WHEN WE OR OUR VALUES ARE MISUNDERSTOODActs 21:27-36Bob Bonner

April 19, 2015

Many of us have endured the pain of being misunderstood. It is one of life’s most difficult experiences. More often than not, misunderstanding grows out of a mis-taken impression, a faulty interpretation of something someone does, says, or seems to imply. When we misunderstand, we fail to interpret correctly and therefore jump to false conclusions and/or spread erroneous information.

In the passage we are examining this morning, the Apostle Paul takes it on the chin in this area of being seriously misunderstood. His being misunderstood grows from merely a verbal conflict to physical violence against him. In our study of God’s Word this morning we will cover his experience, analyze this common malady of having our values or ourselves misunderstood, and then consider some ways to cope with it ourselves.

If you will, please open your Bibles to Acts 21:27. Since it has been awhile since we were in Acts, it will take us a few moments to review where we have been and to set the historical context. I trust that by the time we have done so, you will feel it is time well spent.

Our scene opens up in the spring of AD 57. The Jewish historian, Josephus, de-scribed this period as a time of intense Jewish nationalism. Pro-Jewish sentiment was at a peak, including among the recently converted Jewish Christians. As a re-sult, any Jewish friendliness demonstrated toward any gentile in Israel, and espe-cially in Jerusalem, was not viewed as favorable.

Josephus also described it as a time of extreme political unrest. One Jewish insur-rection after another rose to challenge the Roman governor Felix, who had replaced Pontius Pilate. Felix and his overlords brutally suppressed the Jews even more than Pilate and previous Roman rulers. As you can imagine, this oppression by the Ro-mans only increased the Jews’ hatred for Rome, which in turn led to an overall in-flamed anti-gentile sentiment.

Just a few days before our passage begins, the Apostle Paul had returned to Israel from his third missionary journey. It had been twenty-five years since Paul’s con-version to Christ, and almost as long since he spent any prolonged time in the city of Jerusalem. He knew things would be different when he came home this time.

Before Paul arrived in Jerusalem, God had confirmed several times to him that his fellow Jews would persecute him for his faith in Christ. However, Paul knew that this was God’s calling for him to go to Jerusalem and to suffer for the gospel, so he courageously continued his journey.

Paul did not come to Jerusalem to simply be a martyr. He had three reasons for his needed return: First, to fulfill a personal vow to God that he made back in the city of Corinth. (We are not told what that vow concerned, but it was nonetheless a Nazirite vow.) Second, to present to the Jewish church in Jerusalem an offering collected from the gentile churches throughout Galatia, Asia Minor, and Greece to the Jewish Christians to assist them during the famine years. Third, Paul returned to Jerusalem to give a report to the Jerusalem church leadership about God’s work among the gentiles during his third missionary journey. It was this third reason that would get him in hot water with his fellow Jews.

Upon his arrival in Jerusalem, Paul spent the first night with some of his close friends, according to Acts 21:17. The next day, (in verse 18), he met with the church leaders. At this elders’ meeting, Paul received a mixed reception.

On the one hand, the Jewish Christian leaders praised God for His work among the gentiles; but then they updated Paul on the events in Jerusalem during his absence. It was good news and bad news for Paul. The good news, according to verse 20, was that many Jews had trusted in Jesus as their Messiah. The bad news was that even these Christian Jews, because of the intense period of Jewish nationalism, had become zealous about the Jewish Law and traditions. As the old saying goes, you can take the Jew out of Israel, but you can’t take Israel out of the Jew.

Furthermore, they informed Paul that there had been rumors that he, a Jew, had been telling others Jews who lived among the gentiles to forsake their Jewish her-itage and the Law, which Paul never did. Hence, as a result of false accusations, Paul had become a persona non grata in Jerusalem.

