“The next morning some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. More than forty men were involved in this plot. They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, ‘We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here.’“

Acts 23:12-15 

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JUNE 9, 2025

If you look through the thousands of years of recorded history, a few things stand out. One, humans have an incredible capacity for acts of great goodness and acts of great evil. And two, that often our most violent, destructive, evil acts are carried out by people deeply convinced that they are acting on the side of goodness.  

We encounter this daily in our friends and family, social media feeds, neighborhoods, workplaces, politics, nation—and anywhere else humans are motivated to act. If we have the wisdom to see it, we will find it in ourselves too. None of us are any different. 

Paul wrote that without love, even truth and action are nothing (1 Corinthians) but we seem to believe the opposite, finding our defense in our rightness even when that same rightness has all but drowned out our love. Who will save us from this body of death? (to quote Paul again, Romans 7:24 this time).  

Not surprisingly, we see the same dynamic at play right here in Acts 23. Forty God-fearing men have sworn an oath, before all the religious leaders and teachers, to not eat anything until they have successfully killed Paul. Murdered him. Assassinated him.  

Ironically enough, this feels like the sort of zeal Paul himself showed when he lived and worked in this community, before he met Jesus. Perhaps these are even his old fellow henchmen.  

Friends, there is a reason why Jesus insisted that we love not only God, but our neighbors; and not only our neighbors, but strangers; and not only stranger, but enemies. We are all, every one of us, every day, swayed by the idea that what God and goodness asks of us is fight and hate those we perceive as against us, or against God.  

But most often, we ourselves become the enemies by harming those who God has called us to care for. Or even, like Paul, someone who turns out to be a brother, partner, and friend.  

 Questions for reflection and discussion:  

  • Why are we so easily swayed by conspiracy? 
  • Why do our fears and conspiracies so easily sway us to attack, rather than love, our “enemies” even as we claim to be followers of Jesus? 
  • How does this lead to “followers of Jesus” becoming the perpetuators of violence and evil? Where have you seen this in your country or community….and in yourself? 

 Church Reading Plan: Deuteronomy 13-14; Psalm 99-101