Acts 28 - the end of the story ... or is it?

And so we reach the end of the story!

Or do we?

It turns out the ship has been wrecked off the shores of Malta.  It’s almost as if there is a cruel twist in the tale.  Sitting around a fire on the shore a viper is drawn to the heat of the fire and fastens itself on Paul’s hands.

After we had reached safety, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2The natives showed us unusual kindness. Since it had begun to rain and was cold, they kindled a fire and welcomed all of us round it. 3Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, when a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, ‘This man must be a murderer; though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.’ 5He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6They were expecting him to swell up or drop dead, but after they had waited a long time and saw that nothing unusual had happened to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

7 Now in the neighbourhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8It so happened that the father of Publius lay sick in bed with fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and cured him by praying and putting his hands on him. 9After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10They bestowed many honours on us, and when we were about to sail, they put on board all the provisions we needed.

For the locals who had been drawn to the wreck and its survivors it was sure proof not just of Paul’s guilt but of the severity of his crime – he must have been a murderer they say!

When the death they expect does not materialise they swing to the opposite conclusion – he must be a god.  It was something of a relief for the shipwrecked crew, the passengers, the soldiers and the prisoner, Paul, with Luke and their travelling companions to find that the local landowner was prepared to extend hospitality to them.

Publius was his name … and his father was sick with fever and dysentery.  Paul attended to him in his home and shared in prayer, laying his hands on him … and healing came.   Paul shared with many people the healing ministry that had become very much part of all he shared wherever he went.

Lots of connections to make – the danger of leaping to conclusions about people – the danger of those who swing from one extreme – he’s a murderer to the opposite extreme – he’s a god, the welcome of the locals for those who have faced shipwreck.   Their hospitality of Publius.

The importance of a healing ministry.

The sense of camaraderie in the face of adversity that you get the feeling the people involved in the shipwreck now have – they are in this together because they have faced so much together.

Then there is the generosity of those locals – not only  had they honoured Paul and his companions … but when the time came for them to set sail once more they saw to it they had all the provisions they needed.

As they set sail once more notice the detail in the account – it really does have the feel of a record of someone who was there – another of those ‘we’ passages that suggests Luke was recording what had happened.

They make their way overland from the port at Puteoli where they enjoyed the hospitality of the believers.

And so we came to Rome.

A wonderful, almost thruway line – but it marks the beginning of this ending.

This is the destination the whole back has been heading for – from Acts 1:8 when Jesus challenged his followers to be witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the world

Three months later we set sail on a ship that had wintered at the island, an Alexandrian ship with the Twin Brothers as its figurehead. 12We put in at Syracuse and stayed there for three days; 13then we weighed anchor and came to Rhegium. After one day there a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. 14There we found believers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. 15The believers from there, when they heard of us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.

They had reached the end of the world – the heart of the Roman world.  And what should greet them but the believers who had heard of their imminent arrival and came to greet him.

It’s fascinating that you can build up a picture of the kind of people these people were.  It was while Paul was on that third of his missionary journeys and planning a fourth to Rome that he had written to the church in Rome.   The very last chapter of  Romans is made up of greetings he gives personally to people he knows in that church, in spite of the fact that he has not met them before.

You sense they return that compliment now as they come out to meet him on his arrival in Rome.

I love the response Paul makes when he sees them …

On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.

There have been moments on his journeying when he has spoken of courage and now he has arrived he takes heart and he gives thanks to God.

On the opposite page of my Bible to Acts 28 verse 15 is Romans 1:1-17.   Romans is not a sequel to Acts … it is one of the documents that accompanies the story in Acts and gives some of the back story to the churches Paul and the other apostles were part of.

Paul had given thanks to God for the people of Rome right at the beginning of that letter …

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. 9For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, 10asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. 11For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish 15— hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

In spite of so much, his longing has been fulfilled.  He is here.  And these are the people who greet him.  No wonder he takes courage!

16 When we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.

Next we have an important glimpse of what happens to Paul.

He is under arrest.

It is Nero’s Rome.

But imprisonment in the Roman empire was very different from what imprisonment is in our day and age.

Here imprisonment is itself a punishment.  It is something we should be proud of in our Congregational heritage that we count among our forebears one of the great social reformers, John Howard.  He advocated prison reforms, came up with a plan for an approach to imprisonment that would ensure that imprisonment was the punishment, that further things were not added in subsequently.

The Howard League for Penal Reform is one of the oldest reforming charities dating back to 1866 and named after John Howard, a Congregational Minister in Bedford.  They campaign for the rehabilitation of prisoners, and for prison to be the punishment and within the prison the emphasis to be on rehabilitation.

John Howard’s cells were designed for an individual.  It was a shock to my system to be in a prison cell and be locked in on the one occasion I visited – a single bed, a bunk bed – three people and a toilet pan.

Francis Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League, wrote an article that has sparked outrage that since November it has not been possible to send books in to prisoners.   If ever there was a campaign worth supporting, that’s one.   Reading, for some maybe study – is a key part of any rehabilitation.  To withdraw access to books and anything sent in from the family really is awful.

But for Paul prison served an entirely different function.

You were put in prison to await a trial … and then the outcome of the trial would determine your sentence – you might be set free, you might be flogged, you might be executed.

Usually, that was quick.  As we have seen happen to |Paul before in places like Philippi.  There was no facility for long term imprisonment of offenders.

So when Paul arrives in Rome he is allowed to live by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.

So, he has comparative freedom awaiting his hearing.

He starts as ever by making contact with the local leaders of the Jews.

He then shares what is at the heart of his faith … and I think it is telling to see where the centre of his faith is.

After they had fixed a day to meet him, they came to him at his lodgings in great numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets.

As we come towards the end of the story it is as if Luke makes sure we clearly have a picture of the heart of the message Paul has spent what seems like a life-time sharing.

