Today's passage is Acts 21:27-36. In verses 17-20, Paul had agreed to undergo purification rites to appease the Jewish Christians who were more Jewish than Christian. In today's passage, some Asian Jews saw Paul in the Temple, accused him of preaching against Judaism and raised a ruckus that spread into riot and tried to kill Paul, at which point the Roman soldiers showed up, arrested him, and took him to the barracks for safety because the crowd continued to demand his blood.
Last year when I expelled a boy for punchng another boy, I was just like the rioting Jews in today's passage.
I jumped to conclusions, made assumptions and wouldn't exam the facts.
I was filled with what I thought was righteous indignation.
I wouldn't listen to the boy or his parents or consider giving the boy another chance.
He was a discipline problem and poor student and had already had enough chances as far as I was concerned.
I wanted my school purified of him.
When I calmed down and examined the circumstances of the violent punching, I learned that the boy who had been punched actually deserved the punch.
He constantly made negative comments to the boy who punched him, goading him beyond endurance.
I learned that the boy's parents also had a negative attitude towards their son, comparing him unfavorably to his academically successful older brother.
But like the riot in today's passage, I was full of frustration and anger.
The Jerusalem Jews were under the rule of Rome.
They were an unwilling province of Rome.
They wanted a political Messiah to free them from Roman rule.
Instead, Paul was preaching about Jesus, a Messiah who had come to free them from the shackles of worldly ambition.
But they didn't want that kind of Messiah and resented Paul for attracting followers to God's revelation of his Son.
I too was full of frustration at being unable to make what I thought were important changes to my school.
I was angry that things were not going according to my plan.
The punching episode was an opportunity to look at myself and my circumstances and repent and praise God.
Instead, I tried to kill the boy by thowing him out of the school.
But the Spirit convicted me of my sin and I repented, bringing the boy back to the school and helping him.
When I was a person of riot, I had no compassion, no love, no understanding.
I needed the Roman army, an external force to limit my actions until I could see and hear God's true direction for me.
Lord, let me be guided by your Word, not my assumptions and unexamined prejudices. Let me consider the hurts of others and seek your love in times of trouble. Let me run amok and bring you no glory.
