Rocked

Yesterday, we read that the leaders of the church in Jerusalem asked Paul to participate in a purification ceremony to demonstrate his respect for Jewish customs. Today, we will see how his gesture is received.


Acts 21
27 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, 28 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.” 29 (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.) 30 The whole city was rocked by these accusations, and a great riot followed. Paul was grabbed and dragged out of the Temple, and immediately the gates were closed behind him. 31 As they were trying to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman regiment that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately called out his soldiers and officers and ran down among the crowd. When the mob saw the commander and the troops coming, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the commander arrested him and ordered him bound with two chains. He asked the crowd who he was and what he had done. 34 Some shouted one thing and some another. Since he couldn’t find out the truth in all the uproar and confusion, he ordered that Paul be taken to the fortress. 35 As Paul reached the stairs, the mob grew so violent the soldiers had to lift him to their shoulders to protect him. 36 And the crowd followed behind, shouting, “Kill him, kill him!”


Rocked. “The whole city was rocked...” Before I say anything else let me clarify this ... the actions of the citizens in Jerusalem were horribly inappropriate considering the accusations were false ... but; you have to be impressed by their passion. They were rocked by the fact that another man had (supposedly) been speaking falsely ... maybe I should be more passionate about speaking the truth. They were rocked by the fact that one of their religious laws had (supposedly) been broken ... maybe I should be more passionate about honoring the boundaries God has established for me. They were rocked by the fact that the Temple had (supposedly) been defiled ... maybe I should be more passionate about keeping my temple (my body) pure. When was the last time your “spiritual” world was rocked?