Therefore, the Jewish Christian elders in Jerusalem suggested a solution, in verses 23-25, that would attempt to convince other Jews that the accusations against Paul for not being a lover of Jewish Law and tradition were indeed false. They sug-gested that since Paul was under a Nazirite vow, he go with four other Jewish Christians who were also under a Nazirite vow, do the purification washings, and pay for all five of their expenses. They could then all have their heads shaved as was the custom for vows. This would demonstrate that Paul did in fact value the Jewish customs and the Law.

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Please note that Paul’s doing these things did not in any way compromise his belief in the gospel, any more than a Christian Jew today would be compromising the Gospel by observing the Shabbat, the Passover, or the Feast of Booths. Jewish Christians rightfully see Christ in these observances. But their being justified, de-clared righteous, forgiven, accepted, and approved of by God had no more to do with practicing their traditions than Christians being baptized today. A person is justified or declared righteous solely because they have put their trust in Jesus’ fin-ished work on the cross. Christ has asked us to perform public baptisms to declare that we are His followers, not for the purpose of having our sins forgiven or being made acceptable to or approved of by God. Baptism causes us to stand up and be counted as a follower of Christ.

The Apostle Paul agreed to follow the suggestions of the elders. This morning, we pick up the story at verse 27 to see if the plan worked. Follow along as I read:

27When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing

him [Paul] in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on

him, 28crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This [pointing to Paul]

is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and

the Law and this place [meaning the Temple Mount where they were stand-

ing]; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has de-

filed this holy place.” 29For they had previously seen Trophimus the Eph-

esian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him

into the temple. 30Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed

together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple,

and immediately the doors were shut.

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Here is a picture of the Modern Day Temple Mount, upon which the Muslim al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock stand.

Here’s a model of what Herod’s Temple Mount looked like when Jesus and Paul lived. You can tell that it is not quite square. It’s about 520 yards long (the length of a typical five par hole in golf) by 320 yards wide (the length of a typical four par hole in golf). In all, it covers thirty-seven acres of ground.

Now that you see the picture, let’s put it together from what we read in the text. Ru-mors began to fly and word got out of the temple mount area and into the surround-ing city that Paul, the traitor, was in the temple. “All the city was provoked.” Peo-ple started rushing onto the temple mount through the four main gates where there probably were already thousands of people worshiping. What we have is a full-blown riot taking place. Paul, having been grabbed and dragged out of the temple, with the doors slammed behind him, was beaten just outside the doors. Let’s return to reading our passage.

31While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the comman-

der of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32At once

he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them [on to

the top]; and when they [the Jews] saw the commander and the soldiers,

they stopped beating Paul.

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When verse 31 states that a “re-port came up to the commander,” it is referring to the only “up” that is above the Temple. That would be the Tower of Antonia. Along the northwest corner of the wall that surrounded the whole temple mount stood the Tower of Antonia, a fortress built by Herod the Great for Rome, in its need to oversee and defend itself from any uprising by the Jews on the Temple Mount.

Besides having a prison within it, Roman troops were garrisoned there as well. An-tonia had several high towers, one of which is said to have been one hundred feet high, allowing a full view of the entire temple area. Perhaps there was a sentry posted there or along the ceiling of the portico who first caught sight of the gather-ing mob and sent word to the commander in charge of the Jerusalem cohort.

The commander was a high-ranking Roman military officer in charge of a cohort, which consisted of 1,000 soldiers (760 infantry and 240 cavalry). They functioned like one of our urban SWAT teams, always at the ready to prevent riots. This com-mander’s prime responsibility was to make sure that the Roman administration was obeyed and peace was kept within the city. The Romans were well aware that any unrest would most likely begin in the temple area, which explains why the Tower of Antonia was built beside the Temple mount.

Since one centurion commanded a hundred soldiers, and since more than one cen-turion is indicated, according to verse 32, we can presume that the commander had sent at least two hundred soldiers into the Temple Mount. It must have been a sig-nificant show of force, for the crowd immediately stopped beating Paul (verse 32). Since Paul was the obvious object of the crowd’s ire, we read in the next verses that the commander immediately arrested Paul.

