How do you respond?

Acts 21:27-36

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!”

I’m in my early 40’s and over the course of my life, I have felt a shift towards a much more negative attitude to Christianity.

But this is only minor compared to the levels of persecution that exist in the world today. One article I read reported that the rate of Christians killed for their faith is about one every 5 minutes. I have also heard that in my lifetime, there will be more Christians put to death specifically as a result of their faith than there was between 1AD and 1000AD.

In today’s passage, we see the fervour of persecution in full swing, as the apostle Paul is mobbed because of the reputation he had gained for preaching the gospel of Jesus. The way he navigates his persecution is instructional for how we can respond today, whether our life is in danger, or if we are simply having unfair rules applied to us because of our faith beliefs or practices.

How do you respond when you are treated unfairly because of your faith? Do you retreat? Do you simply accept the treatment, or do you look for opportunities to have greater witness for Jesus?

For me, I feel like I need to be bolder to stand up for the principles of my faith, and demonstrate the love of Jesus while also standing for truth and justice for those who are suffering.

Written by Ps Justin Ware