Chapter 16 - Into All the World

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! (Luke 13:34; NKJV)

What in the world do Jesus' words to the city He loved so much have to do with Paul and his extraordinary commitment to bring the Gospel to the world - the Gentiles? Well, as I read through this chapter, I was drawn back to these words and to thoughts of a chosen people. Drane briefly introduces us to the churches that Paul and Barnabas seeded as they travelled through Cyprus, Pisidia, Lycaonia, and back to Syria. The author says that "as a result of Paul's visits to these [areas], many Gentiles came to believe in Jesus Christ. (p. 293) But not long on his heals came "emissaries from the Jerusalem church" (p. 293) who came to tear down the work that Paul and Barnabas had done. For these "judaizers" true Christian faith in God still relied on being a part of the Abrahamic community. For me, this is where Jesus' earlier words come into significance.

The children of Abraham were God's chosen people, His special children. To the patriarch a blessing had been given, and through his line the world would be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3) And true enough, God had made covenant with the Hebrew people - one that included Law and sacrifice. This people would remain close to their God and to each other through the keeping of the Law, including the holy days and rituals - including circumcision. But Abraham's children didn't honor God as He had desired. The rituals that were intended to bind together, the people used to separate. Religious and social classes, afforable and "more" pleasing sacrifices created castes and God would look upon it no more. (Amos 5:21-26) Their religious, political, and social appetites became far more important to them than proper relationships with their Creator.

Jesus, God, has always had a special heart for the children of Abraham. Jerusalem should have been the real "city on a hill," but it just wasn't that way. Jesus told a parable of a wedding banquet. (Matthew 22:1-14) As you remember the point of Christ's story that day, aren't you so glad that God didn't waste the feast - that He sent for those who were not originally invited to join in the celebration. But Christ's words that day He was entering Jerusalem betray the hurt that God feels for the wounded relationship between Him and His chosen people.

In the banquet parable, the king sends his messengers into the streets to find anyone who wants to come - come freely - as they were. How could these newly invited guests have been prepared in the same way as those who had received an invitation days, weeks, months earlier. They would have no special gift. They could buy no new clothes - only wear the best of what they owned. In short, they were not the same people who the king had originally invited - but now, they were just as welcomed. They weren't asked to change themselves - being in the king's presence would be enough to bring about desired results. And maybe all this (and more) is why I think of the tears of the King, as He ponders the future of His beloved city. Then I think of His wonderful banquet, and I thank Him so much that He sent His servant Paul into the streets of the world to find those of us who were not originally invited.

Chapter 15 - Paul the Persecutor

Maybe it's just me - but the way Drane starts this chapter off feels like an action flick to me. I can hear the husky, male voice of a voice over announcer now:

"In a day when Christians began to spread like a bad itch - one man was willing and able to do whatever it took to stop this vermin! With the weight of the Sanhedrin behind him, and the authority of the proconsul giving him a ticket to do whatever it took - he's the bounty hunter that can't be stopped. Christians have seen what happens when this one's out to get you - run to Damascus, but you can't hide. It's Paul - the Persecutor! In theatres everywhere January 25. Rated PG for some violence."

Alright, I did say that maybe it was just me - but I had to get that out. Seriously though, I think of aul, and his conversion in the same way that I began to articulate about the last chapter. All that Paul had been through, all that he had learned, all that he had done - all that he was made him the perfect person to be the "Apostle Paul." Drane looks at Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus and calls it one of the most important moments "in the entire history of the early church." (p. 282) And how! Paul was known for being the determined, and religiously determined man who would do anything it took to bring down Christians and their faith. We don't have to stretch our minds to hard to think about what that looks like in our own time. I think of young men today, whose own convictions drive then to violently suicidal lengths to destroy those who bring a voice against their beliefs. In some ways, Saul of Tarsus was similar to these type of fellows.

He had stood by, at the very least, the day that Stephen was martyred. I don't recall having heard the perspective that Drane shared before - that Paul may have betrayed his sympathies to the Christian movement, by standing back during Stephen's death. And, it just might be true. Perhaps Paul was one of the most conflicted individuals going at that time. Maybe it was the whirlwind going on within him that drove him to bring such storm into the lives of those he chased. Paul couldn't have been surprised when the Jerusalem church was afraid of him, and suspicious of his motives - he had earned that "respect." But who else, but one who was such an enemy, could after having seen and knwon the truth become such an advocate. As pain drove him to deliver pain in others, freedom would now do the same.

Chapter 14 - Introducing Paul

Drane does a nice job of introducing us to a man who's life should serve as an encourgement to any of us - and a man with a great name. Raised in the traditions of his cultural fathers, developed into a religious authority, exposed to great patterns of thinking and understanding, Paul stands out as a man God knew and prepared from before his birth. It is hard to imagine the depths our Christian understanding would take, even today, if Paul had refused Christ's call all those years ago.

From his youth, Paul was "sent away from Taursus to the center of the Jewish world, Jerusalem." (p. 267) It was there that he would begin his religious education, and build his ferver for the Jewish ways. Studying under one of the more respected Rabbis of his time, Gamaliel, Paul grew in his understanding and position within the religious community. Like many people, Paul probably wanted to be successful in his career, and I wonder if maybe this drove him later as he chased Christians about the countryside.

Drane also observes that Paul's hometown of Tarsus was a hub for philosophical discussion, and Paul may have been particularly exposed to Stoicism. Some have argued that Paul actually did not preach or teach true Christianity, but rather a blend of Stoicism and the Faith. Sure he used many of their concepts to explain his understanding of the Gospel message, but this demonstrates his ability to relevantly communicate to his contemporaries, instead of him blending religion and philosophy. In exploring the Apostle's communication style, Drane points out that there can be "no doubt Paul would know and sympathize with many Stoic ideals," (p. 271) but this knowledge gave him an inroad into the community through its language and culture.

In a similar way, Drane explores Paul's relationship with the mystery religions of the time, and concludes that Paul's relationship to them was limited to awareness. Again, he would use their currency to impact the people involved in the cults. I think about the road that is erceived to be rocky that Paul took with the Jerusalem church. Maybe, if there was tension - and it seems there was - it's because of how God prepared and used the man. He had come from the same old thing, but he wasn't that anymore. He was a difference of a different kind - and that maybe his ministry something new. Even today, we flinch at the thought of change - and sometimes the women and men who sense God calling them in new directions meet the stiffest opposition from within the very church they come. Paul's life and ministry can serve each of as an example of what God is capable of doing with those who will give themselves to Him.