Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 23 September 2007 and the Swift Current Corps on 31 July 2011 and 14 June 2015 by Captain Michael Ramsay
To read the earlier version click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2007/09/acts-23-1-11-punch-in-mouth-or-terrible.html
There’s a children’s book by Judith Viorst entitled “Alexander
and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”[1]
Have you ever had one of those days, where it doesn’t matter what you do you
just seem to get in trouble? … I remember grade 2.
Now grade two admittedly was not my finest hour. It seemed
that I was a permanent member of the detention club. And I remember one day, I
just couldn’t win for losing. It was my birthday and many of the
grade two’s were coming to my party after school so we were told, ‘no
dawdling’. We had to be home right after school.
Well, Mrs Leung gave me a detention – and it wasn’t even my
fault! You see, Clinton had been chewing gum in school. Now, I
hate gum. He gets in trouble for it and he tells
Mrs. Leung that he isn’t actually chewing GUM, he is chewing his cheek.
She believed him! I thought it was a strange thing to do - chew your cheek so,
like any curious 8 year-old, I have to try it and, of course, … And Mrs. Leung
catches me and says “Michael no chewing gum” and I say, “I’m not
– I’m chewing my cheek” (which I was) and do you think she believes me NOOOO!
So I have a detention after school on my birthday and it’s not even my
fault!
Now, it is my birthday so Mrs. Leung has pity on me and lets
me get out at the regular time and this would be fine except two
friends of mine in the class – Wade and Clinton – go and get detentions
and Mrs. Leung isn’t going to let them go. So sure I get out at the normal time
but we all have to wait anyway.
Well, so there we are waiting just INSIDE the exterior door
for Wade and Clinton – and now apparently there is a rule that you are not
supposed to wait INSIDE the school for anyone – you have to wait OUTSIDE. So
guess what? Wade and Clinton finish serving their time and are on their way out
of detention hall only to find out that the rest of us our now on our
way into detention…so much for getting home on time for my
birthday party! But that is not the end of the story either!
You see Wade and Clinton are waiting for the rest of us and
guess what? They decide to wait for us INSIDE the school – so guess what…we all
wind up spending the first part of my Birthday in detention hall
Well, more than ½ an hour later we all show up for my
party…it was just like the children’s book says, “a Terrible, Horrible, No
Good, Very Bad Day.”
In Acts, today, up to and including Chapter 23, you will
notice that Paul has been having a little bit of a run like that himself.
In Chapter 16, as we read about last week Paul winds up in
detention in Philippi and again in Thessalonica after being
attacked by a mob there and again in Berea all in Chapter 17. By
Chapter 19 Paul is in the centre of a riot in Ephesus and by Chapter 21
he is now in Jerusalem again and arrested again after being
attacked again by still more mobs. Paul really seems to be having “a Terrible,
Horrible, No Good, Very Bad” time of it.
Now Paul is arrested when he is spreading the good news. But
it is not the gospel that gets him in trouble with the secular authorities
really. They are just trying to keep the peace and save his life. The gospel is
getting Paul in trouble with some of the Jewish religious leaders.[2]
It is from them that God delivers Paul through the Romans.
Paul is saved[3]
but the Romans really have no idea why some religious people want to kill him;[4]
so, they keep him under a full, armed guard. He is in the custody of the
Superpower of his day[5]
and because they do have a vested interest in keeping the peace and because he
is a Roman citizen himself, they REALLY want to find out exactly what he has
been accused of here; so, they order the Sanhedrin to convene to try to shed
some light on the situation.
Now in our text today then, Chapter 23, it opens with this
fact-finding hearing with the Sanhedrin. Do we know what is the Sanhedrin? It
is the equivalent of a combination of our parliament and Supreme Court. It is a
council of the chief priests and others who make up the ultimate Jewish
authority in occupied Judea.
So with the occupying Roman authorities looking on as
official observers, the trial begins. Paul begins. He looks straight at the
Sanhedrin (13 vs. 1) in his opening statement and says, “My brothers, I have
fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.”[6]
… and then the High Priest (vs. 2) orders someone to punch him in the mouth. What!?
The Romans are asking, ‘what’, too, I’m sure; when I first
read this I was asking, ‘what’? So I turned to my reference books and poured
through Acts to see if I could find out what Paul said that was so offensive.
