Purification

  Fourth Tuesday after Pentecost 

Evelyn Underhill--Color: White 

Lectionary Texts:

1 Samuel 17:37-58

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

 

Evelyn Underhill was an early twentieth century Anglican Christian historian and spiritual writer.  Her greatness is in her rediscovery of the medieval mystics, especially the women medieval mystics, spiritual writers utterly ignored by the more rationalistic and always male historians of Underhill's time. The current popularity of Saints Hildegarde of Bingen, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, Julian of Norwich  and many others is a result of Underhill's work. Underhill was a mystic herself with the kind of deep understanding and experience of God that few of us have.

Today we return to Acts Bible Study and more complicated questions about Acts 21. Please re-read Acts 21:17-24.

My major question, which I don't think either Luke or any of the commentators I've read adequately answer is: Why did Paul want to go to the Temple for rites of purification? Here are some observations: Paul's reputation had preceded him to Jerusalem. He was known about by both Jewish-Christians and Jews. His reputation was in part true, in part not true. The Jews thought he was preaching disregard for the Law (Torah) by all Jews. He insisted he was not. He was preaching for gentiles not to follow the Torah, especially in the matter of circumcision, but for Jews who wanted to be Christians, the Law was optional. It was adiaphora (it was fine to do it, but not necessary and not bringing any special grace). 

Paul's own personal identity seems to be what is at stake here. I've spoken before about how the Damascus Road experience (Acts 9) was not a conversion but a call. Paul was not converted from Judaism to Christianity. Christ was added to his Judaism and transformed his Judaism. But he was still a Jew and never thought of himself as not a Jew. It appears in Acts 21 that he wanted to show publicly that he was still thoroughly a Jew by undergoing rites of purification and sacrifice in the Temple. Once the priest had purified him, it would be clear to all the Jews in Jerusalem that Paul was a Jew and had not left the faith. 

Paul underwent seven days of purification rites with four other Jewish men, who with Paul had taken a vow that required them to shave their heads. We're not sure what kind of vow this was. It appears opposite to the Nazirite vow of Samson and John the Baptist, whose vow made them never cut their hair. In any case, it appears that Paul's shaved head was a sign of his seriousness about his Jewishness and his purification. 

The only thing left was for the priest to make the animal sacrifices in behalf of Paul and the other four men. They went to the Temple for that purpose. What follows was a Temple disruption the likes of which the Temple had not seen since Jesus turned over the tables 27 years earlier. We'll talk about it in our next Bible study.

Jesus our Lord,

We praise you for the life of your servant Paul. He was bold, when we would have been circumspect. He was brave, when we would have been cautious. He was fearless, when we would have trembled. Lead us to be more like him. Amen.

Faithfully,

Christian