Session 3:

The Bishop and the Prodigal

Leader Presentation
In todays culture, one sure way to kick off a lively discussion is to raise this question: Should ministers get into politics? Or, the opposite question will create just as many sparks: Should politicians get into religion? Were not going to tackle those tonight! Instead, Im going to tell you about a politician who, in the fourth century, wound up being a very good bishop without even wanting the job. Notes

AMBROSE (approx. 339 397)

He was born in Gaul (France) to a Christian family that was politically active. (How was this even possible, you ask? Well, the persecution of believers had come to a sudden halt in A.D. 313 when the emperor Constantine, a new Christian, decreed full legal toleration for the faith. Suddenly, everything changed.) Ambrose studied law and became a governor in A.D. 370 of the province that included Milan (in northern Italy). A few years later, the bishop of Milan passed away, and it wasnt immediately clear who should succeed him. The problem was that he had been an Arian. Whats an Arian, you ask? The Arians held that Jesus, as the only begotten Son, couldnt have been equal with God the Fatherafter all, he was his son. He must have been created at some point in time and therefore, hes in an intermediate position. (By the way, we still have a form of Arianism today, in the Jehovahs Witnesses. You see evidences of it in their unique Bible, the New World Translation, which renders John 1:1 as In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word

was a godsmall g.) This view had been fully examined and declared out of bounds at the Council of Nicea back in A.D. 325. But the Arians still persisted. Now 50 years later, people of all persuasions gathered in the Milan cathedral to nominate a new candidate for bishop, and a huge argument broke out. In fact, it turned into a riot. Ambrose, as governor, had to do something to restore order. He made a speech that day, begging everyone to calm down. He was so effective that, before long, the crowd began chanting, Ambrose for bishop! Ambrose for bishop! Well this was the furthest thing from his mind. In fact, he hadnt even been officially baptized yet! He somehow escaped from the cathedral to go hide in a senators house, from which he sent an appeal to the emperor to keep his present job. But the emperor replied, in essence, I am glad to have appointed governors who are qualified to be bishops! So the die was cast. Ambrose was promptly ordained. Here he is in his official garb. His first act thereafter was to give away his sizable wealth to the poor. He signed up a tutor to give him a crash course in Scripture and theology. And over time, Ambrose became an outstanding preacher and teacher. He also became known for making psalms and hymns more singable by the average congregation. When in A.D. 386 the empress Justina (an Arian) declared that no one could resist giving up a church building if the Arians wanted it, Ambrose took a stand. On Palm Sunday he preached a sermon in the basilica against this lawand while he was speaking, her soldiers surrounded the church. The people were afraid to go home that day. So they stayedand sang!for a full week, until Easter Sunday. Bishop Ambrose used the time to divide them into two choirs and teach them antiphonal singing (back and forth, one side then the other). And soon, the soldiers outside were singing along! The siege broke down, and the parishioners were free to leave. Heres a direct quote from Ambrose about spiritual gifts and ministries in the church of his day. No doubt his main point was to emphasize the equality of the Father

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and the Son. But notice the illustrations he employs along the way1: Show this slide.

PowerPoint: Behold, the Father established the teachers; Christ also established them in the churches; and just as the Father gives the grace of healings, so the Son also gives it; just as the Father gives the gift of tongues, so the Son also has bestowed it. Ambrose, empowered by the Spirit, was bold to confront the secular powers more than once. In A.D. 390, the Emperor Theodosius put down a rebellion in Thessalonica by killing thousands. Ambrose felt the bloodshed was excessive, and so he refused to serve Communion to the emperor until he repented. The emperor is within the church and not over it, Ambrose insisted. Nowremember this mans name! Youre going to hear it again when I tell you about

AUGUSTINE (354 430)

