Acts: Worship Interrupted
August 5,
2012
Acts 21:26-32
So Paul went to the Temple the
next day with the other men. They had already started the purification ritual,
so he publicly announced the date when their vows would end and sacrifices
would be offered for each of them. The seven days were almost ended when
some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple and roused a mob against
him. They grabbed him, yelling, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man
who preaches against our people everywhere and tells everybody to disobey the
Jewish laws. He speaks against the Temple—and even defiles this holy place by
bringing in Gentiles.” (For earlier that day they had seen him in the
city with Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus, and they assumed Paul had taken
him into the Temple.) The whole city was rocked by these accusations, and
a great riot followed. Paul was grabbed and dragged out of the Temple, and
immediately the gates were closed behind him. As they were trying to kill
him, word reached the commander of the Roman regiment that all Jerusalem was in
an uproar. He immediately called out his soldiers and officers and ran
down among the crowd. When the mob saw the commander and the troops coming,
they stopped beating Paul.
Paul has arrived
in Jerusalem. He has told others about
what God has done. They have received this
news with praise. They also face the
reality that some fear and hate Paul. They accuse Paul of not following the Law
of God. They accuse Paul of not doing
things right (as they understand what is right). So Paul pays for the purification rights of
four men and himself. This is an act of
devotion to God. It is a time of serious
contemplation and spiritual connection to God.
This is a time of sacrifice and worship.
It was definitely the “right” way to do things.
Near the end of this purification ritual some of those
who opposed Paul saw him and raised a mob under false pretenses. They didn’t even work hard to find a real
reason to be upset, they just spouted off and started a riot. Paul is taken out from his purification
ritual of worship, cast out of the Temple, and his opponents began to beat him
with the intent of killing him. If not
for Roman (non-believer) intervention Paul’s life would have ended right there.
Paul’s heartfelt and expressed desire was to follow
God. Paul was outnumbered and
out-influenced. He stood alone in a riot
of righteous violence just because he followed God. What happens when Christians loose site of
God’s work? What happens when our way becomes
more “right” than God’s way? What
happens when accusation replaced love, grace, and understanding?
No comments:
Post a Comment