A Speech to a Mob

 Fifth Saturday after Pentecost

Lectionary Texts:

Satiurday:

1 Samuel 31

2 Samuel 1

Sunday:

OT--2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

Psalter: Psalm 130 (UMH 848)

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 8-7-15

Gospel: Mark 5: 21-43

Once again we rejoin our Acts Bible Study. Please read Acts 22:1-21.

This is Paul's defense before the Jerusalem mob while he is being taken into Roman custody. His attempt to show his true Jewishness by his actions in taking a vow, going through rites of purification, and going to the Temple to make sacrifice was a complete disaster. A mob stirred up by Jews from Ephesus tried to kill him. He was saved by the Roman tribune, who allowed him to make this speech to the crowd. 

Paul spoke to the crowd in Hebrew (or perhaps Aramaic) in part to show himself as truly Jewish. I think he also did it so that the cohort of Roman soldiers who were keeping order would not understand what he was saying. 

His speech is a good example of judicial rhetoric. He wants to persuade the crowd that he is innocent of breaking Jewish law. He begins by telling them he is a citizen of Tarsus. His citizenship in a Greco-Roman city is a good credential. It shows the mob that they are dealing with a person of a significant family and of some importance in the Greco-Roman world. 

He then tells them that he study under Rabbi Gamaliel. Gamaliel I was one of the top rabbis of the day. He is mentioned in numerous rabbinic writings and is a chief participant in the rabbinic debates of the Pirke Aboth (Sayings of the Fathers). This is a top-flight credential for Paul.

Paul then tells of his early zeal in trying to stamp out a movement called The Way (i.e. Christians). Then in vv. 6-21 Paul tells of his Damascus Road Experience. Luke has already told this story in narrative form in Acts 9. Although there are a few discrepancies between Luke's narrative and Paul's speech, it's the same story, so I don't think I will rehash it here. Paul will tell it again with some variation in chapter 26. I'll talk about the discrepancies when we get to chapter 26.

There is nothing in the speech or in the Damascus Road experience that would diminish Paul's Jewishness or imply that he should not follow the Jewish Law or teach other Jews not to follow it. That the revelation to Paul came from the risen Jesus, not from God Godself would be troubling to some Jews of a Sadducaic bent, but the vast majority of Jews believed that revelations came to people through angels and archangels. The risen Christ they could easily view in that light. Paul's reference to Christ's telling him immediately to get baptized could also be troubling, but they could understand it as a reference to Jewish ritual washings. 

At the end of his speech Paul tells the crowd that the risen Christ was sending him to the gentiles. That would be the single most troubling thing for the Jewish audience to hear. And it was at that statement that the by this time attentive crowd balked and began to shout for Paul's death.

It is there that we will pick up next Tuesday.

Risen Christ,

We bless you for your appearance to Paul on the road to Damascus. We are grateful that your power inspired his courage. Give us some small measure of that courage as we seek to be your faithful witnesses.

Amen.

Faithfully,

Christian