VIOLENT CLASHES
Opening Prayer
Faithful God, You keep Your promises. Fill my faith with joy and peace, so that I can face the future with You.
Read Acts 9:19b–31
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Give thought to some of the key areas where Christians hold different opinions. How do you feel about those who think differently?
Why do humans often react violently to disagreement? If religion is involved, the feelings are all the more acute: consider the Crusades, the Reformation, the Holocaust and the ethnic conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Even Christians have at times had a poor record.
For the church in Judea, Galilee and Samaria this was an encouraging and peaceful time (31)—but then came Saul (now converted) and trouble came with him. This story needs to be read alongside Galatians 1:13–24 and 2 Corinthians 11:32 and 33. Saul would have stirred up the Jews in Arabia (Gal. 1:17) during his stay there; he antagonized them by skillfully opening up the Scriptures to prove that Jesus was the Messiah for whom they’d been waiting (20–22). So the ethnarch of the Nabataean Arab King Aretas was on the lookout for trouble in Damascus, since the Jews there would have sided with their compatriots in Arabia. All this would have seemed threatening to the Christians in Jerusalem who, despite Barnabas’s efforts, may still have been slightly suspicious of Saul; so, after a flare-up with Hellenist Jews (29), they encouraged him to go home to Tarsus (30) for his own safety and—possibly—to get him out of the way. Being constantly on the move and facing persecution was to become the pattern for Saul’s life and ministry.
Thankfully, Christians and Jews today are less likely to kill those with whom they disagree, but there is a surprisingly violent feeling behind some of our theological altercations in the church. Is the answer to separate, as happened here, or might there be ways of reconciliation? Mutual acceptance of each other need not mean agreement in everything.
Apply
Are there areas of serious disagreement that you feel strongly about? How does “living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit” (31) help?
Closing prayer
Gracious Father, we speak freely of disagreeing with others without being disagreeable. I pray that with me, it is not just words. May I truly walk the talk and bring honor to Your name.
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