Acts 21: crowds, confusion and chaos
When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)
The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
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. 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. When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”
The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
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. 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. When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”
Acts 21:27-33
Carrying on from where we left off, Paul has now reached Jerusalem and gone to the temple. The events listed above resulted in Paul being arrested and carried off by Roman soldiers, but the overwhelming theme is one of disorder.
We start with a false assumption, that Paul has defiled Jewish customs by bringing a non-Jew into the temple. But no one bothers to check that assumption because they are full of hatred for Paul for what he is teaching - there is so much going on there that we could not possibly discern the exact feelings of these particular Jews from Asia. However, what is very probable is that they had heard of Paul's teaching that the Jewish law cannot save a person, and that salvation for both Jew and Gentile is through Jesus Christ.
There are important things at stake here - that is why Paul's opponents are so furious - but the important conversations are lost. The people who initiate all this stirred up the whole crowd (v27). By the time the Roman commander comes in with his troops in response to the uproar, some in the crowd shouted one thing and some around, and...the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar (v34).
We see here a potent warning that disorder and confusion are enemies of the truth. It takes us right back to the first verses of the Bible where we read of how God created order out of chaos.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’. And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’. And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5)
Many have postulated that the key point of the creation text in Genesis 1 is not what it may or may not say about material origins but the fact that it is an 'ordering' of creation - whatever was there or not there, God brought order to, by defining it and giving it meaning. Even in these first verses, whether we see material origins or simply definitions, we see that the world was 'formless' - the Hebrew word here denotes confusion as well as emptiness. And out of this bursts light - that by which we see and understand, and so have life. We see this reflected in John's description of Jesus: In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. (John 1:4).
When the Devil wants to disrupt the work of the gospel, he need only spread disorder - everyone shouting and once and no one looking for the truth, but rather letting the crowd whip them up into hate. We see it time and time again in the Bible when crowds are whipped into a frenzy of hatred - not least at the trial of Jesus, and we see it again today - not least in the virtual crowds of social media.
When the Devil wants to disrupt the work of the gospel, he need only spread disorder - everyone shouting and once and no one looking for the truth, but rather letting the crowd whip them up into hate. We see it time and time again in the Bible when crowds are whipped into a frenzy of hatred - not least at the trial of Jesus, and we see it again today - not least in the virtual crowds of social media.
And one of the most disrupting forces is the confusion of language - when words and ideas start to mean different things, and the nuances are reduced to simplistic extremes: This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place (v28). Definitions of hatred, kindness, good, evil, tolerance and respect are all rewritten and then multiplied within the crowd.
We should take a caution from this story and others like it - to be weary of disorder and confusion and seek clarity - where our words and actions can be understood clearly. Of course, we will never be able to guard against this completely - as Paul and his fellow apostles found, but for that we have to trust the true light - Jesus - who will return again and bring light and life where there is now confusion and darkness.
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