Aemilia Metella Interviews Priscilla

The hot August days of Rome were now passed, and it was a pleasant walk through the busy streets. Priscilla and her husband Aquila were friends of my parents and I’ve visited their shop many times. Aquila looked up from his work, and with a needle in his hand, said. “Good morning, Aemilia. Go through, Priscilla is in the back.”

Pricilla was bent over a table cutting leather to create pieces to sew together to make a tent for a client. With wiped away beads of sweet gathered on her forehead.  

“I’m glad it’s cooler than a couple of weeks ago, but it’s still hard work.” She finished her cutting and stretched her back. “I’ll give these to Aquila to sew, and we can have a chat.”

As a child, I loved visiting their shop because it was full of interesting tools and bits of leather which I used to collect. Pouring three cups of refreshing sweet wine, she added water and gave one to her husband before carrying the other two up the stairs to their living quarters. We sat on a couch, and she bent over to squeeze my knee.

“I’m very proud of you, Aemilia. Aquila and I love reading your interviews, and the last one with Junia was very good. You captured her personality with just a few words. You’re brilliant.”

I didn’t know whether it was the heat or embarrassment that flushed my cheeks.

“Now it’s my turn. Where shall we start?” She asked.

“You’ve been a Christian for a long time. Tell me about that,” I said.

“Aquila and I were in Jerusalem for the Pentecost festival. Everything that happened that morning seemed so strange, yet compelling. Now we know the Holy Spirit came on Jesus’s followers to enable them to speak to the crowd, but at the time, we didn’t know that. Aquila and I asked them questions and stayed for a few months, getting to know them, and learning more about Jesus. Becoming a disciple is a decision I’ve never regretted.”

“You’ve lived a colourful life, moving to many cities to live and work.”

“When we returned from Jerusalem, we started a community of believers in our home. At first, it was a small group, but soon there were so many we could no longer fit in and had to separate into other homes. No one is sure how it happened, but Emperor Nero found out about us and thought we were rebellious because we were sworn to Jesus and not him. Many of our leaders, including ourselves, were banished from Rome and we had to leave in a hurry with nothing more than a bag each and our tent-making tools. This was not the end of the church here, because it carried on much like before. We moved to Corinth and set up shop.”

“What was your impression of Paul when you first met him?”

“We came across him in the synagogue in Corinth one Sabbath, discussing with the leaders that Jesus is our Messiah. After introducing ourselves, he came for lunch and stayed for two years.” She laughed.

“Paul says you risked your lives for him. Tell me more because I’m sure my readers will want to read about that.”

“You know how he often divides opinion. But you cannot deny his love for Jesus and desire for the world to know about him. If he gets carried away occasionally, that’s understandable. If you’ve travelled with Paul for any amount of time, then you’ll know how often he gets into trouble. I often thought my job was to smooth things over.

“Many Jews became believers, including two of the synagogue leaders, Crispus and Sosthenes. Others were jealous of our success and angry at so many turning to Jesus. One morning they seized Paul and Sosthenes and dragged them to the Governor. By the time we got to the agora, in the centre of the city, they were pushing Paul up the steps towards the Governor.

“Aquila always says that I have sharp elbows, and they came in handy that day. I pushed to the front and saw them accuse Paul of creating a disturbance by persuading people to worship God contrary to our Jewish laws. Paul was about to speak when the Governor stopped him. He said he was not concerned in the least with petty squabbles about our laws and their interpretations. Bored, he yawned and turned away, followed by his guards.

“Angry at not being heard, they turned on Paul and Sosthenes and beat them up. Aquila dived in and grabbed Paul before they did too much damage to him, and I pushed him all the way home. Unfortunately, Sosthenes was badly beaten before Aquila could get to him. He had two broken ribs and a broken arm, along with a busted nose. Aquila had a black eye for his trouble as well. I was worried that it might damage his eye and he wouldn’t be able to sew again, but he was alright. There were more disturbances, and one week later, we left with Paul. We settled in Ephesus while Paul continued to Jerusalem.”

“Were you sad to leave Corinth?” I asked.

“Yes, because our family had made our home there, and we had many friends. But we go where God directs, and it was time to leave for somewhere else. I think one reason God wanted us in Ephesus was to meet Apollos.”

“He’s a famous speaker and one of Paul’s co-workers, isn’t he?”

“Oh, yes, very fervent and eloquent. He knows how to speak to a crowd and hold their attention. Don’t tell Paul,” she laughed. “But he’s much better than him at speaking in public. When he first came to us, we recognised his gifting, but he had huge gaps in his understanding of Jesus. After listening to him one day, we took him home and spent the next couple of months teaching him the accurate words of Jesus and what it means. He’s an excellent student and not proud to admit when he’s wrong about something and to receive instruction. Many men wouldn’t listen to a woman, but he’s not like that, he humbly listened to everything I said. When he was ready, we sent him to Corinth, armed with letters of introduction to the church there to receive him. Do you know what Paul later said about him and the work in Corinth?”

I leaned forward. “No, tell me.”

“Paul said that he planted the seeds in their hearts and Apollos watered them. But it’s God who is the gardener and makes them grow.”

“That’s a good way to look at how the church is growing. Each one of us has a gift and a job that we are called to do. We do our part, but it’s God who works it all together to bring about growth.”

“Well said, Aemilia. I hope you write that in your interview because it sums it up rather well.”

Photo by Logan Weaver on Unsplash

Becoming a disciple is a decision I’ve never regretted

Photo by Akn on Unsplash

We go where God directs, and it was time to leave for somewhere else.

Photo by Mauricio Munoz on Unsplash

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

“I planted the seeds in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.” Paul

Naples National Archaeological Museum, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons