Willful Blindness

So many stories in the Book of Acts read just like news stories today! Take the story of Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem (Acts 21), as an example. Paul felt a strong desire to go to Jerusalem (Acts 20:22). He was even in a hurry to get there before Pentecost (20:16). On the journey there, Christian people at several places urged him not to go to Jerusalem. For his part, Paul felt “compelled by the Spirit” to go (Acts 20:22), yet the believers in the city of Tyre urged him “by the Spirit,” not to go! (21:4b) When he reached Caesarea, God actually sent the prophet Agabus to warn him that he was going to be taken prisoner, bound, and turned over to the Gentiles (21:10, 11) All the believers who heard this pleaded with him not to go (21:12), but he would not be dissuaded. Should he have listened to them and to Agabus? Or was he right in believing the Spirit wanted him to go anyway?

They went; that’s what matters. When they got to Jerusalem, Paul spoke to the elders there and reported all that God had been doing through his ministry among the Gentiles. But there was a huge problem. He was infamous among the Jews in Jerusalem and everywhere else. They’d heard he was speaking against them, their customs, their beliefs, the holy temple (21:21). They believed he was “anti” everything they held dear.

It wasn’t true at all! He wasn’t against them; he was very much for them! His heart’s desire was that they might be saved (Ro. 9:1-3). He was even willing to be banished from God’s presence if it would make such a thing possible. They had a totally distorted and false impression of Paul. They believed absolute lies about him.

The leaders of the Messianic movement in Jerusalem wanted to change this situation and solve the problem, at least among the believing Jews. Notice, it says (21:20b) that thousands of Jews had believed in Jesus. Often you’ll hear Jews say it’s not possible for Jews to believe Jesus is Messiah. The facts refute this idea. The whole early church was Jewish!

These leaders wanted their people to know Paul was just as much a faithful Jew as any of them. He was saved by grace, but he also observed the law. He lived as an obedient Jew, not as some sort of loose, immoral libertine. He himself wrote (1 Cor. 9:20-22) that he lived like a Jew when among the Jews, though he could also relate with Gentiles. He just wanted to win as many as he could to Jesus!

The church leaders in Jerusalem thought it would be good for Paul to do some things to demonstrate his obedient lifestyle. They urged him to join with four brothers who’d taken a vow and were going to shave their heads. He was to pay their expenses and participate in this very Jewish procedure with them, just to show he lived according to the Law and according to their customs. The plan seemed reasonable to Paul, so he agreed to it. He wanted his fellow Messianic Jews to be at ease about his ministry, and probably hoped his actions would have a positive effect on unbelieving Jews as well.

Unfortunately, the plan just didn’t work! Paul did what he’d agreed to do, but before the seven days of the vow were up, Jews from Asia Minor saw him in the temple. They stirred up a howling mob of angry people by spreading lies, saying he was the man who taught against Judaism, and that he’d even defiled the holy precincts of the temple by bringing Greeks into it. That was patently untrue, but it didn’t matter. The people believed the lies and were stirred to violence against Paul. They began beating him; a riot was starting!

The Roman authorities saw what was going on and rushed down to bring order. That’s what civil authorities are supposed to do! But when the tribune tried to ascertain who Paul was and what the ruckus was about, things were so wild and confused he couldn’t get a straight answer. Imagine the noise and confusion! He knew it was a dangerous situation for him and his soldiers to be in, so he ordered them to arrest Paul and get out of there, so he could investigate in a secure place. They bound him with chains, fulfilling Agabus’ prophecy, and had to carry him to their barracks, the Antonia Fortress, right next door to the Temple.

When he got the chance, Paul spoke to the tribune in Greek (Paul was at least trilingual) and asked permission to speak to the mob. The Roman had thought him an Egyptian who’d led 4,000 sicarios into the desert recently (that’s the Greek word, which is very interesting for those who know anything about Mexico, because cartel killers there are called the same thing). Permission was granted for Paul to speak to the angry mob that had just been trying to kill him. Paul’s zeal for the Lord was amazing, wasn’t it? John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, did something similar in his time (the 18^th century), but there aren’t many who would!

Paul switched to Aramaic or Hebrew (some versions say one, some the other). He spoke the language of the people, and he really wanted to reach them. In chapter 22 you can read what he said. It started off well, and the crowd quieted down and listened. But when Paul explained how the Lord had told him to leave Jerusalem and take the gospel to the Gentiles, that was it for these zealous Jews! They exploded with rage and cried out that Paul shouldn’t even be allowed to live!

What a story! And of course, it begins the long tale of Paul’s time in prison in various places and his eventual trip to Rome, where he preached the gospel at the Roman government’s expense. Obviously God used this whole crazy scenario to spread His Word to various political and military leaders and a whole host of others, just as He’d told Paul when He first appeared to him on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9:15, 16)

What grabbed my attention was the opposition he experienced, the craziness of the world. When he’d first come to Jerusalem after becoming a believer, the Lord had appeared to him and told him to leave, because the people wouldn’t receive his testimony (22:17, 18). Paul wanted to reach them, but Jesus said it couldn’t happen right then. He knew their stubbornness. They would not receive the truth! (After all, they hadn’t received Jesus in person! (Jn. 1:11) Now, years later, the Jerusalem church leaders and Paul tried to appease people and show them the truth, but it all backfired! This crowd believed lies and distortions, and they wouldn’t even consider listening to another side. Their minds were made up; they were willfully blind!

Nothing’s changed. Today, multitudes believe lies and distortions about God, about Christians, about America, about the truth in general. Millions believe in things that aren’t real, false cults and religions, no absolutes, white privilege, climate change, Islam is just another religion, homosexuality or transgenderism is just an alternative lifestyle, racism is rampant, America is a terrible country, capitalism is evil, Christianity is bad, causes wars, etc., etc. ad infinitum, ad nauseum! People protest in the streets. They riot and burn things, they smash windows, they march, they call darkness light and light darkness! I often feel overwhelmed and discouraged by it, do you?

Earlier, in Acts 19, there was another huge riot with the same kind of things going on, people shouting one thing and another, not even knowing what they were assembled for, believing all sorts of distortions and lies. It reminded me of Occupy Wall Street or the women’s march in D.C.!

Paul just kept on going, preaching whenever and wherever he could, spreading the truth, reaching those who would listen. The Church just kept on growing. He’s our example today! It was a crazy world then, and it still is now! I guess we shouldn’t be surprised or discouraged, huh?

On another note: It really must’ve seemed like a total failure that day on the steps, as Paul tried to reach that crazy mob and they refused to listen. I wonder though, if someday in heaven, we ‘re going to meet somebody (or maybe many), who were there that day? They heard this man get up there and tell them about how Jesus had come to him and changed his life, and they never forgot it. Maybe that day, a seed was planted that eventually took root and grew in their hearts, and eventually they too came to know that same Messiah who’d appeared to Paul? Who knows? We can’t be sure, but I just bet it might be true!

All I know is, the world’s a darkened place. Lies, distortions, opposition to all that’s good abound. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! His Kingdom is eternal, and He is at work in this world, calling out a people from the darkness (and madness) to His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9). I’m glad to be with Him!