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At the end of Acts 12, the message of the Book of Acts moves from Peter and the disciples in Jerusalem to the ministry of Paul to the Gentiles. Paul’s job was to go the gentile cities and proclaim the redemption message of Jesus Christ’s life and death and resurrection.
In Antioch (of Pisidia) Paul did what he usually did. He found the Jews and spoke to them about Jesus’ fulfillment of the Hebrew expectations of the Messiah. And he made a bunch of converts but he also made enemies because he was attracting crowds and attention – the Jews did not want to share any of their turf. The reaction of the entrenched Jews to Peter and now Paul was very similar to their reaction to Jesus, as we shall see.
Noting the critics, Paul quoted a passage about scoffers and skeptics from Habakkuk but the common Jews and gentile converts to Judaism wanted to hear more, begging him to come back the next Sabbath to preach again. Which he did and in gathering a huge crowd, provoked the Jews again. Then Paul told them that, if they chose to reject the word of God, he and Barnabas would turn to the Gentiles immediately. A large group of gentiles was converted and believed and “the word of the Lord spread through the whole region.” Which only stirred up more anger from the Jewish locals who began to persecute Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of Antioch. Luke, the author, notes that they then shook the dust off their feet and, in protest, moved on, filled with the Holy Spirit.
That allusion, shaking the dust from their feet, points to Jesus’ statement in Matthew (10:11-14) to go into a town and present a greeting; if it’s a worthy town or home, your peace will rest upon it. If your word is ignored or rejected, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town, leave the judgment to God.
What I take from these passages is that we are called upon to share the basis of our hope, letting it fall on people, in other words, letting them hear it. If it’s received, peace and a blessing will come on the people. If it’s rejected, don’t belabor it – move on. God will judge the skeptics and scoffers. In fact, I think this is good news because the people are out there who want to hear the good news but we cannot tell, by looking, who they are. We get to share our faith, never knowing who will accept it or reject it. If they reject it, Jesus is implying, don’t take it personally, just move on. At another point he told his followers not to throw pearls before swine. Some people just will not see the richness of this treasure, some will.
Our hang up will probably be our egos. At this point, if we take our message seriously, we need to lovingly “pass it on” without fretting about their opinions of us. Some will mock and scoff, some will approach with caution, some will receive it like cool water on a scorching desert day. But setting aside our egos is easier said than done, we want people to like and accept us. Here’s the ringer: as I share this message (without a hint of condemnation of them), I’m sensing the respect of a lot of those who hear what I say. To some I could just as well be speaking Swahili, but they don’t reject me, they just don’t care. I honestly have not had anyone overtly put me down. A few slightly sarcastic insinuations: hey, I’ve gotta be able to handle that. If we know what we believe and if we know what we’re talking about, and if we appear to care more about them as people than as “converts,” many will listen. We won’t bat 1,000. Jesus didn’t, Peter didn’t, Paul didn’t. That’s one of the lessons of the Book of Acts – the disciples were not so different than us, sometimes they triumphed, sometimes they got rejected. But Luke says (13:52) as they headed off to Iconium, that “the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” |
