was a dealer in purple cloth.  Only members of the royalty and other wealthy people could afford this cloth, because the dye was so expensive to make, and so it was a prosperous trade.  Lydia was most likely a wealth woman herself, which gave her the independence to be the head of her own household.  Her household may have included family members, servants, and hired laborers. 

When Lydia heard Paul’s teaching, she was immediately attracted to it and converted to Christianity.  (As an unmarried Gentile woman, she had been prevented by Jewish law from becoming a convert to Judaism.)  She and her entire household were baptized, as was the custom in those days.  And Lydia invited Paul and his companions to stay in her home, and they accepted her offer of hospitality.  Her house became the first house church in Europe.  Even after Paul and Silas were arrested, Lydia did not become too afraid to have the Christians meet in her home.  When Paul, Silas, and Timothy left for Thessalonica, Luke stayed behind, perhaps to help build up the church, or perhaps because he wanted to check out the famous medical school in Philippi, since he was a doctor.  Paul would visit Philippi several times and write a letter to the church there. 

There are several things I would like to point out about Lydia.

First, she was in a posture to receive the gospel.  She was already a person open to the word of God, a worshiper of God.  And when Paul came and spoke about Jesus, she eagerly listened to his message.  It’s possible to come to church and listen to a sermon and not even hear what is said. I know, because it has happened to me, too.  Maybe you get distracted.  Or you’re put off by the sermon title. Or you don’t like the scripture passage that is being talked about.  Or you’re thinking about something else.  Or you just don’t care about the topic.  But it’s also possible to come and get a lot out of the sermon because you listen eagerly, expecting to hear something that is meaningful or new or challenging.  That was how Lydia listened.  She was prepared to hear what Paul had to say.  And it changed her life.

Second, Lydia was a bright woman who knew how to manage an organization.  She ran a successful business and supervised a work force.  She established her business in a foreign country.  She would have been a good person to help organize a church because she knew how to manage people, how to get them to work toward a common goal.  She would have been a great co-worker with Paul and his companions.

Third, Lydia was a courageous woman.  She left her home country and established her business in Philippi, in a different country, even on a different continent.  She was not afraid to set out on her own and make a successful company.  And when Paul and Silas, who were staying in her home and teaching about a new religion, were arrested and put in jail, she did not put the church out of her home, but continued to host these men and the church that had begun meeting there.  She was not afraid to take chances.

And finally, Lydia may have been a missionary herself.  It is possible that she returned to Thyatira and helped start a church there.  In the Book of Revelation, Thyatira is one of the seven churches that is addressed as a center of Christianity.  Maybe Lydia was responsible for helping to establish a congregation in her hometown.

While it is true that Jesus seemed to have a fondness and special compassion for the poor, there is a place in the church for the wealthy.  Lydia had a home large enough to accommodate not only Paul and his companions, but the gatherings of the new church established in Philippi. She probably gave of her own resources to help support its ministries.  Without financial support, sometimes large contributions, the early church and the current church could not survive and grow.  We can be grateful for the successful businessmen and women like Lydia who have supported the church over the centuries.