“When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting, ‘Get rid of him!’

As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, ‘May I say something to you?’

‘Do you speak Greek?’ he replied. ‘Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?”

Acts 21:35-38

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MAY 29, 2025

When I wrote my book Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for our Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies I did quite a bit of research into the persecution of the early church. I learned that while “atheism” (what the Christians were accused of, since they didn’t believe the Emperor was a deity or worship him) was illegal and carried a death sentence, Roman cities didn’t really enforce this. So how did so many Christians end up arrested, and even killed for their faith?

Often it happened when their neighbors, colleagues, casual friends, and acquaintances turned them in for outrageously immoral behavior: like cannibalism and sexually violent rituals. The Christians were innocent of these things, but once called in to court they refused to worship the Emperor when told to do so, and it was all over from there.

But why oh why did their neighbors think the men and women who had formed communities to follow Jesus down the path of compassionately and sacrificially caring for the most vulnerable and needy were doing such evil acts?

Because of rumors. Word got out that the Christ followers had a weekly meeting with a “love feast” (close to what we would call communion) which included the body and blood of Jesus.

You can almost see how that crumb of truth turned into a deadly accusation.

That’s happening here in our text with Paul—but it is also happening in our own society. There are groups of people we’ve been told are so very dangerous that we should do almost anything to stop them. But are we looking carefully to ensure that the rumors we’re hearing don’t just ring true, but are true? Are we choosing to fear, neglect, and even harm men and women, boys and girls, whom God has called us to compassionately and sacrificially care for and love?

Unfortunately, what happened to the early Christians of the Roman empire has happened again and again throughout history—and sometimes, even we Christians are the ones turning innocent people into enemies.

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • Who are you being taught to fear in America today? What rumors and accusations of danger are we spreading to make sense of this? What violence and dangers are we turning to as a result?
  • How is Jesus’ way different? What would it look like to follow Jesus and love even our enemies today?

Church Reading Plan: Deuteronomy 2; Psalm 83-84