Onward to Rome

Hi friends,
Once spring arrived Paul and the gang got back on their way to Rome. What's interesting here is that when Paul arrived in Rome one of his first moves is to reach out to the Jewish community there. It's helpful for us to see this in terms of watching the early relationship between the Jewish and Christian community and the challenges now. Even after the conflict he's faced with the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem, Paul's instinct is peacemaking.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 28:11-22

11 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. 16 When we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him. 

17 Three days later he called together the local leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, ‘Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, yet I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸When they had examined me, the Romans wanted to release me, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. ¹⁹But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to the emperor—even though I had no charge to bring against my nation. ²⁰For this reason therefore I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is for the sake of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.’ ²¹They replied, ‘We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken anything evil about you. ²²But we would like to hear from you what you think, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.’

church and state, part 1

Good evening/morning friends,
In today's reading we enter an interesting part of Paul's journey, which we've had hints of before. Rome is a background player in most of the story. At this point, Roman authority enters the story as peacekeeper between Paul and the Jewish leaders who want to kill him. Like many religious conflicts, this phase of the conflict between Paul and the Jewish leaders begins with a misunderstanding. Paul tried to smooth things over with his fellow Jews by entering fully into religious ritual. They have already seen him with a gentile Christian in Jerusalem and they assume Paul has brought him into the temple, even though he hasn't. In this section Paul does everything he can and it still doesn't work out. Then the Roman military leader steps in to keep the peace. In the pages to come we'll see this develop into an interesting story, but at this point, it's just an officer breaking up a disturbance. Once again, we see that many in the crowd are just there for excitement and don't really know what's going on.
May your weekend be peaceful and joyous,
Sam

Acts 21:27-36

27 When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd. They seized him, ²⁸shouting, ‘Fellow-Israelites, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place; more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.’ ²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. ³⁰Then all the city was aroused, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.

³¹While they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. ³²Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³Then the tribune came, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; he inquired who he was and what he had done. ³⁴Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another; and as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. ³⁵When Paul came to the steps, the violence of the mob was so great that he had to be carried by the soldiers. ³⁶The crowd that followed kept shouting, ‘Away with him!’