THE ENIGMA OF HOPE

<p>THE ENIGMA OF HOPE  We saw at the end of Acts chapter twenty-one, after the Turkish Jews tried to kill Paul and started a riot, the Roman centurion that rescued Paul from the angry mob gave Paul permission to speak to all the Jews from the steps of the temple of Jerusalem.  Acts 22:1 Brothers and fathers, listen to me as I offer my defence … Paul speaks in Hebrew to the Jews recounting his religious pedigree as a Pharisee and his dramatic conversion to becoming a follower of Jesus. The Jews fly into another rage and tear at their clothes and take Paul to the Roman barracks to be scourged with whips. And when Paul declares his Roman citizenship, the Roman Commander puts a stop to the scourging both because of Paul’s Roman citizenship and because he was confused by the behaviour of the Jews. He didn’t understand why Paul was being accused so he released him and commanded that Paul be tried by the chief priests and the council. </p> <p>Chapter Twenty-three begins with the council trial and Paul declares to them all that his conscience is perfect before God, and this causes such offence to the high priest Ananias that he orders that Paul be slapped in the mouth, and Paul yells at him ‘God will slap you, you whitewashed wall. Who are you to break the law yourself by ordering me struck like that?’ When Paul was told that Ananias was the high priest he apologised and said he didn’t know that, and that he knew the Scriptures that say you should not speak evil of your leaders. Paul had to gain control of the situation somehow so he quickly thought of what he would say to the council group next. Some of them were Pharisees and some were Sadducees and only the Pharisees believed in angels and the Spirit and the resurrection of the dead, so Paul said that as a Pharisee himself he was being put on trial for simply believing in the resurrection of the dead. This ended up with the Pharisees and the Sadducees fighting with one another because of the Sadducees’ unbelief in these things - and the Roman commander had to put Paul