Yeah… No luck. All I can guess is that they perceived Paul as misrepresenting
God in some way here – but that is just a guess – however, we do know that
whatever it is, it obviously offends Ananias,[7]
the High Priest, so much that he gets someone to punch Paul in the mouth.
Now Paul, as we already said, is apparently not really
having a particularly good day and so he does not maintain his usual composure
under pressure.[8] He lashes
out at the High Priest – this is pretty bold – he says, verse 3, “God will
strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the
law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!” and look
at what happens after this in verses 4 and 5: Those who are standing near Paul
said, “You dare to insult God’s high priest?” Paul replies, “Brothers, I did
not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil
about the ruler of your people.’ (Exodus 22:28; cf. also Hebrews 13:16; Romans
13:1, 5; Titus 3:1)
So… now… this is interesting: Paul says
that he doesn’t realize that he is the High Priest. This is very unlikely, I
think. Picture this with me: Paul is a Jew. Paul is a Pharisee. Paul is a Roman
citizen in Roman custody. Even if the Romans didn’t tell him that he was to be
in front of the Sanhedrin, which they probably would, Paul would know where he
is and Paul would know that the High Priest usually chairs the Sanhedrin.
It would be like us winding up in front of the Supreme Court
of Canada, and looking at the person in the wig and the black robes in front of
us and after insulting her saying, “Oh, I didn’t realize that you were
the judge. Far be it for me to insult the judge.” I think Paul knew and
I think he is being intentionally sarcastic here.[9]
But, however, when he is reminded of the Priest’s
authority, he certainly doesn’t push it any further. Luke is painting a
portrait of Paul in Acts as ‘a good Jewish boy,’ and this is what he is
conveying at this juncture – that Paul will defer to Ananias’ authority.
Whether he is sarcastic in his approach or not (and he may
not be) he certainly ceases insulting authority here when confronted and he
acknowledges God’s directive (of Exodus 22:28) that we do not speak evil of
those in authority over us.[10]
And this I think is important for us.[11]
For what do we do when people in authority over us attempt to limit our freedom
of religion and in so doing symbolically punch us in the mouth – and let’s not
kid ourselves this is happening more and more in our society. I think of when
the Swissair flight crashed in the Maritimes not too many years ago.[12]
The Jewish, Muslim, other clergy and spiritualists were all invited to invoke
the name of their deities at the ceremony but the Christians were prohibited
from mentioning Christ. This is a punch in the mouth by those in authority over
us.[13]
More recently during the official Canadian 9/11 ceremonies that same religious
right of expression was denied again.
I think also of those in Ontario who were literally spying
on meetings of city counsellors to make sure that they don’t catch anyone
praying. If they do, they ‘punch them in the mouth’; they call on the
authorities to enforce their ‘anti-praying’ belief system.[14]
The Supreme Court has just upheld religious discrimination in Quebec-
disallowing prayer in various meetings even though – as was pointed out by our
Premier and others – that it is protected under the Canadian Constitutional
Acts. But our Supreme Court and our Federal Government continue to erode our
traditions and revoke our religious freedoms.
The Canadian government has removed the Lord’s Prayer from
the House of Commons and there has even been talk on Parliament Hill – some of
you will remember - about deeming the Bible as hate-literature.[15]
Susan has mentioned previously that whenever we see Christians portrayed in the
media or by the entertainment industry, it seems to be only in a mocking or
belittling fashion. And I have heard stories recently and stretching back more
than 20 years now, as well, of people standing up for their Christian beliefs
and being kicked out of classes or even whole university faculties, or even
worse![16]
I think also personally of my time working in schools in BC.
We were told not to mention Christ in the classroom. We were involved in a
tutoring outreach to children in Vancouver’s DTES, among other places, and our
tutors were told not mention Christ in the public schools and
we didn’t….
People, from other faith perspectives, however, I witnessed
myself, were free to even invite children to partake in their traditions in the
classroom but that being said secularism certainly does seem to have a
privileged spot in the classroom– more and more so everyday. And if this trend
continues, don’t think people won’t eventually drag people in Saskatchewan
before the courts like they have in Ontario and Quebec to have us ‘punched in
the mouth’ for disagreeing with their religious world view.
