...and we're back.

Some difficult words from Jesus and a difficult time for Paul.

Note: My apologies for the unannounced absence for two days of JD. The church I pastor was on retreat this weekend and while I had planned on continuing daily entries, ended up not doing so. Readings from Luke & Acts pick up today where we left off. If you are missing any days from reading the gospels during Lent, check out the complete schedule. - Jeremy

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Luke 12:49-59 | Acts 21:18-40 | Gospels during Lent: Mark 15-16

Today’s words from Jesus are some of his most difficult to receive and understand. Sometimes we seem to think that the presence of love is a cure-all for all things. But sometimes some people can’t handle the presence of love or the action it leads to. And they react poorly. And even terribly. It can be hard to receive love.

The statement is well-known: “blood is thicker than water.” It implies that family should be the end-all-say-all in terms of dispute or conflict. Jesus challenges this notion. Perhaps, considering baptism, the statement is better said: “water is thicker than blood.” (Or should be.)

In today’s passage from Acts, Paul indeed receives the suffering he anticipated in Jerusalem. The parallels to Jesus’ own arrest and suffering are striking: in Jerusalem, near the Temple, an angry, confused mob.

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Luke 12:49-58

“I came to cast fire upon the earth. How I wish that it was already ablaze! I have a baptism I must experience. How I am distressed until it’s completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, I have come instead to bring division. From now on, a household of five will be divided—three against two and two against three. Father will square off against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud forming in the west, you immediately say, ‘It’s going to rain.’ And indeed it does. And when a south wind blows, you say, ‘A heat wave is coming.’ And it does. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret conditions on earth and in the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret the present time? And why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going to court with your accuser, make your best effort to reach a settlement along the way. Otherwise, your accuser may bring you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you won’t get out of there until you have paid the very last cent.”

Acts 21:18-49

On the next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James. All of the elders were present. After greeting them, he gave them a detailed report of what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. Those who heard this praised God. Then they said to him, “Brother, you see how many thousands of Jews have become believers, and all of them keep the Law passionately. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to reject Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to live according to our customs. What about this? Without a doubt, they will hear that you have arrived. You must therefore do what we tell you. Four men among us have made a solemn promise. Take them with you, go through the purification ritual with them, and pay the cost of having their heads shaved. Everyone will know there is nothing to those reports about you but that you too live a life in keeping with the Law. As for the Gentile believers, we wrote a letter about what we decided, that they avoid food offered to idols, blood, the meat from strangled animals, and sexual immorality.” The following day Paul took the men with him and went through the purification ritual with them. He entered the temple and publicly announced the completion of the days of purification, when the offering would be presented for each one of them.

When the seven days of purification were almost over, the Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the temple. Grabbing him, they threw the whole crowd into confusion by shouting, “Fellow Israelites! Help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, the Law, and this place. Not only that, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” (They said this because they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him earlier, and they assumed Paul had brought him into the temple.) The entire city was stirred up. The people came rushing, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple. Immediately the gates were closed. While they were trying to kill him, a report reached the commander of a company of soldiers that all Jerusalem was in a state of confusion. Without a moment’s hesitation, he took some soldiers and officers and ran down to the mob. When the mob saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. When the commander arrived, he arrested Paul and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Only then did he begin to ask who Paul was and what he had done.

Some in the crowd shouted one thing, others shouted something else. Because of the commotion, he couldn’t learn the truth, so he ordered that Paul be taken to the military headquarters. When Paul reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers in order to protect him from the violence of the crowd. The mob that followed kept screaming, “Away with him!”

As Paul was about to be taken into the military headquarters, he asked the commander, “May I speak with you?”

He answered, “Do you know Greek? Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists into the desert some time ago?”

Paul replied, “I’m a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Please, let me speak to the people.” With the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and gestured to the people. When they were quiet, he addressed them in Aramaic.

Prayer

God,

I confess that I don’t like conflict. I don’t like people not to like me or what I do. I also confess I often let this weakness be an excuse for inaction.

So as I begin this day, give me confidence in the nature of your love, which is welcoming to all who would receive it. Help me receive it. Help me give it. Your love.

And give me grace for myself and others when things go poorly.

By your spirit & in Christ,

Amen.