Thursday, May 14th

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Thursday, May 14

Acts 22
And he said to me, 'Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'” Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live." And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this. But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?" When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen." So the tribune came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" And he said, "Yes." The tribune answered, "I bought this citizenship for a large sum." Paul said, "But I am a citizen by birth." So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.
So why would Paul willingly walk into the hornets nest that was Jerusalem? Why would Paul even mention his call to the Gentiles in front of a mob that was ready to riot just at the sight of a Gentile?

Let’s go back to Paul’s conversion and call in Acts 9. After Paul meets Jesus on the road to Damascus, the Lord asks a man named Ananias to help Paul. Ananias has his doubts because he knows Paul to have been a very dangerous man. Luke then writes:

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

Notice there are three parts to Paul’s call. He is to carry the name of Jesus, the gospel, “before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.”

Paul has spent most of the past 20 years traveling the world and preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. But he has not yet preached extensively to kings or to the children of Israel.

I think he is so determined to go to Jerusalem because he wants to fulfill that part of the call the Lord gave him; He wants to preach the gospel to the children of Israel.

But what about “kings?”

In Paul’s time when people thought about “kings” they thought about Rome and the Roman Emperor, who was the most powerful man in the world. How in the world was Paul going to get to Rome and how could he possibly preach the gospel before kings?

Let’s read a portion of the story again.

But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?" When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen." So the tribune came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" And he said, "Yes." The tribune answered, "I bought this citizenship for a large sum." Paul said, "But I am a citizen by birth." So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

We can miss the significance of this interaction because we are unfamiliar with the culture. Roman citizenship was everything in the ancient world. To be a Roman citizen meant a person was protected by the rights and privileges of Roman law. There three ways to receive citizenship:
 

1. A person could be born into citizenship
2. A person could purchase their citizenship
3. A person could receive citizenship as a reward for serving in the Roman military for at least 25 years

Most Jews were not citizens of Rome. But Paul had been born in Tarsus, which was in the province of Cilicia, a region designated as a “free city” by Rome and therefore those born there were born as citizens of Rome.

This was Paul’s trump card!

I think Paul knew what would likely happen in Jerusalem. I think he suspected that when he attempted to preach the gospel there he would face vicious and perhaps violent opposition. I think he may even have anticipated that Roman soldiers would eventually intervene to restore order. And I even think Paul anticipated using his citizenship to accomplish the final phase of his call to bring  the name of Jesus before kings.

Paul knew that when he mentioned his citizenship that the Roman soldiers would be obligated to protect him, and, ultimately, to send him to Rome to be judged by the Emperor himself.

Here we see the intersection of the courage of Paul and the sovereignty of God. Paul is absolutely determined to fulfill his call, even at the risk of his own life. God makes sure Paul has the resources he needs, including Roman citizenship, to fulfill his calling.

I believe the same thing is true in our own lives.

Jesus has saved us. Jesus has called us to his purpose. And God has given us everything we need to fulfill that purpose.

Pastor Brian Coffey