This prosecution is happening - but what can we do about it?
Really, what can we do about it? What can we do, particularly when it is by
those in authority over us – such as courts, school boards, municipal,
provincial, and federal governments? What can we do when the authorities order
us to be ‘punched in the mouth’? What can we do?
Paul was punched in the mouth. And Paul did not shrink from
persecution; he declared unequivocally that he is not ashamed of the Gospel
(Romans 1:16,17)– He did not avoid persecution at all from even within his own
religious community - and don’t be so naïve as to believe that our religious
communities – even here in Swift Current - are any more unified or less likely
to persecute us than the Sanhedrin of Paul’s day. Some allegedly Christian
clergy are already trying to neuter Christ with the scalpel of secular-atheism
in our very own community. But here’s the thing… how did Paul stand up to the
persecution? What did Paul do when he was punched in the mouth by those in
power? He quoted scripture, saying that you should not speak evil of those in
authority (vs. 5) and then – after his initial outburst - he did not.
So this is the dilemma isn’t it? I know Christian friends of
mine (some who are clergy) who have strong feelings about for instance, issues
such as gay marriage, remarriage, abortion, euthanasia, prosperity gospel, etc.[17]
And as their own religious authorities, their denominations developed different
viewpoints; they were tempted to speak evil of those in authority over them.
But what did Paul do because his leader ordered him to be
punched in the mouth? This is neat actually. Paul isn’t distracted by the
punch; instead[18] he is
listening to God and looking for God’s direction in what to do (Acts 16:6-10).[19]
He is not looking to his attackers, he is looking to what God is doing and what
does he see? Verse 6 – he sees opportunity to be delivered from his
persecutors and he sees opportunity to proclaim to Gospel some more. He
neither shrinks from persecution nor is he distracted by disobeying those in
authority here. He keeps his eyes on Jesus and sees opportunity to proclaim
to Gospel.
Look at verse 6, it says:
Then Paul,
knowing [or noticing, NRSV] that some of them were Sadducees and the
others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a
Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the
resurrection of the dead." [This is true. He stands on trial for just
that: proclaiming that Jesus rose from the dead and that He is the Christ for
whom we have been waiting] 7When he said this, a dispute broke out between
the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8(The Sadducees
say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor
spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.)
9There was a great uproar, and some of the
teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. "We
find nothing wrong with this man," they said. "What if a spirit or an
angel has spoken to him?" 10The dispute became so violent
that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to
pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from
them by force and bring him into the barracks.
Isn’t that neat? God delivers him. Paul keeps his eyes on
Jesus. He isn’t distracted by the actions of others. He doesn’t attack the
authorities or hide behind his Roman citizenship, which he could. He defers
to the Jewish authorities over him and he is delivered by God through the Roman
authorities over him. Paul was, like the Holy Scriptures say we should be, as
wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove (Matthew 10:16). He did not respond
to a punch in the mouth with a punch in the mouth (Exodus 21:24, Matthew 5:38).
He defers to the authorities and God delivers him AND lets him proclaim the
gospel.
And what should we do? Should we unfairly personally mock,
malign, and speak evil of our leaders, our bosses, our families, when they
punch our beliefs in the mouth? No! We should rather be as wise as serpents and
as gentle as doves. We should do simple things to be bold for the gospel. We
should say grace in public before we eat. We should read our Bibles in coffee
shops and other public places and we should look to the Lord and see what He is
doing.
Back to a story I was telling you earlier. When I was
teaching with The Salvation Army in Vancouver schools. We obeyed the authorities.
We did not speak evil of those who we felt were persecuting us and we did not
mention Christ in the classrooms. We did however build relationships with
teachers, parents, and students alike. We did however invite the students to
our facilities. We did however get invited into the homes of students and their
parents and we did get to present the gospel and we did see many of them invite
Christ into their lives. God is good.
We did not speak evil of those over us. We did not disobey
the authorities after their ‘punch in our mouth.’ We were not distracted by
them. We kept our eyes on Jesus and we were delivered in order to present the
gospel and halleluiah, many of our students were delivered unto Salvation.
