Acts 18:1-4
After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers. Every sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks.
I have to admit that I did a little research for this one because something intrigued me as I was reading it.
Do you see what is said here: Paul went to see them...he stayed with them. And they worked together.
Paul with Pricilla and Aquila.
This husband and wife were a team.
They worked together.
And this is what I found out when I dug a little deeper. In the book of Acts, Pricilla and Aquila are always mentioned together. They are mentioned six times.
Three times Aquila is mentioned first.
And the other three, Pricilla is.
As a woman working in the church today, I am constantly surprised that the role of women in the church is still an issue. There are many denominations that still won't give women a role in leadership and clergy, and where patriarchy still reigns.
But here is a married couple who worked with the Apostle Paul together. Both as important to him as the other. Each one helping to birth this fledgling church.
So, I give thanks for women like Pricilla who led the way. Who served as a work partner to Paul, and as life partner to a husband who clearly saw her as having value and an important role to play in God's kin-dom.
Lord, thank you for Pricilla and women who have blazed trails in your church for all of us who have come after. Amen.
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