And it boils down to something very simple that Paul explains.

What is it he testifies to?

He testifies  to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets

The heart of the message finds its focus in Jesus … and it echoes exactly the message Jesus had shared.

The story had begun, right back with John the Baptist who had come proclaiming the kingdom of God and the need for a whole new way of thinking.

Jesus had come with a message about the kingdom of God, the rule of God breaking into people’s hearts, people’s homes, breaking into the world – and this was precisely the message Paul had taken up.

The whole message focuses on Jesus and his kingdom.

And Paul, rooted as he is in his Jewishness, sees this as the fulfilment of the law of Moses and of the prophets.

Luke touches on the beginnings of that dividing of the way between those who see Jesus as the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets and those who don’t.

This is nothing less than salvation, and this salvation is something that now reaches out to and embraces the Gentiles too, all who will listen.

Then we reach the end of the story.

Or do we?

30 He lived there for two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, 31proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

No one knows what happened to Paul.

It looks very much as if four of the letters were written in this period while Paul was under arrest in Rome – Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon are the Prison letters of Paul – they give a good feel for the spirit Paul had at this time, not least that spirit of joy that comes in Philippians and we read earlier.

Some suggest Paul was executed.

Others suggest he resumed his ministry – it may be that the three Pastoral Letters of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus were written by a much older Paul passing the mantle on to the younger Timothy and to Titus.

When we booked a holiday just south of Barcelona in a place called Taragona I was sceptical of their local traditions we read about before going that Paul had visited there.  But when we saw a wonderful ancient medieval walled town built on the foundations of the capital of the Roman presence in the Iberian peninsula, with an amphitheatre with a church marking the spot where Bishop Fructuous was thrown to the lions, and catacombs without parallel outside of Rome, and a cathedral dedicated to St Thecla a woman associated with the later life of St Paul, and built on the site of a temple to Augustus as the son of god … I really did begin to wonder.

No one knows.

But the story finishes as if there should be a sequel.

We want to know how it ends.

I have a feeling that could be deliberate.

Because we are still writing the end of the story.

It’s up to us to finish it off … we can carry on the task that Paul has begun.

And if we are to grow in our faith what should we focus on?

You can read all those letters – and I do commend those letters from prison.   You can grapple with Paul’s theology.

But at the end of the day as far as Luke is concerned, it all boils down to something very simple.

Paul was welcoming to all who came to him – there’s a welcome to all.

And he focuse on ‘proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness.

That’s it.

The kingdom of God, the rule of Goe – and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could get hold of what that teaching was like?

I wonder, I just wonder … Luke has finished his story … but he has another story to tell.  Maybe when Paul was in prison in Caesarea he had done some of his research.  Maybe he was there when Paul shared this dimension to his teaching.

Who knows?  But maybe we could do worse than to follow our reading through Acts by turning to the one at the heart of our faith, and drawing on Luke’s insights see what Paul’s proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about Jesus was like!

Acts 27 - In the face of the storm

It was good to share this morning in our special commissioning service for our new team of Ministry Leaders and for our new Diaconate and to welcome Helen Roberts as our new Church Secretary.

Our reading through of Acts has brought us this evening to one of the most dramatic chapters in the book of Acts and I don’t want to make too many connections between the two.

One of the remarkable things about Acts 27 is the way it gives a wonderful insight into journeying in the Roman Empire … and provides one of the most graphic, one of the most detailed and one of the most accurate accounts of a shipwreck in all of classical literature.

It’s one of those things that bears out the view that it is written by someone who was there with Paul.  Notice once again the writer is writing in the first person

When it wsa decided that we should sail for Italy.

Maybe for the last couple of years in Caesarea Luke has been researching the first volume of his two-volume work that has got into the NT as Luke and Acts.  He is now writing from first hand experience.

There are moments in the story I want to home in.

First, is a cameo appearance of Julius, a centurion of the Autustan Cohort.

Julius treated Paul kindly, and allowed him to go to his friends to be cared for.

The kindliness of the stranger – the support given to Paul and the call to kindliness are important.  And the sense that wherever Paul goes on his travels he has friends to help him.

The interentaional nature of the church is well established by this point.

When we speak of church here in Highbury we must always sense we are part of a bigger picture, a world-wide church that binds us together with people the world over.  Wherever we go are friends to welcome us and to share with us.

Along the southern coast of Crete – wonderful Roman remains when we stayed in Crete – all open to the public, not protected at all.   Roman villa on the cliff top overlooking this very stretch of coast.

Then comes the discussion in verses 9ff about whether they should set sail.

The seas were closed through the winter months – beware of cut price Mediterranean cruises in the Eastern Mediterranean from November to February!

Paul is the most seasoned traveller but his advice is not heeded

‘Sirs, I can see that the voyage will be with danger and much heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.’ 11But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.

Thgey aim to winter at Phoenix, a harbour of CXrete facing south west and north west.

Then comes the start of the account of the storm – and it is quite some storm.

When a moderate south wind began to blow, they thought they could achieve their purpose; so they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close to the shore. 14But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete. 15Since the ship was caught and could not be turned with its head to the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. 16By running under the lee of a small island called Cauda we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control. 17After hoisting it up they took measures to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they would run on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea-anchor and so were driven. 18We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard, 19and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. 20When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

Then comes the next wonderful moment in the story …

Paul cannot resist saying I told you so.

But then he has this remarkable sense of God with him in the midst of the storm.

Notice the words of encouragement he uses.

Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss. 22I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24and he said, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.” 25So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26But we will have to run aground on some island.’

The storm is a powerful image.  In the Old Testatment the storm and the sea is symbolic of all that cuts across the goodness of God.  But it is in the story of Jesus that the storm is most powerful.

A turbulent time – in Matthew 14 – the execution of John the Baptist, the feeding of the 5000 and then the storm at sea.