33Then the commander came up and took hold of him [Paul], and ordered

him to be bound with two chains; and he [the commander] began asking

who he [Paul] was and what he had done. 34But among the crowd some

were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find

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out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him [Paul] to be brought

into the barracks. 35When he got to the stairs [leading up into the Tower of

Antonia], he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the

mob; 36for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting,

“Away with him!”

Can’t you just feel the tension and hatred? Having been on this Mount recently and a part of a small riot with the Israel soldiers/police coming with their guns drawn and ready to kill, I can tell you it is a rush! And these types of Middle East out-bursts happen almost without warning. It matters not if you are Muslim, Pales-tinian, Egyptian, Arab or Jew. For millennia, the tensions in the Middle East have been explosive.

At the time of any festival, like the one going in our passage, Passover, the people were attuned to extraordinary reports that had religious significance. For instance, when Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the whole city was agitated (Matthew 21:10); and when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pente-cost, the crowd came together in confusion (Acts 2:6). Similarly, the Jews with their highly nationalist spirit aroused now amassed throughout the city and rushed to the temple area without knowing any precise details. The atmosphere was primed for eruption.

Ultimately the Jerusalem elders’ plans to win Paul favor in the eyes of the Jews did not work—either in this instance for Paul or in regard to the larger issue of the rela-tionship between Jewish and gentile Christianity. As Jewish nationalism increased, the gentile mission became more and more of a liability to Jewish Christianity. A few years after this event, in AD 70, following the Jewish War with Rome and the fall of Jerusalem, Jewish Christianity was declared heretical by official Judaism, and it was no longer possible for a Christian Jew to remain in the Jewish commu-nity.

Today, Jewish Christianity is still declared to be heretical by official Judaism. The persecution that a Christian Jew faces is a little different than what took place dur-ing the first century. Christian Jews do have certain restrictions placed upon them as to when, how, and where they can proclaim Christ. For instance, if you are a teacher in school or if you want to run a Good News Club in your backyard, or in-

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vite a teenager to your church youth group, you have to have the written consent of the parent of any child younger than eighteen.

Recently Dan Sered, the head director of Jews for Jesus in Israel, sent out a prayer request for a member of Jews for Jesus who was arrested for simply sharing Christ with another Jew while on vacation in Israel. When the facts were discovered, after weeks of being held in jail, the brother was released. The point is, that if you are a Jewish Christian and vocal about proclaiming the Gospel, you may find your tires slashed, your car keyed, your house graffitied, or suffer other violations of personal property. If you hand out evangelism tracks to another orthodox Jew, you might get a fist in your face. Make no bones about it, today for a Jew to share Christ with another Jew is a real challenge and takes courage. As gentiles, we don’t face the same stigma. And it is one reason that gentile evangelism of the Jews is finding greater success in Israel.

When we consider the period of our passage of study, the Elder James had the same problem as the Apostle Paul when it came to being accepted by other Jews. He sought to present himself as a strict, Torah-abiding Jew, doubtless to strengthen the credibility of his witness to his fellow Jews. But in the end, just five years after this event with Paul, James was put to death for sharing Christ, at the order of the high priest Ananus in AD 62.

Now, let’s take an even closer look at some significant details in our passage, be-ginning with verse 27. Luke mentions up front that the real troublemakers were the Asian Jews. These were the Jews who had threatened Paul in Corinth and who had followed him to Ephesus with a plot to kill him. It is probable that they knew he was headed to Jerusalem, so they sailed there to eliminate Paul. One thing we learn from Luke about these Asian Jews is that they were committed to their faith-- so committed that they would travel thousands of miles at great expense to stop Paul’s preaching of the Gospel.

It is also possible that from Ephesus the Asian Jews knew who the gentile Trophimus was, and when they saw him in Jerusalem they spread the rumors about Paul and Trophimus.

When we look at verses 27-28, we see there are four accusations leveled against Paul.

1. Paul is speaking against his fellow Jews.

2. Paul is speaking against the Law and the Torah.

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3. Paul has no respect for the Temple Mount.

