Not Staying Silent

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

NOT STAYING SILENT

Acts 21:33-40

33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, "Away with him!" 37 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, "May I say something to you?" "Do you speak Greek?" he replied. 38 "Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?" 39 Paul answered, "I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people." 40 Having received the commander's permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic:

NIV

Having stopped the mob mentality which raised such chaos throughout the city and the beating of Paul, the Roman soldiers were going to take Paul to their barracks. This would mean, he may have been arrested, but he was not being taken off to a jail dungeon, such as Peter and Silas were put in stocks in a damp, dark rat-invested inner cell. Although he was bound with two chains. We cannot know the purpose of the chains other then to show the crowd that Paul was under arrest. We will see that the commander was going to have him flogged in order to get answers but let us leave that until it happens. Right now, the crowd is still in an uproar and so much the soldiers had to carry Paul away. We would think Paul would be glad to have escaped the wrath of the mob and just get out of dodge under the protection of Rome. No, not Paul, he wants to speak, so he asks the commander this question. He wants to speak to the crowd, those who wanted to kill him, but Paul is not operating under his own passions, but under the passion of the Spirit. Paul has gotten the permission of the commander of the Roman soldiers to speak to the crowd and he speaks to them in the language of Jesus, and thus the native language they new well, Aramaic. What can we learn from this? Surely, we have not been put in two chains being under arrest by the law controlling our city. We have not been beaten by an angry mob. So can there be any parallels? As we ponder this, we know that in our culture violent mods usually do not get to the point of beating someone. We have seen mobs destroy whole neighborhoods, pilfering and burning stores to the ground. We have seen angry mobs tear down historic statues, and yes, they have even murdered police, acting out their uninformed revenge. However, for the most part we Christians have not been physically assaulted, although some churches have experienced shooters who have killed believers as they worshipped God. But, on the whole, in our country, we are left alone, maybe even ignored, except for those who live so steeped in sin, they cry out for social justice against any moral compass and any type of God centered living. The Lord has spoken this truth. He has said that men love the darkness because of their evil deeds, and they will not come into the light for fear their deeds will be exposed. In a metaphorically sense, they attempt to put us in chains, wanting to silence our voice, saying the bible has no relevance in today’s culture and it is just a book written by men, in an effort to control the masses. We have been accused by some officials of the government that we are weak-minded people, and that Christianity is just a crutch for the weak-minded. However, we take our cue from Paul and say that we must speak, although he asked permission, we may need to ask as well. Instead of just blurting our the truth about Jesus, perhaps we need to ask our potential listeners if we might have a word regarding their situation in life. We might also take a cue from Paul in that if we are granted to speak, it might be better to speak in their native language, instead as coming with words straight from scripture. Either way, our task remains the same, always being ready to give an answer, to speak up, to stand our ground, and always want to speak to the people and never wanting to staying silent.