Jesus comes across the stormy waters,

Take heart, it is I: do not be afraid.

What gives Paul courage here is the sense he has of the presence of God wthh him in the midst of the storm.

There are storms.

There is no escaping that.

But there is the promise of the presence of God with us through the storm that we are to hold on to.

Just pause there for a moment.

The storms we face.

In health and our own future.  The health of someone dear.

Keep up your courage.  Do not be afraid.  Have faith in God.

Take heart; it is I, do not be afraid.

At work, in family – in church family too.

Keep up your courage.  Do not be afraid.  Have faith in God.

Take heart; it is I, do not be afraid.

In a troubled world – news from Syria, news from Crimea, conscious of an all too stormy world …

Keep up your courage.  Do not be afraid.  Have faith in God.

Take heart; it is I, do not be afraid.

A wonderful story.

Then comes another moment that’s special.

When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the sea of Adria, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. 28So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms. 29Fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea, on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow, 31Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, ‘Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.’ 32Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and set it adrift.

33 Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, ‘Today is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense and remaining without food, having eaten nothing. 34Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive; for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.’ 35After he had said this, he took bread; and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat. 36Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves. 37(We were in all two hundred and seventy-six persons in the ship.) 38After they had satisfied their hunger, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.

In one sense it is the down to earth, practical common sense of Paul – we need to eat.  Even though the seas are rough.  We need our strength.

Again the seasoned traveller.

But notice the words that Paul uses … they are so reminiscent of the communion meal.

One of those indications that there is a something sacramental in every meal.   As we break bread we remember the presence of God with us in Christ Jesus our Lord.  And there is a sense that that presence is real here.

35After he had said this, he took bread; and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat. 36Then all of them were encouraged

Took bread, gave thanks, and began to eat.  And then all of them were encouraged.

Eating is important in the face of the storm.  But maybe there is a need to bring to mind the presence of God with us in the midst of the storm.

Then comes the climax to the story.  ~And all are saved.

39 In the morning they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned to run the ship ashore, if they could. 40So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they loosened the ropes that tied the steering-oars; then hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach. 41But striking a reef, they ran the ship aground; the bow stuck and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves. 42The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none might swim away and escape; 43but the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, 44and the rest to follow, some on planks and others on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.

Storm as a metaphor.

But also the reality.

How much we depend on seafarers – for so much that is brought to us.

The work of the mission to seamen – Chart and Compass.  The need to remember those who risk their lives at sea.

And the power of that sailors’ hymn still.

Eterrnal Father, strong to save.

The wonderful story to finish of the trip to Eigg.

The small boat we were on turned the headland and I discovered a fundamental incompatibility with Felicity – I wanted to talk nineteen to the dozen, she wanted to keep quiet.  And a dog whose tail had been wagging had his tail firmly between his legs.

The tale of a group on a small ferry with a weather-beaten skipper hitting a real storm.  And eventually n panit they send a delegation up to the skipper at the wheel – will you pray for us.

I pray, he said, when the weather is calm …

Don’t leave the prayer that sense of the presence to the times when the storms come.

It is as in calm times we give ourselves to God in prayer that we release the resources to draw on in stormy times that will see us through as well.

Acts 26 - Light in the Darkness

It’s curious how significant people can make a big impression on you.   I can think of teachers I had when I was little to whom I am greatly indebted.

The same applies to Ministers.

As the son of the Manse and a Minister since the age of 24 that puts me in a strange position.  I have very fond memories of the one person who was Minister to me other than my Father.

I well remember on one occasion Roy Jenkins suggesting that there were only about half a dozen themes for a preacher to preach on.  Mind you there are endless variations on those themes as he well knows as he is still going strong, not least on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day.

Acts gives you a glimpse into the preaching of the early church … and it is fascinating how the various sermons circle around even fewer main themes.

Indeed, time and again they come back to one theme.

And I guess it is that theme I find myself coming back to more and more.

Indeed, for me, everything seems to boil down to this basic theme.

In Acts 26 we encounter the story for the third time.

First, Luke tells us it in Acts chapter 9 at the point in the unfolding story of the church and its growth when it actually happens.  Then again in Acts 22 we find it being told by Paul as he is put on the spot and has to give an account of the faith that is so dear to him.

And now for a third time we encounter the story that made such a difference to Paul.

This is to be the final time we see Paul before the authorities.  This final hearing is before King Herod Agrippa II, grandson to King Herod the Great.

Himself, a very interesting person.

“Herrod Agrippa II, described on his coins as Marcus Julius Agrippa ( his name as a Roman citizen) was the son of Herod Agrippa I,  born in AD 27.  He was in Rome when his father died in 44 and Claudius was disposed to give him his fatehre’s kingdom, but was dissuaded ) on account of the son’s youth) and Judea again became a Roman province.  In 50, however, Claudius gave Agrippa the kingdom of Chalcis (in Lebanon) in succession to his uncle Herod, together with the right of appointing the Jewish high priests.  In 53 Agrippa exchanged Chalcis for Batanaea,  Gaulanitis, Trachonitis, and Abila, which had formed part of his fatehr’s kingdom; three years later Nero gave him in addition the regions of Tiberias and Tarichaea, west ot he sea of Galilee, together tith Julias in Peraea and 14 neighbouring villages.

As a compliemtn to Nero he changed the name of his capital from Caesarea Philippi to Neronias.  Like his father he called himself Great King, fiend of Caeasar and friend of Rome.    FF Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles (3^rd Edition, Apollos, 1990)

Who they are is interesting – they come with ‘great pomp’ and are at home in Caesarea – with an audience hall.

Here we catch a glimpse of the Herodian power, its wealth, its determaination to latch on to the Romans.

There is an ugliness to this power.

A contrast with the simplicity and the humbleness of Jesus and of Paul.

