26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.
Demetrius makes trinket gods for sale outside one of the great shrines of his day. And we think selling tourist stuff is a modern invention! And he and his fellow craftsmen make a good living at this job. I imagine a whole team of people working in small shops making these gods. They turn them out as quickly as they can. They probably have new models every year. They probably work to figure out how to cut corners so that they can get more product on the street. Each person tries to make theirs stand out from the crowd so theirs is the one that will get purchased. Mass production in its infancy. And this whole business is in danger of collapse because of the preaching of Jesus by Paul. When people became Jesus-followers they stopped buying these trinkets. Demetrius probably kept count of how many were sold each day and tracked this downturn in his business. And he knows the crux of the matter. Paul preaches that God is not confined to some man-made object. He transcends all of creation and at the same time is very present in every part of it. The gods who are limited to a physical space are not worth worshipping. They have no real power. And if this is true Demetrius and his workers will be out of business soon. They must do something or their livelihood will disappear. I notice that even today some people place special reverence to manmade objects. They buy what used to be called “Jesus People Paraphernalia.” You probably have some around your house, those little trinkets that remind you of your faith. Some people attach even more significance to these types of objects. They wear them around their neck in hopes that bad things won’t happen to them. But all of this is a denial of the presence of God everywhere. He is not confined to any geographical location. He is not limited in His reach in time. We are never closer or further away from Him.
The Arnold Journey 