And it is the same here in Swift Current today; we are
servants of the Lord. He knows our predicaments and situations and so then
instead of being distracted by and then maligning our attackers –whomever they
may be - our leaders, our bosses, our families, –when we are punched in the
mouth, we should rather keep our eyes on the Lord and see where he is leading
for He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Let us all turn our
eyes upon Jesus.
[1] You can read
an on-line version at: http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/family/alexander/
[2] It is they
-the religious leaders- who are afraid. It is they who think that he is leading
people away from God. It is they that want to stop the spread of the gospel. It
is they who are trying to kill him.
[3] And he is
not only saved by them but also from them: 22:25 states that he is actually
spared a beating by the Romans themselves by identifying himself as a citizen
of that Superpower - Rome. Superpowers tend to grant special privileges to
there own. Through all this then and the occupying Roman armies save him.
[4] I always
find this an interesting parallel to today where in our news countries, who
like to think of themselves as religious, are often the most addicted to
violence. I also find it interesting that a nation that most of the world
considers to be Christian has the highest consumption of violent and
pornographic images, the highest percentage of its people behind bars, and
among the greatest income disparity between the rich and the poor.
[5] As he was in
the custody of the Superpower of his day and he would probably be almost as
vulnerable as the people in Guatanamo, Abu Garib and other such terrifying
places in our world today - except that he has the foresight to speak up and
let them know that he’s one of them.
[6] See
20:18-21, 26-27; 24:16; Rom 15:19b, 23; Philippians 3:6b; 2Tim 4:7 for
similarly bold claims made by the Apostle Paul.
[7] Ananias the
son of Nedebaeus was as high priest from A.D. 48-58 and was known for his
collaboration with the occupying forces, avarice and liberal use of violence.
When the rebellion against Rome began in 66, the nationalists burned his house
and forced him to flee to the palace of Herod the Great where he was found
hiding in an aqueduct and was killed along with his brother Hezekiah (cf.
Josephus War II).
[8] Contrast
this to what Peter reports about Christ’s actions in front of his accusers (1Pe
2:23) : When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he
suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges
justly.
[9] Cf. Theodore
Zahn, Die Urausgabe der Apostelgeschichte des Lucas [Leipzig: Deichert, 1916],
p. 763.
[10] cf.
Ecclesiastes 8:1-3; but see also 1 Chronicles 21:6 where Joab does not heed
David’s disobedience of God’s command; this is not a matter of denying God, but
it is an ethical dilemma that Joab faced concerning obedience to God’s commands
versus a godly man’s commands: David after all was a man after God’s own heart,
1 Kings 11:4
[11] The Apostle
Paul teaches unequivocally that “it is necessary to submit to the authorities,
not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience” (Romans
13:5) and further that “everyone must submit himself to the governing
authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established”
(Romans 13:1; see also Titus 3:1).
[12] Cf. The
Ethics Centre 2000, 156-158.
[13] Cf. United
News 1999, rockies.net/~united/united/articles/ 9810news.html
[14] Sheep Speak
Commentary: Christian Persecution (Part 1), Jan 26, 2007.
[15] This was a
concern mentioned around a piece of legislation (particularly relating to some
of the language around people’s natural objection to certain kinds of sexual
expression) from which Svend Robinson garnered a lot of publicity.
[16] I can
readily think of two testimonies that I have heard of this – one of a friend of
mine in university and the other of a high school student that I just heard
word of the other week.
[17] The former
two, I think of friends of mine in the Anglican and United traditions. The
latter example I think of various members of Canada’s new Conservative party
who transferred a billion dollars in tax revenue from the poorest in society to
the wealthiest. Cf. Matthew 25:31-46 and see also the NCR’s comments (http://ncrcafe.org/node/1296)
which were referred to in the Sheep Speak Commentaries of September 10th
and September 20th.
[18] Now those
who have been studying the book of Acts along with us will be familiar with the
acts of the Holy Spirit and the resurrected Christ to date. We know about all
those who have been saved. We remember, from Acts 16, particularly, how Paul,
Silas, and Timothy are becoming quite intentional about listening to the Spirit
–even to the point where he does not preach in places where God doesn’t want
him to do so.
[19] Even after
Paul has had his big fight with the other believing Pharisees and then with
Barnabus (Acts 15) who was the one who took a chance on Paul when no one else
would (Acts 9:27ff). Even after all this, he is listening to God.
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