But Agrippa II is an intetersing character.

What the Herodians are doing is treading a fine line between Rome and making the most of the opulence … and the Jewish people.  They are trying to get the best of both worlds.

And that world is about to fall about their ears.

Josephus records a speech in AD 66,  when Agrippa II tries to persuade the rebels not to take up arms against Jerusalem.

He wants to dissuade the Jewish people of Jersuaelm from taking arms.

And so he speaks.

Josephus records his speech at great length.

As if he had heard it.

See the might of Rome – you cannot win.

See what they have done to the Greeks, to the Gauls, in Spain.

And then comes a remarkable reference.

A reminder that what is going on here in these islands is in the same world as the world of the New Testament.

“consider the defences of the Britons, you who feel so sure of the defences of Jerusalem.  They are surrounded by the Ocean and inhabit an island as big as the land which we inhabit; yet the Romans crossed the sea and enslaved them,l and four legions keep that huge island quiet.”   (160)

Not even the Britons could withstand the might of Rome he argues in spite of othe fact their island is surrounded by the ocean.

A remarkable comment.

Because he is referring surely to something that is happening in Britain at exactly the time Paul is here in Caesarea.

The Boudica revolt.

The Romans overstretch themselves and take Anglesey – and the Icenii and Boudica take their opportunity, Colchester, even London fall to the rebels.

What do the Romans do?  Sit back?

No they march down the A5 and meet Boudica near Mancetter, near Warwick, and Boudica and the rebellion is destroyed.

Roman power is established.

That’s the lesson Agrippa II wants to share.

He wants to keep his power.

The tragedy is that the people take to arms.   They overthrew the  Romans for 4years.  And the Romans responded as they had done against Boudica.  The legions came down from the north, the city was laid waste and the temple destroyed.

And as for Agrippa II, he remained loyal to the empire throughout the war and was rewareded with a further increase of territory and in 75 with pro,motion to praetorian rank.  (FF Bruce 490f)

Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You have permission to speak for yourself.’ Then Paul stretched out his hand and began to defend himself:

Paul shows respect for King Agrippa – and begs him to listen patiently.

‘I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defence today against all the accusations of the Jews, 3because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews; therefore I beg of you to listen to me patiently.

He gives his own credentials as not only Jewish but identifies himself as a Pharisee – one of the strictest.

He does not think of himself as having abandoned his Jewishness but rather as one who has seen it reach its fulfilment in this remarkable hope that he has.

His is a hope that nothing can defeat for it is a hope that looks to nothing less than ‘resurrection’.

4 ‘All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, a life spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I have belonged to the strictest sect of our religion and lived as a Pharisee. 6And now I stand here on trial on account of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors, 7a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship day and night. It is for this hope, your Excellency, that I am accused by Jews! 8Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

The hope Paul has is a hope that finds its focus at one point.

This is the point he comes back to now for the third time.

This is the theme that is so central.

It is the background Paul has that for him brings into such stark clarity the sheer power this one theme has in the living of his life.  To call it a theme does not quite do justice to Paul.

9 ‘Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. 11By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

Just note the things Paul notes – locking people up, condemning them to death, punishing them, forcing them to blaspheme a veiled reference to torture, pursuit.

12 ‘With this in mind, I was travelling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, 13when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. 14When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.”

Interesetingly at this third time of telling the story Paul adds in something.  It hurts you to kick against the goads – as if Paul had had an inkling that what he wsa doing was not right, a twinge of conscience.

15I asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord answered, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

Thi sis the nub of what is happening.

It is the meeting Paul has with the risen Christ … with Jesus.  The Jesus who in a strange way Paul has already met as he has been persecuting not just the followers of Jesus but Jesus himself.

16But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. 17I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

Paul Tells of His Preaching

Paul has a job to do … and here we get to the heart of the difference this encounter with Christ has for Paul … and the difference an encounter with Christ makes for all …

• from darkness to light
• the contrast from darkness to light – it is a shining of the light in the darkness.   Fascination of the child with the dark, playing with a torch.  The adult who is conscious of the dark in the world.  A dark that envelops – the encounter with Christ brings light into that darkness.   Once again, those words from II Corinthians speak so powerfully into this situation.  6For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
• and from the power of Satan to God,
• on this first Sunday in Lent – there is that moment in our church year when we remember the power of darkness – it has all sorts of ways of expressing itself in the New Tesatment – one of the most powerful is in the figure of Satan – the one who wheedles his way into our psyche and tempts us with what seems attractive, with the world’s way of doing things.  Held in thrall and by Christ set free.
• so that they may receive forgiveness of sins
• this is the most powerful of Paul’s comments here in so many ways … for he had done so much that was wrong.  The capacity of God to forgive and then to give a fresh opportunity to start all over again is one of the remarkable things about Christ … and it has a liberating power.
• and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me
• the opportunity to become part of the body of Christ – that body of people who are bound together with Christ and held together by him.

19 ‘After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance.

Paul goes on with his autobiography and sums up his work – an echo of Acts 1:8 – having encountered Chrst in Damascus he had gone back to Jerusalem, to Judea – to the ends of the world – it is an echo of the whole structure of Acts.

What Paul is about is the enterprise of John the Baptist, of Jesus – repentance.

The Good News Bible speaks of saying sorry and seeking forgiveness.

There is something much bigger going on here.

Repentance – the word – a whole new way of seeing the world – a whole new world-view – for Jewish people, for Gentile people – it is a whole new way of seeing the world that is centred on the Kingdom of God, the rule of God that is shaped by Jesus.

Lots of different variations – but you come back to the one thing – the centrality of Jesus.

Then he comes to his peroration

It is this focus on Jesus that sets him apart.

But notice still – the Jesus who is in fulfilment of all the prophets and Moses.

21For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: 23that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.’