This was no doubt the greatest of the ancient Fathers of the Church and another African but at first, a terrible prodigal. Augustine was born in the small town of Tagaste (in todays eastern Algeria). His father was a pagan, but his mother, named Monica, was a godly woman. She made sure he was educated in the faith, but it really didnt take. At age 16 he left home to go study in the big city of Carthage and this country boy just went crazy. He moved in with a girlfriend at age 17; they had a son the next year, when Augustine was only 18. In fact, he never did marry her. But he had a bright mind, and by age 19, he was teaching. He got deeply into an Eastern cult that combined elements of Christianity and Buddhism. His mother, Monica, was beside herself with dismay, of course. Years later, Augustine wrote an autobiography (addressed, uniquely, to God!). Heres how he described those early days: Almost nine years passed, in which I wallowed in the mire of that deep pit [the cult], and the darkness
Joseph Deferrari, The Fathers of the Church (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1947), Vol. 44, p. 150
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of falsehood. All which time that chaste, godly and sober widow ceased not at all hours of her devotions to bewail my case to You [God]. And her prayers entered into Your presence; and yet You suffered [allowed] me to be yet involved and reinvolved in that darkness.2 When Augustine was 29, he got the bright idea to take off for Rome, the imperial capital and center of learning. Monica tried every argument she could think of to prevent this. He wouldnt listen. On the day of scheduled sailing, she went with him to the harbor. It was a hot and steamy day, with little breeze; the ship captain said they would have to wait before embarking. Everyone sat around, all day long. Augustine talked his mother into getting out of the sun by retreating to a nearby chapel. There, she fell asleep. She didnt wake up until the next morning. Jumping up at dawn, she ran outside the chapel, looking over the rooftops for the tall masts of her sons ship. It was gone. He had done what he wanted to do after all. Augustine felt badly about that, however, as he crossed the Mediterranean toward Italy. Later on he wrote: I lied to my mother, and such a mother, and escaped. That night I privily departed, but she was not behind in weeping and prayer. And what, O Lord, was she with so many tears asking of You, but that You would not permit me to sail? But You, in the depth of Your counsels and hearing the main point of her desire, [regarded] not what she then asked, that You [might] make me what she ever asked.3 Augustine stayed in Rome a short while and then moved on further north to Milan where he started to show up at Sunday services occasionally. His heart softened enough to invite Monica to come for a visit. When she did, she told her son that it really would be good if he would get a proper wife. So Augustine dismissed his lover, but kept his little son. Now watch how the Holy Spirit worked on this rebel: And to Milan I came, unto Ambrose the bishop, known to the whole world as among the best of men,
Aurelius Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine, translated by Edward B. Pusey in Harvard Classic (New York: P. F. Collier & Sons, 1963), vol. 7, p. 43 3 Aurelius Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine, vol. 7, p. 71
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Thy devout servant; whose eloquent discourse did at that time strenuously dispense unto Thy people the flour of Thy wheat. To him was I unknowingly led to Thee and I studiously hearkened to him preaching to the people.4 How greatly did I weep in Thy hymns and canticles, deeply moved by the voice of Thy sweetspeaking Church! The voices flowed into my ears, and the truth was poured forth into my heart, whence the agitation of my piety overflowed, and my tears ran over, and blessed was I therein.5 Observation: Some people are brought to the feet of Christ through proclamation that speaks to their mind; others are brought through music that speaks to their emotions. Augustine was reached by both, it seems. He found out (much to his irritation) that he couldnt really enjoy sinning anymore! My career was going well, but, in the way things are, that only increased the pressure on me. I wanted honor, wealth, and good sex, but God mocked my ambitions. He made sure that none of those things gave me any pleasure. If he could not (without overriding my free will) prevent my sinning, he could and did prevent my enjoying it.6 I was like a sleeper who wakes and fully intends to get up and get on with the days activities, but in fact turns over for another nap. My mind was convinced, but my body would not follow its signals. On every side the Lord showed me what I should do, and all I could say in response was Yes, yes, I agree. Soon. I shall do it very soon. Have patience with me just a little while longer. 7 I had fooled myself [by claiming] that I put off making a decision because I was not sure which was the right way to go. Yet here I was, absolutely sure of the way, convinced of the truth, and yet still prevaricating, still praying, Lord, make me holy but not yet.8
Confessions, V, 13 Confessions, IX, 6 6 David Winter, The Confessions of Saint AugustineWalking into Light (Wheaton, Ill.: Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986), p. 55 7 David Winter, The Confessions of Saint AugustineWalking into Light, p. 88 8 David Winter, The Confessions of Saint AugustineWalking into Light, p. 91
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DISCUSSION Have you ever prayed this kind of prayer?! What happened next? Finally, one day, Augustine was sitting outside in a garden, stewing over his moral state. Heres how an Italian artist named Gozzoli painted it in the 1400s, with some embellishment! Suddenly he heard a childs voice say (in Latin), Tole lege! Tole lege! (Take it up and read; take it up and read). Who was this? Was there really a child nearby maybe unseen behind the garden wall at the next house? Or was it the Holy Spirit? We will never know for sure. Augustine picked up a Bible and began to read Romans 13:11-14. (You might ask one of your group members to read this aloud.) And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. Talk about the Word of God speaking directly to a persons soul! This was the moment of truth for Augustine. He surrendered to Christ, then went inside the house to tell his mother, who was overjoyed. Augustines life was radically changed from that moment on. He began to take classes in the Christian faith, paying full attention this time. Of course, I was as yet a novice in Gods love, a newly arrived foreigner in the state of grace, as was Alipius [a close friend converted on the same day]. But my mother remained with us, a woman of mature
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faith. As we pursued our studies, slowly being instructed in the faith, she was our constant support and encourager. I also found myself being opened up to the Holy Spirit. It was true I had received salvation. God had sent his Son to dies for sin, raised him from the dead, and exalted him to glory from whence, the Scripture says, he would pour upon us the Comforter, the Spirit of truth. That had happened, the Spirit had been given, but I was not aware of him. It was through pain that I came closest to him. It came on me suddenly, a most terrible toothache, such as I had never experienced before. It was so acute that it made me speechless. At that time, tortured with the pain, it came to me to call to the God of all health. I wrote my request on wax letters, which I gave to them so that they could join me in prayer. And the moment we bowed our knees to prayyes, immediatelythe pain simply disappeared. I was awestruck. What kind of pain had that been? Where had it come from? By what power had it been taken away instantly? But deep within me it spoke the reassurance I needed. Gods will was being done in me.9 The next Easter, Augustine was baptized with his son, now 15 years old; here is the scene. Ambrose, in the mitre headdress, is performing the ceremony, while Monica, dressed in grayblue, folds her hands in gratitude. (She died not long after this. Her tenacity in prayer for her wayward son has been an inspiration to worried mothers ever since.) Augustine then returned to North Africa to write, to think. He set
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David Winter, The Confessions of Saint AugustineWalking into Light, p. 101-02