Keep in mind that to the Jew, the Temple Mount was symbolic for all that the na-tion of Israel stood for. Not respecting it would engender feelings paramount to those a patriot would have if someone were to burn an American flag.

4. Paul brought a gentile into the Temple Mount.

None of these accusations were true. But due to the anti-gentile climate in the city during one of the most holy feasts in Israel, facts were not important.

Some interpreters see a certain symbolism in the shutting of the gates, mentioned in verse 30. This is the last scene at the Temple in Acts, and as the last scene, the gates of the Temple itself were closed. It’s almost as though the closing of these gates was symbolic of Israel’s final rejection of God’s messenger, the Apostle Paul. The Temple was forever closed to God’s purposes and was eventually destroyed thirteen years later.

At this point, Paul rightly feared for his life, for he had no Jewish recourse to legal action. Anyone accused of defiling the temple could be killed instantly, without benefit of trial. The mob could have dragged Paul outside the city and stoned him to death, as they did Stephen (7:58). Only the intervention of the Roman military spared Paul.

In verse 33, the commander immediately began to ask the attackers about Paul’s identity and transgressions. The tense of the Greek verb indicates that the comman-der asked the question repeatedly, but he could get no leader of the mob to come forward and present a case. So, amidst the calls for Paul’s death, the commander escorted his prisoner to the Tower with the intention of finding out from Paul who he was, why he was there, and what had just happened.

One thing we can observe about Paul from this event is that he valued nothing higher than his love for Jesus and the proclamation of the Gospel. He valued this above his own life, a fact he made clear to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:24. He valued the proclamation of the Gospel over his freedom. He had been imprisoned several times for proclaiming his faith. We will see next in Acts, after this event and at a time when he was physically damaged and certainly emotionally upset, he grasped the opportunity to speak truth to his tormentors.

Here is a question for you to consider: Is there anything you value more than pro-

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claiming the Gospel to strangers, friends, or family? What is it?

Pray for courage to openly proclaim your faith in school, over the backyard fence, at the gym, at work, or on a walk with your neighbor. As Victor said a few weeks ago when teaching Luke 11, pray for the courage to suffer willingly and in such a manner that it would bring God glory, whether it be in gospel proclamation, facing painful health issues, personal injustices, loss of love, loss of a significant person in your life, or the loss of freedoms you have come to enjoy in this country.

Providentially, Paul could not get away from being misunderstood and wrongly ac-cused. When we follow Paul’s track record, four truths on the subject of misunder-standing emerge.

The first is the reality that misunderstanding is inevitable and unpredictable. Even when you have the best motives and the most innocent, sincere heart, you will be misquoted and misunderstood.

Second, the source of misunderstanding is usually something or someone we can never fully anticipate: an adult child whom you having lovingly nurtured and to whom you have proven yourself to be a faithful confidant and protector, a faithful spouse, or an employer or client you have sacrificially served for a long time.

Furthermore, you will misquote and misunderstand others. You will also be the source of misunderstanding and wrongful accusations that leads to another’s hurts. It’s what happens when we don’t listen well or jump prematurely to conclusions based on errant presumptions.

Finally, the apostle Paul was never a retaliatory, pugnacious, or vengeful person. Instead, he prayed for his enemies. He prayed for immoral rulers and wrong doers. He proclaimed the Gospel to his enemies. He was a man of character. Hence, your reaction to being misquoted, misunderstood, and mistreated will reveal the quality of your character.

So, what can you do when problems of misunderstanding occur? Here’s a project you might want to consider, or if you are part of a small group of close friends you might want to do this. Read thoughtfully James 3:2-18; 1 Peter 2:2-15 and 19-21.

As you do, ask the following questions:

1. What is the cause of the misunderstanding?

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2. How am I to respond to this misinformation?3. Why am I to respond this way?

Let’s close with this prayer: “God, give us the courage to face whatever mistreat-ment You have in store for our lives, knowing that Your hand controls all human events, even the behavior of people who do not recognize You. Amen.”

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