Verse 23 sums it up again …

The suffering of the Messiah that is seen in Christ … and the resuuection – and it is this death and resurrection of the Christ who has given us a whole new way of looking at the world that is light for Jewish people and for  Gentile people – for the small people and, maybe with his eye on Agrippa II, on great people too.

There are two reactions to Paul.

Festus is furious.

24 While he was making this defence, Festus exclaimed, ‘You are out of your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you insane!’

It is a whole new way of thinking of the world – but it is not madness.  It is down to earth

25But Paul said, ‘I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking the sober truth.

At this point Paul turns to Agrippa II.  And what we catch a glimpse of is how close Paul comes to persuading him.

26Indeed the king knows about these things, and to him I speak freely; for I am certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner. 27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.’ 28Agrippa said to Paul, ‘Are you so quickly persuading me to become a Christian?’ 29Paul replied, ‘Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that not only you but also all who are listening to me today might become such as I am—except for these chains.’

30 Then the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and those who had been seated with them; 31and as they were leaving, they said to one another, ‘This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.’ 32Agrippa said to Festus, ‘This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to the emperor.’

But Paul had appealed to the emperor … and to the emperor he would go!

Acts 25 - Doing Away with Labels

Labels are invidious.

I have recently finished reading Alan Argent’s excellent biography of Elsie Chamberlain.  She was very much a pioneer – of religious broadcasting, being the first woman minister to be employed by the BBC as a producer of religious broadcasting, she pioneered the way as the first woman chaplain to the forces in the late 1940’s.

A remarkable person in all sorts of ways, one of the things I remember about Elsie was her refusal to accept a label.  She was an evangelical and liberal, charismatic and catholic, congregational and ecumenical.

It’s something I have felt resonates with me.

I resist being labelled in my theology, in my churchmanship.

More seriously than that there is a danger to labelling people.

Slap a label on someone and then you treat them in that particular way.   Too often it is as a stereotype.

It’s one of the things I have become more and more aware of with regard to the New Testament and how you tell the New Testament story.

I think I grew up with labels that were very easy to apply.

The Jews and then there are the Christians.

Jews keep to the law, the letter of the law, the ritual, the Sabbath … and Christians delight in grace and the good news of the Gospel.

It is since the war and more and more in the last three decades that people studying the Bible have come to be very aware of the way Jesus is Jewish and the followers of Jesus, not least, Paul are also Jewish.

That’s something I have been trying to explore as we have read through Acts.

This particular theme is crucially important for us Christians because of the part Christians have played down through the centuries in the anti-Semitism that came to a head in the middle years of the 20^th century with the Holocaust.

The danger is that we put the label Jewish on someone and then we know exactly what they are – the tragedy is that that label was actually a physical thing that was attached to Jewish people.

The reality is that there is a whole range of ways of being Jewish – and we need to appreciate that in today’s world.  In Cheltenham there is an Orthodox Hebrew Congregation and in the last few years also a  Reform, Liberal Hebrew Congregation.  Fascinating to see the differences and to begin to appreciate those differences.

There are Orthodox Jews and … I find myself using labels again that are invidious, ultra orthodox Jews.   Secular Jews and religious Jews.  A wonderful array of different ways of being Jewish.

Jesus is fully Jewish – honouring the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.

Going out of church last Sunday Alan put me on the spot with a question that is worth exploring further.  He thought Chrsiians were those who saw Jesus as the Messiah and the Jews were those who did not recognise Jesus as the Messiah.

Helpful … in so far as it goes.

But the Chrisians in the NT are, many of them, Jews who see in jesus the Messiah.

By Acts 25 we are approaching AD 60 – AD 61

It is interesting to ask what is going on in the Jewish world at this time.

And it is in quite a ferment.

The big problem is the power of the Roman presence.

How do you cope with that?

A Jewish historian whose writings are available and date to the second half of that first century chronicles the build up to what becomes a major Jewish war against the Romans – and that is only about five or six years away at this point.

There are the Romans –

The Pharisees emphasise a return to the Law – different schools become different Rabbinic schools – and in some ways that tradition is one that takes a real hold in the later Jewish world.

The Saducees are powerful, rich in support of the priests who are keeping the temple going – but the temple is one that has been re-built by

Heord – and the Herodian dynasty – Herod, Herod Antiaps,  Herod Agrippa I and now we meet Herod Agrippa II.

They have some influence – are lauded but don’t have real power.

The Essenes are a group  who have a base in a monastery near the Dead Sea and collect a library of documents discovered as the Dead Sea Scrolls – a rule of life to follow – looking to a righteous teacher.

And then there are the revolutionaries, the fourth philosophy that Josephus describes – who want to overthrow Rome.

They are becoming more and more vociferous.

The rebellion is going to start up in Galilee – it will involve initially Josephus who later changes sides and sides with the Romans.

The rebellion is moving down to Jerusalem.

Into this mix has come John the Baptist – who stands out as a new Elijah – challenging the powers that be, wanting people to  have a whole new way of thinking about the world and about God’s rule – the kingdom of God, the rule of God has come near.

When Jesus is baptised by John in the Jordan it is as if Jesus is lining himself up with John.  And he too carries out this prophetic role.

More than that he comes to be recognised as the one who is actually ushering in a new kind of kingdom

This is a location in this spectrum

But the kingdom he talks about is not by force of arms but it is quite different from that.

Paul’s mission has lasted twenty to thirty years.  And we now find him in Caesarea – held in custody for two years under Felix.

The Roman Governor then changes – Porcius Festus – he wants to transfer Paul back to Jerusalem – to tidy things up essentially.

He goes to Jerusalem and brings back to Caesarea leaders – but the ones he brings back – are the Jerusalem elite –

Paul is adamant he has not done anything wrong.

Is it an exasperation – but he appeals to the Emperor,.  And Festus accepts the appeal.

You have appealed to the Emperor – to the Emperor you will go.

