MAY 28, 2025

Paul has been arrested again. Truly, he must be getting used to this in the worst possible way. I can almost see the look of exasperation on his face.

As we saw yesterday, coming back home has not been easy. There’s tension, and suspicions have built as one suffering, frightened group tries to understand how another suffering, frightened group is following Jesus in vastly different contexts. Paul has done as asked to avoid disrespect—but it’s not enough. When his purification time was over, he went to the temple and was seized.

Let’s listen in:

“When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, ‘Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.’ (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)

 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. ”
Acts 21:27-34

It may be hard to imagine why “the whole city was aroused”, the temple gates shut, the whole city in an uproar, and even the commander of the Roman troops alerted! But once again, Luke is showing us the parallels between Paul’s journey to Jerusalem and Jesus’. In this empire-occupied city, any noticeable uprising is going to draw Rome’s attention, because their tried-and-true strategy is to shut down any potential demonstration with excessive violent force upon the people. And while it won’t happen in this chapter, Rome will destroy the temple and the city just a few years later.

If the people of Jerusalem fight about Paul and the rumors being spread about him, then the entire city is in grave danger.

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • What parallels do you see between Paul and Jesus in Jerusalem?
  • How do you imagine the thousands of Jesus followers in the city are feeling at this point in the story?
  • How do you practice your faith during times of grave danger?

Church Reading Plan: Deuteronomy 1; Psalm 81-82