Lydia and Her Household Become Christians

So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.  We remained in this city some days.  And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.  One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.  The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.  And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’  And she prevailed upon us.”-Acts 16:11-15 (ESV).

Paul and his mission team set sail from Troas on a northwesterly course on the northern neck of the Aegean Sea to the island of Samothrace, a journey of about two days.  The next day they boarded a ship to Neapolis.  The next lap of their journey was to Philippi, a major city of Macedonia some ten miles inland. Paul was now in Macedonia, in Europe, and was fulfilling the call of his vision, “Come over into Macedonia to help us.”  Philippi, founded by Philip, father of Alexander the Great, was a major trade center.  It was one of the chief cities on the Great Egnatian Way, an important travel and trade route that connected Asia and Italy.  Even though a populous city, the Jewish population there evidently was not enough for the city to have a Jewish synagogue, the place where Paul usually began his mission in any new city he entered.  An ordinary practice, however, was for Jews in a city with no synagogue to gather at a river (or by the seaside on a coastal city) for prayer and worship on the Sabbath.  They would thus find water needed for the ritual purification rites before worship.  In the several days Paul and his team had already been at Philippi, they probably had heard of the place on the river where worship was held.  There they found women gathered in prayer, and a leader seems to have been a business woman named Lydia, a native of Thyatira, a district where there were many dyers and dealers in fabric. It is significant that she is a “seller of purple goods.”  The purple dye had to be gathered drop-by-drop from the shell fish.  A pound of cloth dyed with this rare dye could cost as much as 40 pounds.  This speaks of the stature and importance of this European business woman—from another town, Thyatira, operating her business in a cross-roads of international trade, the busy city of Philippi.  And she was a God-fearer, one accustomed to worship on the Sabbath. Paul began to teach the assembled women about Jesus the Messiah.  They listened, were receptive, and were won to Christ.  And moreover, “her household” as well.  This would mean any servants and family members.  And immediately they were baptized as testimony to their new-found faith.  Then Lydia, wealthy business woman, invited the mission team to her house to lodge.  Luke wrote: “She prevailed upon us.” This comment shows not only that she made the invitation but that she really meant it.  In several of Paul’s writings, he denotes the gift of hospitality as being commendable and a spiritual gift.

Today is Mother’s Day. When we are gifted to have a Christian mother, we are blessed indeed.  If we are a Christian mother, we are blessed indeed.  We do not know whether Lydia, business woman,  was a mother; “household” indicates that she may have been.  She demonstrated in her invitation to the missionaries to come into her home that she recognized their needs and responded.  We can imagine that she offered them all the amenities of food for their hunger, and rooms where they could rest and gain restoration from travels and work.  “A Christian home is a home with an ever-open door,” writes Dr. William Barclay in his commentary about Lydia.  Lydia and her household have the distinction of being Paul’s first European converts.  As we honor mothers today, let us thank God for the influence and blessings of Christian mothers.