02.09 | Alkaline Waters
Acts 24
‘And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying: “Since through you we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight, most excellent Felix, reforms are being made for this nation, in every way and everywhere we accept this with all gratitude.”’
Acts 24:2-3
We’ve got a nearly-dead blueberry plant in our garden.
It started well. I read up on blueberries, finding that they need soil that is unusually acidic. So I bought a bag of acidic (‘ericaceous’) soil, planted our plant, and things were looking good.
But, last year, the blueberry crop was smaller. And this year, the plant has a dismal number of leaves on it. The few miserable blueberries it grew were small and shrivelled, despite plenty of watering and sunshine. It’s down to leaves on only one branch now—the rest of it brown and skeletal.
I went back to Google, and found my mistake.
Because, it turns out, acidic soil only begins as acidic. Tap water (in my city) is slightly alkaline, and so years of faithful watering was slowly increasing the pH level, making the soil less acidic and slowly poisoning the plant. I should have been introducing acidic elements (like sulphur) to the soil annually, to keep the pH level down.
The high priest and Sadducees arrive today, with their spokesperson Tertullus all ready to make their accusations against Paul.
We’ve met the Sadducees now a number of times. They were a religious elite in Jerusalem, wealthy and corrupt. They had inherited their power, as members of the priestly clan, and the high priest himself was among their number.
And yet, if we boil down their issue to one particular thing, it was this:
The Sadducees had secularised.
They had dismissed belief in the supernatural. They had rejected nearly all the Scriptures. They had largely befriended Rome. They denied resurrection and life after death. They made their living off religion and yet lived as functional atheists. They had gradually soaked up the alkaline waters of the broken world around them, leading both to spiritual death and violent opposition to all things of true life.
The difference between Tertullus and Paul is stark.
Tertullus, speaking on behalf of high priest and Sadducee, points to Felix—the Roman governor in Caesarea—as the source of peace and reform for their nation. Peace, for the Jews, was a term virtually synonymous with ‘salvation’.1 Reform is the process of transformation towards the image of your vision. For the Sadducees, their salvation was entangled with the false salvation promised by Rome. Their vision had become tainted with the vision of Rome. Their hope had been reduced to worldly ideology and godless leadership. They had been drenched in alkaline waters, and as a result were spiritually withered.
Paul, standing alone, is so different. His testimony is of worship. His testimony abides in the truth of Scripture. His testimony points to active hope in promise. His testimony points to a greater Kingdom. His testimony points to resurrection life. And his testimony is honest and simple, faith-filled and soaked in integrity.
When Paul later writes to the Christians in Rome, he tells this this:
Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world.2
Do not let the values, ideologies, and heroes of this world steal your heart and your gaze. They are temporary and the compromised. Excessive confidence in them is alkaline waters. And the soul, like the soil, is changeable: it conforms to that in which it is immersed.
And yet, there is great hope. For—inasmuch as the above is true—the soul watered with worship, Scripture, hope, and the relational reality of the resurrected Jesus and the presence of His Spirit brings vibrancy to the soil, that leads to fruitfulness and life in a world starving for good fruit.
This year, I have sprinkled my blueberries with sulphur.
Next year, may there be blueberries.
Reflect:
Check my heart. Has anything or anyone become higher than Jesus to my hope of peace and transformation?
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
You are my salvation;
You are my hope;
You are my life;
You are my story.
There is no one in heaven and earth to be compared with you,
And there is nowhere else that true peace is found.
And yet, Lord,
The things of this world can steal my gaze:
The allure of secular ideologies;
The charisma of human leaders;
The seeming rationality of the godless worldview.
And so,
Loving Lord,
Rain on me afresh.
Rain on this mind the truths of heaven;
Rain in this heart the hope of heaven;
Rain in this soul the life of heaven—
That this soil be fertile ground
For Kingdom growth,
Pure peace,
And living hope.
In Your Name,
Lord Jesus,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Job 29-31 | Psalm 105:37-45
In the Old Testament, this is encapsulated in the Hebrew word shalom, which speaks of a holistic flourishing of humankind—every enemy defeated, leading to thriving in all aspects of life.
Romans 12:2