THE VIEW FROM MARS HILL

When the Apostle Paul stopped by Areopagus Coffee in Athens, he was favorably impressed. While the baristas there all sported the logo of Mars, Roman god of war, these people were at least spiritually aware. They had posters of all sorts of gods and goddesses. They even had one, picturing a tall red cup, reserved for “the unknown God.” They were celebrating, but not sure just why. And so Paul was able to tell them some very Good News. In their sad and generic, spiritually bankrupt and shades-of-gray world that lacked all sense of wonder, Paul let them know the single most wondrous truth in the entire universe. Some mocked; some believed; some said he should come back and tell them more about this God-Man they had unknowingly yet instinctively acknowledged. “The god of the red cup” became an opportunity to speak of the one true God loving us so much that He chose to dwell among us, seeking and saving those who are lost.