Then King Agrippa the II and wife Bernice

“Herrod Agrippa II, described on his coins as Marcus Julius Agrippa ( his name as a Roman citizen) was the son of Herod Agrippa I,  born in AD 27.  He was in Rome when his father died in 44 and Claudius was disposed to give him his fatehre’s kingdom, but was dissuaded ) on account of the son’s youth) and Judea again became a Roman province.  In 50, however, Claudius gave Agrippa the kingdom of Chalcis (in Lebanon) in succession to his uncle Herod, together with the right of appointing the Jewish high priests.  In 53 Agrippa exchanged Chalcis for Batanaea,  Gaulanitis, Trachonitis, and Abila, which had formed part of his fatehr’s kingdom; three years later Nero gave him in addition the regions of Tiberias and Tarichaea, west ot he sea of Galilee, together tith Julias in Peraea and 14 neighbouring villages.

As a compliemtn to Nero he changed the name of his capital from Caesarea Philippi to Neronias.  Like his father he called himself Great King, fiend of Caeasar and friend of Rome.    FF Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles (3^rd Edition, Apollos, 1990)

Who they are is interesting – they come with ‘great pomp’ and are at home in Caesarea – with an audience hall.

Here we catch a glimpse of the Herodian power, its wealth, its determaination to latch on to the Romans.

There is an ugliness to this power.

A contrast with the simplicity and the humbleness of Jesus and of Paul.

But Agrippa II is an intetersing character.

What the Herodians are doing is treading a fine line between Rome and making the most of the opulence … and the Jewish people.  They are trying to get the best of both worlds.

And that world is about to fall about their ears.

Josephus records a speech in AD 66,  when Agrippa II tries to persuade the rebels not to take up arms against Jerusalem.

He wants to dissuade the Jewish people of Jersuaelm from taking arms.

And so he speaks.

Josephus records his speech at great length.

As if he had heard it.

See the might of Rome – you cannot win.

See what they have done to the Greeks, to the Gauls, in Spain.

And then comes a remarkable reference.

A reminder that what is going on here in these islands is in the same world as the world of the New Testament.

“consider the defences of the Britons, you who feel so sure of the defences of Jerusalem.  They are surrounded by the Ocean and inhabit an island as big as the land which we inhabit; yet the Romans crossed the sea and enslaved them,l and four legions keep that huge island quiet.”   (160)

Not even the Britons could withstand the might of Rome he argues in spite of othe fact their island is surrounded by the ocean.

A remarkable comment.

Because he is referring surely to something that is happening in Britain at exactly the time Paul is here in Caesarea.

The Boudica revolt.

The Romans overstretch themselves and take Anglesey – and the Icenii and Boudica take their opportunity, Colchester, even London fall to the rebels.

What do the Romans do?  Sit back?

No they march down the A5 and meet Boudica near Mancetter, near Warwick, and Boudica and the rebellion is destroyed.

Roman power is established.

That’s the lesson Agrippa II wants to share.

He wants to keep his power.

The tragedy is that the people take to arms.   They overthrew the  Romans for 4years.  And the Romans responded as they had done against Boudica.  The legions came down from the north, the city was laid waste and the temple destroyed.

And as for Agrippa II, he remained loyal to the empire throughout the war and was rewareded with a further increase of territory and in 75 with pro,motion to praetorian rank.  (FF Bruce 490f)

Paul following in Jesus’ footsteps has another way of being under God’s rule.  Not by force of arms, but by living out the way of life that Jesus has mapped out. Romans 12ff iand the last part of each of the letters.

This is the way to follow.

But Paul is not heeded by so many of them.

I want to see the JHNewishness of Jesus, how he offers a different way.

And then that opens up to be all invlusive of all people.

We too become the people of God.  Part of this wonderful people whose history goes back to Abraham.

What’ sinteresting here is the willingness Agrippa has to listen to Paul.

Paul holds his own – before the Roman Governor, before the people who have come down from Jerusalem, before Agrippa II – and he is clear – at the heart of his faith as we shall see is the encounter with Jesus.

What is all important for him is who this Jesus is and all he stands for.  He is the one who shapes the kingdom, the rule of God.   And it stands and falls with him.

The centrality of Christ.

Not so much labelling a Christian over against  a Jew.

But rather seeking to follow Christ.

The key is not to have a religion – but it is a whole way of life that shapes the people we are under the rule of God in the way that Jesus makes real.

This goes beyond labels.

Our measure has continually to go back to this jesus – and the difference he makes.

Not least in the resurrection victory he wins, a victory we too may share.

Acts 24

to come

Acts 23 - Keep up your courage!

Each time we use a microwave oven we owe a great deal to Nobel prize winner Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898 – 1988) – “a Polish-born American physicist and Nobel laureate, recognized in 1944 for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance, which is used in magnetic resonance imaging. He was also involved in the development of the cavity magnetron, which is used in microwave radar and microwave ovens.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isidor_Isaac_Rabi

When Nobel prize winner, Isidor Rabi, arrived home after school, his mother would talk to him about his school day. Every day she would ask him, "Isidor, did you ask a good question today?" Rabi concluded that it was the ability to ask the good questions that gave him the passion to become a scientist.

“What ‘good questions’ are you asking yourself at the moment?”

That’s a question posed on a website I stumbled across called simply ‘moments’.

 Our Christian journey is filled with many challenges and I believe it would be wise to ask ourselves some tough questions. There is a defining question that John Wesley always asked of his friends and fellow Christians - “How goes it with your soul?”

http://robzkeet.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/how-goes-it-with-your-soul.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isidor_Isaac_Rabi

How goes it with your soul?

Maybe that’s a question I should ask as Minister more often.  I seek to ask that question in a roundabout way … and in a funny way it is an important part of ministry.

It’s possible to see the ministry in terms of the cure of souls – keeping our inner being whole and healed.

