Paul had faced persecution and other trials in his travels around Asia Minor and Greece, but he remained a Jew at heart and desired to see the Holy City and the Temple and to worship there again. Paul wanted to express his love for God at the one place sacred to Jews throughout the Roman Empire. Have you ever been far from home for a long time? It is so good to be back in familiar places. Just thinking about going home can make us emotional.
On his way to Jerusalem, Paul visits believers in Tyre and Ptolemai and then Caesarea where they “went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him.” (Acts 21:1-9) All along the way, various people tell Paul he should not go to Jerusalem. At Caesarea, “a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He…took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, “This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, ‘What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, ‘The Lord’s will be done.’" (Acts 21:10-14)
Paul refused to be dissuaded from his journey to Jerusalem. He was convinced that he was following the Lord’s will. His devotion to Jesus led him to follow his heart and not be dissuaded by the predictions of disaster. At first, all is well. “The brothers welcomed us warmly. The next day Paul went with us to visit James; and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard it, they praised God.” (Acts 21:17-20)
The leaders of the church in Jerusalem tell Paul of the rumors about him, “They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.” A solution is proposed, “We have four men who are under a vow. Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law.” (Acts 21:21-24)
All went well until some “Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd. They seized him, shouting, ‘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.’” (Acts 21:27-28) Paul's devotion to the God of Israel is questioned.
A riot follows-something Paul is quite familiar with! “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. While they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them [and] arrested him…he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. When Paul came to the steps, the violence of the mob was so great that he had to be carried by the soldiers…Just as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, ‘May I say something to you?’ The tribune replied, ‘Do you know Greek? Then you are not the Egyptian who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?’ Paul replied, ‘I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city.” (Acts 21:30-39) Notice that Paul's first claim is to be a Jew, then to mention his citizenship of Tarsus, a Roman town.
Paul is falsely accused; by arresting him the Roman tribune saves his life. At first, he thinks that Paul is an Egyptian assassin and is surprised when Paul speaks Greek and claims to be from Tarsus. This raises his status in the tribune’s eyes, so that he is receptive to Paul’s request to address the crowd.
Following God demands that we give our fullest. A friend recently quoted a line from a sermon she heard. "Devotion without emotion is just commotion.” Some might look at Paul’s ministry and say that he caused a great deal of commotion. Wherever he went conflict and riots erupted. However, Paul was driven by the conviction that he was following the One Lord and God to whom he was devoted. No one could doubt his emotion while preaching and teaching. Serving God was his entire life focus.
Throughout his ministry, Paul never faltered when doing what he believed God was calling him to do. Before his conversion, Saul the Pharisee was convinced that he must persecute the believers. After his experience on the road to Damascus, Paul was equally enthusiastic about preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Because Paul believed in his ministry, he was not afraid to go to Jerusalem despite all those who told him he would be imprisoned there. Because he really loved God and wanted all to understand the Good News of Jesus Christ, he was not afraid to address the crowd that had just tried to kill him.
Paul tells the tribune, “I beg you, let me speak to the people.’ When he had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the people for silence; and when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language…” (Acts 21:40) Next week we will hear Paul’s defense and the result of it.
