Year 7, Day 255: Acts 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I find the motivations of the human heart compelling.  I find it amazing to fathom what the human mind will accept and what it won’t accept.  We can be completely willing to be rational about the most irrational things and then be absolutely irrational about the most rational of things.

As an example, take a look at what Paul gives as his defense.  Paul starts with his own account of how he persecuted the followers of Jesus.  Of course, I understand that this is a predominantly Jewish audience and they would have understood Paul.  But let’s step back a second.  Paul is talking about how he tortured and imprisoned people based on what they believed to be true.  Furthermore, Paul is talking about how he tortured and imprisoned people for believing in the same God as he believed but in just a different way!  We should be able to disagree with people, of course.  But there is something wrong when our disagreements lead to outright persecution of the other!  I am amazed that a whole culture – a large portion of it in reality – could stand and accept, much less applaud, the account of such actions.

Paul then begins to speak about the trip to Damascus.  He tells the crowd about how God comes directly to him and speaks.  Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t mean to cast any shadow of doubt as to whether it happened or not.  But I find it interesting to note that the crowd doesn’t seem to bat an eyelash at this, either.  Paul’s portrayal of the supernatural event doesn’t cause them to even flinch.  They accept that part of the story, too.

Up until this point, the people are willing to listen.  So long as Paul is talking about the persecution of the Gentiles, he has done nothing to upset them.  Things change.

What is this great event that causes the crowd to turn on Paul?  Paul starts talking about how God caused him to bring the message of salvation to the Gentiles.  That’s it.  That’s the great catastrophe.  The Jews want to lynch Paul as soon as they hear about God bringing salvation to the Gentiles.

I’ve got something rather harsh to say.  Hate is easy to create within humanity.  The second half of Acts demonstrates this loudly and clearly.  I assert that any time we hate a group of people so much that we cannot bring ourselves to at least accept the message of salvation going out to them then the fault lies within us.  We are to blame when we hate so much that we are disgusted by the very notion that God could be in relationship with them.  We should be desiring people to find God, not revolting against those who would bring relationship with God to them.

We may have differences.  We may even have disagreements about how things get done.  But at no time should the proposal of a person’s relationship with God generate disgust within us.  When that happens, we are in the wrong.

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