You can’t control a conscience.

It is that small voice.

But you can nurture and feed a conscience.

Conscience pricks.

It can be painful.

It can haunt.

So alongside conscience comes grace – the grace of God’s forgiving love, that touches and restores and heals and makes whole.

So how goes it with your soul?

It is a question I should ask as Minister.  But it is also a question that I as a Minister need to be asked.

Who pastors the pastor?

Something a church family shares.

Something for me to ask of myself.

As Paul is brought before the Council in Jerusalem, that body that years before had put Jesus on trial, he says quite plainly.

While Paul was looking intently at the council he said, ‘Brothers, up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.’

What a claim – he speaks a great deal about conscience in his letter to the Romans written not long before this as his journeying is coming to an end.

There is evidence of the ways of God in nature, in creation – somehow built into our psyche (Romans 1:20-21)  There is a timeless truth that speaks to all people – the measure of conscience has to do with patiently doing good, seeking glory, and honour and immortality – that distinction between what is good and what is wrong is there for all to sense. (2:1ff)

And the reality Paul makes clear is that we all of us have our failings but we receive God’s kindness, that grace that leads to a whole new way of thinking.

There is no partiality.  Conscience is clear.

Paul has sought to live his life in such a way that he has lived it with a good conscience.  Not that he has done everything as he should but that he has received that grace of God for renewal.

Shortly after this occasion – when he is imprisoned in Rome he writes again of the life he can now look back on … and it is a wonderful passage.

I recall sharing with Margaret Copeland one of those staunch members of the church here who lived to a ripe old age … and the reading we shared in her memory was from Philippians 4 …

for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. 12I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

This is the mark of a good conscience.

How goes it with your soul?

Paul in that passage in Romans 2 castigates those who judge others.  Such a question should not be condemnatory but should be pastoral, to build people up.

Tragically that is not how this statement was received by the powers that be in the council.

2Then the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth. 3At this Paul said to him, ‘God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law you order me to be struck?’ 4Those standing nearby said, ‘Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?’ 5And Paul said, ‘I did not realize, brothers, that he was high priest; for it is written, “You shall not speak evil of a leader of your people.” ’

This is strong stuff.  And disturbing stuff.

But it is very important to realise who this council is made up of.  It is not just ordinary Jewish people … the High Priest is part of the Roman Herodian regime in Jerusalem, appointed by the  Roman Procurator – part of the system castigated by Jesus when he acted with such rage in the Temple and accused the powers that be of turning what should have been a house of prayer into a den of thieves.

Ananias had been appointed by Herod of Chalcis – Herod Agrippa I’s brother and one of that Herodian regime.   He had been hauled over the coals and sent to Rome after treating a number of Jewish zealots harshly – he had been acquitted by Claudius and allowed to return.  A ruthless regime such that Josephus tells us that when the revolt against Rome happened one of the first things the rebels did was to assassinate this Ananias.

These next verses are fascinating ones too.  They again highlight the different groupings there are within the Jewish world of Jesus’ day and Paul’s day.

The Sadducees were the powerful, rich elite who supported the Herodian High Priests and the Temple management as it had become.

The Pharisees had reacted against the Roman Herodian way by urging people to return to the purity of the Law – Paul had studied and grown up among the Pharisees.

We learn about some of other fundamental differences.

Paul is following on from Jesus and from John the Baptist and taking a stand at being Jewish in a very particular kind of way.  And the Sadducees and the Pharisees don’t like it.

6 When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead.’ 7When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.)

A great clamour arose.  Interestingly, the Pharisees are the ones who are more sympathetic to Paul.

9Then a great clamour arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, ‘We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?’ 10When the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force, and bring him into the barracks.

11 That night the Lord stood near him and said, ‘Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.’

This is the text I want to finish with.

Keep up your courage.

Paul was facing difficult times, troubled times, not only for him personally but politically in the land as well.

He finds himself at this moment back under guard in the safety of the barracks and yet in that very alien world he stands out agaist.

It is very much a world that demands courage.

And it is the word of God that  heartens Paul.

Keep up your courage.

He finds himself the victim of a plot – and then sent under armed guard – overnight to  Caesarea the modern Roman city build on the coast by Herod the Greeat that is the seat of Roman power in that region – you catch a glimpse here of the Roman presence.

In a little while we will hear tell the story of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem on a Donkey on Palm Sunday – and we will reflect on the way this is so different from the warrior king who comes on a fine steed.

This gives a glimpse of what the Roman force could be like – as Paul is taken under cover of dark by two centurions with 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen.

This is military occupation at its most brutal.

Paul is then kept under guard in Herod’s Praetorium, in Herod’s headquarters.

He ends up at this point imprisoned in the seat of Roman power.

How he needs to heed the word of that vision.

Keep up your courage!

What troubles do you face?

Keep up your courage.

A sense of the presence of God – a strength from beyond ourselves in times of weakness.   He’s just written of the way the  Spirit comes alongside groaning with us in those desperate moments when now words come to our prayers.

Keep up your courage for God is with you.

But there’s more.

Keep up  your courage because even now you have a job to do.

For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.

There is a sense of tension here … and of challenge.

Evven in the most adverse of circumstances there is a witness to share to this remarkable God who is with us come what may.

We can draw on those wonderful words at the end of Romans …

Keep up your courage!

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Acts 22 - A Defence of the Faith

There are moments when faith can feel very much under threat.

This was one of those moments.

Paul had done everything possible to ensure he would be well received in Jerusalem … he had bent over backwards to ensure that he would be seen to be doing the right thing.

He had been warned to stay away – it was a dangerous place.

But he insisted he had determined to take the collection he had made personally for those who were afflicted by severe shortages in and around Jerusalem.

For the best part of a week all seemed to go reasonably well.