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up a monastery but was drawn more in the direction of public ministry. By A.D. 391 he had been made a priest, and four years later became Bishop of Hippo, a responsibility he held until his death thirty-five years later. He was a powerful writer and leader. His best-known work The City of God (22 volumes), which influences us to this day. Among his descriptions of life in the churches of this time: PowerPoint: We still do what the apostles did when they laid hands on the Samaritans and called down the Holy Spirit on them by the laying on of hands. It is expected that the converts should speak with new tongues. In Book 22 of The City of God, he writes: It is sometimes objected that the miracles, which Christians claimed to have occurred, no longer happen. The truth is that even today miracles are being wrought in the name of Christ, and he goes on tell a long string of such stories: blind eyes opened, breast cancer healed, gout relieved, a demon-possessed boy set free, at least two who were raised from the dead. Among Augustines most memorable lines are these two: You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You. Love God, and do what you will! DISCUSSION What do you take away from the remarkable life of Augustine? What stands out to you? Now we move far away from the Mediterranean world, beyond the time of Romes dramatic fall to what is now Great Britain today: Show this slide.

DAVID OF WALES (approx. 520 589)

This son of a Welsh king did missionary work; he founded monasteries that, unlike many others, were known for forbidding alcohol. David and his followers drank water only. When he was named a bishop around the year 550, he

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wanted to be consecrated in Jerusalem. Why? We dont know. But he and a few monks set off on a long pilgrimage. One of them kept a journal on the trip which is where we get this short description of something that happened while crossing Gaul (France): ye holy father David was baptized in ye Holy Ghost and spake in tongues as in ye days of ye apostles. If you go today to the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool, U.K., you can see inside a glass case a handwritten biography. It lies open to a page that describes miracles he performed, including: Restoring sight to a blind boy Healing an elderly man on his deathbed

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ELEUTHERIUS (died approx. 585)

