So Paul went to the Temple the next day with the other men. They had already started the purification ritual, so he publicly announced the date when their vows would end and sacrifices would be offered for each of them. The seven days were almost ended when some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple and roused a mob against him. They grabbed him, yelling, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who preaches against our people everywhere and tells everybody to disobey the Jewish laws. He speaks against the Temple—and even defiles this holy place by bringing in Gentiles.” (For earlier that day they had seen him in the city with Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus, and they assumed Paul had taken him into the Temple.) (Acts 21:26-29)I believe that the apostle Paul had changed so much that when people saw him, they thought he was a Gentile.
Sooner or later, you start resembling those you hang around with. The apostle Paul had been hanging around with non-Jews for a long time by this time. He had probably adopted Gentile dress and customs, cut his hair like a Gentile, everything else.
When his old Jewish friends saw him, they could probably barely believe their eyes. Here was a man who was Jewish to the max. When they saw him last, he dressed traditionally, he kept the dietary laws, the rituals, all of the Jewish stuff that was so important to these people.
But the problem was, God had changed the system. No longer were the Jews to keep all these old laws. In fact, in Acts 10 he had told Peter that he was not to consider unclean that which God had created. That was just before he sent Peter to preach to a Gentile. Peter could hardly believe it. Gentiles were filthy animals to Jews. Yet God had sent him into a Gentile’s house and told him to tell them of Jesus.
If it had been anybody but Peter, his actions would have been rejected. But Peter was one of the leader apostles, if not the main man. They called him on the carpet in Acts 11, but he told them too bad. God told him to do it. So they had to agree.
But even though they agreed, even though they knew it was what God wanted, like good Jews, they didn’t want it. They agreed that the Gentiles could do what they did and the Jewish Christians would live like they always had.
When Paul went native, adopting customs of people that were alien to the Jews, they rebelled against him. The Jerusalem leaders of the church tried to defuse the situation by having Paul perform a temple ritual vow. But it backfired. Paul just looked so different that the Jews grabbed him and began to beat him. They were much in their response as Muslims are today in theirs to perceived apostasy.
He was in Jerusalem, he looked like a Gentile, he had a Gentile with him, he was in the temple – many of them assumed that he was that Gentile. He just looked so different.
Once you leave a culture and become immersed in another, you look different. It doesn’t matter what the culture is.
When we were in Germany in the army, we tried a lot to look like Germans. We hated standing out like American idiots. There is nothing wrong with being American, of course. It is still the best country in the world. but again there no reason to stand out like a sore thumb like so many American GI’s did.
For Paul there was no going back. He went ahead and cooperated with the Jerusalem church elders and did the purification vow. But it backfired. He had come too far to go back. Now he had to go forward, whatever else happened.
Of course, there is a parallel to my life. What do I do? I have come so far in my evolution of belief that, whether I want it or not, there may be no going back. I may never get to minister to the people I love.
I have moved so far that I scare everybody. I scare Pentecostals and I scare non-Pentecostals. I do not seem to have any denomination that I can go to now. I am alone.
I know that sounds melodramatic, but it seems to be true. Paul was alone in his beliefs too, but God was using him. I know God is using me in my situation – I do a lot for Firm Foundation – but at the same time, we are flat broke, living on the paltry amount Ella gets each month.
For Firm Foundation I play in the praise band, video the services and record the events, post them on our page, I preach occasionally, I teach Sunday night class, I am the Firm Foundation jail minister, I write articles for about everything, I am the proof reader for the stuff the pastor wants to put out, we are the hospitality ministry of the church. I do so much, in fact more than I was allowed to do in my last pastoring position.
Yet I am without any kind of financial remuneration. I am also without a church that is mine. If I were doing something that also supported me in the ministry, it would be great, although I still like to preach. I need my own church, or at least my own ministry, rather than being an appendage of someone else’s.
A lot of parallels. And kind of interesting coming on the day after my three day fast.