It was on the seventh day of the festival as Paul was in the temple that he was tracked down by people he had crossed on his travels in Asia.

Jerusalem was a tinderbox of tension, always on the brink of very real trouble.   The trouble held down by the Roman garrison.

It got completely out of hand – the crowds became a mob.  Paul’s life was under threat – the soldiers intervened and he had to be carried shoulder high to safety.

The soldiers brought him to the barracks when Paul spoke to the senior officer, the Tribune.  Above the shouts and anger of the crowd he asked, May I say something to you?”

The Tribune is taken aback that he speaks Greek- he had been mistaken by the Roman garrison for a freedom fighter who had come from Egypt and had roused a militia of 4,000 in the wilderness.

Paul pleaded with the tribune to allow him to speak to the people.

It was into the middle of the anger – in a moment that was fraught with danger that Paul spoke.

There was a hush as he began and he switched languages to the Hebrew that would be understood by the Jerusalem people who were in the temple.

“Brothers and father, he said, listen to the defence that I now make before you.”

Let’s just pause there.

Sometimes there are circumstances when it becomes necessary to give a defence of the faith that is in you.  The Greek word is ‘apologia’ –

I well remember on my father’s shelves a book with a curious Latin title … Apologia pro Vita Sua – not so much an apology for living in a sewer as many a wit has suggested – but a defence of the faith that was in him by John Newman as he became a Catholic.

How do you defend the faith that is important to you?

When faith is under fire how do you give an account of what you believe.

The crowd became even more quiet and Paul began.

He begins by telling them about himself – and he concentrates on the way he had grown up steeped in the traditions and faith of the Jewish people …

‘I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today.

He begins with the faith he had grown up with, the studies he had made at the feet of Gamaliel.  Then he describes how zealous he was in attacking the  Way – persecuting the followers of Jesus.

 4I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison, 5as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I went there in order to bind those who were there and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.

Then as the heading goes, Paul tells of his conversion.  And there is a detailed account of what happened to Paul on that road to Damascus.

It’s interesting that two stories are each told three times in Acts.  One is the breakthrough moment for Peter when he has that vision that persuades him it is all right to share his faith with non Jewish Gentile people.

And the other is this account of what happened to Paul when he was on the Road to Damascus.

See it as simply an account of his conversion and you in a sense miss the oint.  It is not the moment when Paul ceases to be Jewish and becomes the follower of another religion, ie Christianity.

No, something happens on that Road that makes him see his faith differently, that fills out for him what his faith is all about.

‘While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me. 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 8I answered, “Who are you, Lord?” Then he said to me, “I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.”

He wants to know what he is to do, he is directed to Damascus, to someone whom he describes as a devout man according to the law, to the Torah, who is well spoken of by all the Jews there.

It is not a conversion.

Paul is adamant that what he hears from this wise, devout person steeped in the Torah is not a denial of his faith, but the moment it comes to fulfilment.

14Then he said, “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear his own voice; 15for you will be his witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard. 16And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.”

It wasn’t long before Paul found himself in Jerusalem in the Temple and again, he senses the presence of Jesus with him.  He describes a moment of a trance – and the challenge

“Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.”

Paul is very conscious of the horrific things he has done to the followers of Jesus, in many places, culminating in standing by as Stephen is stoned to death -– and is distraught.  Only to find the rich depths of the forgiveness of Christ who says, “Go for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.”

It is at this point that the crowd lose it and intervene, baying for his blood.

The Tribune intervenes, orders Paul into the safety of the barracks where he is to be tortured to get the truth out of him.  Or as the NRSV says, he ordered him ‘to be examined by flogging’

Then comes one of those surreal moments as Paul switches back to Greek the language of the Eastern Mediterranean world of the Roman empire

when they had tied him up with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, ‘Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?’ 26When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, ‘What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.’ 27The tribune came and asked Paul, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ 28The tribune answered, ‘It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.’ Paul said, ‘But I was born a citizen.’

Among the Jewish people he is so very Jewish.  And among the Romans he is born a Roman citizen.

29Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

The Tribune has a plan B

And so arranges to hand Paul over to the Council, the Jewish authority that has control of the  Temple but is willing to act under the overall  control of Rome.

It is an exciting story and a wonderful insight into what makes Paul tick.

But there is something more that I want to come back to in this chapter.

For Paul what makes sense of his life, what makes sense of the world with all its troubles is not a set of beliefs that he defends, it is not a set of principles that he defends.

It is an encounter with Jesus Christ.

That to me is the key to the difference our Christian faith can make.

When confrtoned with things that call faith in question on the news in our own lives it’s easy to be drawn with our rational minds into trying to figure it out.

Start with the  God of the philosophers and you come up against a massive brick wall.

If God is all powerful, if God is all knowing, and if God is all loving how can he allow this to happen?

There is no answering that.

But that’s not the starting point for the faith that is at the heart of what we share in the church family and as we meet around the table.

Let’s start with Jesus Christ.   It may be we meet him in a moment, it may be we get to know him over a life-time of reflecting and thinking and exploring who he is.

Start there and what do we find – no easy answers about why God allows things to happen.

But rather we see that Jesus comes alongside people in their hurt and their pain.  He remains with them through the awfulness they experience.  And he draws them into the love of God to find that that love is a lover that restores and strengthens, that brings forgiveness and peace.

He shares with us at the point at which things are at their worst – sharing the awfulness of God-forsakeness on the cross.  And then remains with us through to something beyond.

And through it he opens up a relationship with God that finds God to be our father, close to us through that valley of deepest darkness and into the glory of his eternal love.

Paul’s apologia, moving as it is, is moving precisely because it is not a conversion moment from one religion to another, but a reminder that it is in the meeting with God that comes in Christ that our faith comes into its own.

And it is here as we gather around the table of our Lrod that we claim his presence and celebrate his presence hearing those words …

Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.