This series of articles offers a look at Greece through a
tourist's eyes and a Christian's heart. Pastor Aderman
traveled in Greece during January 2001.
Seeing God in Greece: Thessalonica
Fourth of a series
I stayed in a beautiful high-rise, four-star hotel in Thessalonica. Movie stars often came
here, the tour guide bragged (though I didn't see any, but then I don't know any Greek
movie stars). The hotel's patio and pool overlooked the Aegean Sea which sprawled out
across the horizon to the south. Across the boulevard on the north side of the hotel stood
the modern city of Thessalonica. Its busy, narrow streets hummed with motorcycles and
honked with cars. Office towers and apartment buildings hugged the sidewalks and created
high canyon walls on each side of the streets.
But 2000 years ago, in Paul's day, there would not have been an inn (four star or
otherwise) on the Aegean. There were no large office buildings - and certainly no cars.
Along the sea coast Paul would have found an inhospitable swamp, a boggy wetland.
Thessalonica had an accommodating harbor, large enough for ships to load and offload
cargo, but few people lived near it.
Most of the 200,000 Greeks who lived there made the high hill that towered over sea-plain
their home. A couple miles from the Aegean ancient Thessalonica offered a stunning view of
the sea. The fortress-like walls that surrounded the city offered protection from invading
armies. The city also offered a safe haven for the many businesses that flourished there.
Thessalonica, after all, was located at the crossroads of the Egnatian Way (the
cobblestone highway that led across Greece to Athens) and the road leading north to the
Danube River. Traffic from the east and west, north and south came through Thessalonica.
That's why Paul chose this city as a place to found a church. From Thessalonica the gospel
could quickly spread not only throughout the Grecian peninsula but north into Europe and
south - via shipping - throughout the Mediterranean world. Imagine, when we get to heaven,
discovering how Thessalonian Christians shared their Jesus with German traders, Egyptian
sailors, Roman soldiers, Turkish businessmen, and Athenian scholars who, in turn, came to
faith in Jesus and went back home to tell still others. The apostle says of them, "The
Lord's message rang out from you not on in Macedonia and Achaia (the areas around them) -
your faith in God has become know everywhere" (1 Thessalonians 1:8).
Better, imagine when we get to heaven tracing the route of the gospel after we shared it
with others. Imagine learning how the gospel spread from that older couple next door, that
woman we work with who struggles with English, that youngster's parents (you know, the one
you babysit). Imagine the joy of discovering how our sharing Jesus led those folks to
share Jesus' forgiveness with still more souls. Like the Christians in Paul's
Thessalonica, we all have plenty of contacts for sharing the gospel. Like the Thessalonian
believers we have plenty of reason to share the gospel: "God did not appoint us to suffer
wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