Here is an Italian monk from the same time period. His friend, Bishop Gregory of Tours, knew him well and wrote about his power through prayer. Listen to this story, which has a surprising twist to it! I will tell you about a miracle of his which I had him describe to me in his own simple words. Once while
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he was traveling, evening came on before he could find lodging for the night, so he stopped at a convent. There was a little boy at this convent who was troubled every night by an evil spirit. So, after welcoming the man of God to their convent, the nuns asked him to keep the boy with him that night. He agreed, and allowed the boy to rest near him. In the morning the nuns asked him with deep concern whether he had done anything for the boy. Rather surprised that they should ask, he said, No. Then they acquainted him with the boys condition, informing him that not a night passed without the evil spirit troubling the boy. Would Eleutherius please take him along to the monastery [near Spoleto] because they could no longer bear to see him suffer. The man of God agreed to do so. The boy remained a long time in the monastery without being troubled in the least. Highly pleased at this, the old abbot [Eleutherius] allowed his joy at the boys healthy condition to exceed moderation. Brothers, he said to his monks, the Devil had his joke with the sisters, but once he encountered real servants of God, he no longer dared to come near this boy. That very instant, hardly waiting for Eleutherius to finish speaking, the Devil again took possession of the young boy, tormenting him in the presence of all. The sight of it filled the old mans heart with grief, and when his monks tried to console him he said, Upon my word! Not one of you shall taste bread today until this boy is snatched out of the Devils power. He prostrated himself in prayer with all his monks and continued praying until the boy was freed from the power of the evil spirit. The cure was complete, and the Devil did not dare molest him any further.10 So the moral to the story is, if God uses you to bring about a powerful deliverance, dont brag about it!

CUTHBERT (approx. 634 687)

Once again we return to the British Isles. This man was orphaned as a child, grew up to become a shepherd and then a monk. He ministered on Lindisfarne (also called Holy Island), which is off the far northeast coast of England, almost to the Scottish border.
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Reprinted in John Wimber with Kevin Springer, Power Evangelism (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986), pp. 163-64

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The only reason we know about him is that the Venerable Bede the Father of English history, as he is sometimes calledgave Cuthbert 46 chapters. Among his gifts was prophecy, and Bede commented that if you were to exclude everything miraculous from his account, only six of the 46 chapters would remain!

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This is the end of Session 3unless you choose to use the Optional Segment below. In any case, be sure to hand out the Whispers sheet for this week as your group members prepare to leave. OPTIONAL SEGMENT Depending on the makeup and history of your group, you mayor may notwant to spend a few minutes on this question: All of these people were talking about in this coursethey sound like Catholics. Were they? Well, the short answer is Yes, because back in these centuries thats the only kind of Christian there was. (The core meaning of the word Catholic, as you may know, is simply universal.) But if youre wondering about specific Catholic practices as you know them today Did they worship Mary? This concept got rolling in the 400s as Christians puzzled over the nature of Jesus. Had he truly been divine? Yes. Well, then Mary must have been very special. Theologians began calling her Theotokos (the God-bearer). If indeed she was the channel through whom the holy Son of God came into our world, then it was said that Surely she must not have been so carnal as to have
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ever had sex with Joseph (hence, perpetual virginity). In fact, she must never have actually sinned at all (hence, immaculate conception). She is the antithesis of Eve, our first mother. Eve caused the Fall; Mary caused our redemption. Gradually throughout the medieval times, this respect for Mary kept growing. Christ seemed so remote in those years but Mary seemed approachable. By the late 500s, it was thought that Mary must have been airlifted straight to heaven at the end of her earthly life, like Enoch and Elijah had been (hence, the doctrine of the assumption of Mary). It wasnt until 1854, however, that Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. And not until 1950 did Pope Pius XII proclaim the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. So theres been a gradual evolution in Catholic theology on this point. Did they pray to the saints? This concept also began very gradually, starting back in the 200s, as a way of honoring the martyrs (see Rev. 6:9). For a while, theologians tried to hold the line: We worship God, we only honor the martyrs. But slippage was inevitable. The first canonization of an actual saint, however, did not occur until A.D. 993, which is yet to come in our timeline study. Did they honor the pope? Papal authority was a gradual thing that evolved as the Roman empire was tottering on the edge of collapse, and somebody needed to take charge. The bishop of Rome was, you might say, the last man standing, and this led to his being viewed as preeminent over all others. Nowadays, of course, Catholics say that the papacy originated way back with Peter the apostle. Protestants, on the other hand, would say this claim is revisionist. If you had asked any Christian in the first 400 years, they probably wouldnt have thought to give such an answer. Were the clergy celibate? By the 300s, yes in the case of bishops. Not priests and deacons, however. The concept was being gradually assembled, based on the models of John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paulall of whom were wifeless. Gradually through the Middle Ages, the various church councils and popes extended celibacy to all clergy (although there appears to have been some temporary
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freedom to marry in the 900s). Heres the conclusion: What we need to do in this course is take each person at face value on his or her own merits, rather than trying to paste a label on the forehead. Where do we see God the Holy Spirit at work in this persons life? All of us will, after all, be evaluated before God as individuals, not by our formal memberships in one organization or another.

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