Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Sunday, September 1, 2013 Read – Acts 28:11-31 We have now reached the final events that Luke will tell us about in the book of Acts. Like beginnings, endings are very important. As we begin to hear the end of Luke’s story we need to be prepared that we are in for something unexpected. We might even be disappointed. Luke has told us that Paul will stand before the emperor in Rome – that was Paul’s appeal and apparently God’s promise. We expect to hear a story about Paul’s “trial” in Rome. That is not the story we will hear. Luke does not tell us a story about Paul’s defense before the Roman Emperor. We are also very aware that tradition tells us Paul was martyred in Rome at the hand of the Roman Emperor. That emperor would have been Nero – one of the most despised and cruel of the emperors. It was Nero who first made Christians, along with many others, fight against animals in the Roman Coliseum. Nero’s biographer, Tacitus, also tells us of Nero’s cruelty against Christians and others by having them crucified on crosses that lined the Appian Way. At night Nero would have the bodies of those still hanging on crosses lit on fire to provide a crude form of streetlights. In the end Nero committed suicide before Roman justice could be meted out to him. We expect that Luke is going to tell us of a hearing before this evil Nero – no meeting between Paul and Nero will be narrated. And perhaps most surprising of all, Luke does not tell his readers about the death of Paul. We will need to reflect upon these unexpected absences from Luke’s story. In the meantime we need to reflect upon the ending that Luke does provide for his readers. Luke begins by telling his readers of the final leg of the sea voyage to Rome. We are reminded that three months have passed. That would have been the exact time needed for winter to come to an end and the passage of ships to begin again. The voyage from Malta to Puteoli, the sea port closest to Rome, was uneventful. At Puteoli Luke tells of believers who welcomed Paul and his companions and provided hospitality to them. A week later the last land journey to Rome begins. Along the way believers from Rome come out to welcome Paul – first at the Forum of Appius, about 40 miles from Rome, and then at Three Taverns, about 30 miles from Rome. All of this renewed Paul’s courage and led to thanksgiving to God. Luke goes out of his way to tell his readers of the welcome and approval Paul received from the believers in Rome. If there were some in the church at the time when Luke was writing who questioned the authenticity of Paul, Luke is attempting to lay their concerns to rest. Once Paul has made the final journey to Rome, Luke tells us that he was allowed to live by himself with one soldier to guard him. This is a picture of a person who enjoys a great deal of freedom. In fact, for some time the picture that Luke has been giving is of Paul as a relatively free man. With Paul now in Rome, Luke’s readers expect that a meeting with the emperor will soon be arranged. That was the purpose of his journey. That is not the story Luke now tells us. Instead, Luke tells us that three days after he arrived in Rome, Paul called together the leaders of the Jewish community who lived in Rome. They are kind enough to come to the place he is staying. We have noticed all along that the first people that Paul reaches out to when he arrives in a new place are the Jewish people who live there. This is a constant theme in the book of Acts and the pattern is not broken even in this last place and in the last story Luke will tell us about Paul. It is important to Luke that the Jewish community is approached first and that the Jewish community is not forgotten. This is still a mission to the Jews. The meeting gives Paul an opportunity to make another speech. This speech is shorter than most of the others we have heard. And, once again we should likely think of it not as a “verbatim” speech but a speech appropriate to the occasion. Paul’s speech is a summary of what has happened to him since his visit to Jerusalem and subsequent arrest. It is important that we notice that, as earlier, Paul begins by identifying himself with his Jewish audience – he calls them “brothers” and counts himself as one of them. Throughout the book of Acts, Luke continually thinks of Paul as a Jew – to be sure he is a Christian Jew, but that does not make him any less a Jew. Paul makes it clear that he has done nothing against “our people” or the customs of “our ancestors” (Acts 28:17). Paul is a faithful and legitimate Jew. Even though that is the case, it was the Jews of Jerusalem who arrested him and handed him over to the Romans. Paul makes it clear that the Romans were not able to find any charge against him that deserved death – he was declared innocent by Claudius Lysias, Felix, and Festus – all Roman leaders. He was also declared innocent by the Jewish king, Herod Agrippa, though Paul does not mention that. Because justice was denied him Paul was compelled to appeal to the emperor, and that is why he is now in Rome even though there still is no charge against him – apparently Festus never was able to write a letter documenting the charges against Paul. Now Paul has asked to present his case before the Jewish leaders of Rome since it was “for the sake of the hope of Israel” that he is “bound with chains” (Acts 28:20). We should likely understand that the phrase “bound with chains” is not something to be taken literally but a figure of speech to talk about being held in custody. We may be surprised to hear that the Jews in Rome have received no letters from Judea about Paul and that Jews coming to Rome have not brought evil reports about Paul. Will the Roman Jews finally be the Jewish community who will receive Paul? Of course there have been individual Jews all along the way who have received Paul’s words and became believers. But, as a whole community, the Jews everywhere have turned against Paul. The impression is that those Jews who became believers were also driven out of the synagogues along with Paul. The Jews do tell Paul that even though they do not have any specific reports against him, they are aware that “with regard to this sect (Christianity), we know that everywhere it is spoken against” (Acts 28:22). What may have been promising is now threatened with these words. A second meeting is scheduled. Luke tells us that great numbers of Jews attended the second meeting which took place at Paul’s lodging place again because he was not free to go to the synagogue. The debate lasts all day. Paul’s hope is to convince the Jews of Rome about the truth of Christianity by appealing to the OT Scriptures – something Paul has always done and something Luke is consistent about. We need to recall what happened to the travelers on the Emmaus Road – how Jesus explained to them that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and die and be raised from the dead and that the OT scripture had told of all of this. The same was true in the upper room when Jesus opened their minds to understand the scripture. The same was also true of the Ethiopian Eunuch. The pattern persists and it is important that we notice that pattern here as well. The outcome of what must have been quite a day is the same outcome that has happened throughout the book of Acts – some are convinced and become believers and others are not convinced. The debate within Judaism rages on! Once the outcome is known Paul makes one last comment. It is a comment that we have heard before – though the specific quotation from the book of Isaiah is new. It is really a new statement of an old and consistent thought in the book of Acts. Isaiah had spoken of the Jewish people as a people who will hear but not understand, who will see but not perceive, whose hearts are dull, whose ears are closed, and who eyes are blind (Isaiah 6:9-10). Isaiah foresaw exactly what has been Paul’s experience among the Jews. Though it is not a part of the direct quotation from Isaiah used here, Isaiah has also been the prophet who most clearly foresaw the inclusion of the Gentiles in God plan and mission. And so Paul’s parting words to unbelieving Jews is that even though they will not hear, the Gentiles will listen to the good news God brings to them. The last thing that Luke tells us is that Paul “lived for two years in Rome at his own expense welcoming all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:30-31). The mission continues! And so ends Luke’s story! No hearing before the emperor. No story of the death of Paul at the hands of Nero. In fact, no ending to the story at all! What are we to make of this strange ending? Most readers of Acts have been puzzled by the way in which Luke ends the book. It is not what is expected. Of course we are once again not able to decide exactly why Luke ended his story in this way. We are left to speculation. Some have speculated that Luke really must have intended to write a third volume and either never got around to it or if he did it never was published. Such speculation is very unlikely to have the true answer to the way Luke has ended his book. What kind of author would not get around to completing the story? If the first two volumes were published why would the third be lost? Speculating that Luke really intended to write more or perhaps did write more but it is lost is really not much of an answer to the dilemma of the ending of Acts. Others have speculated that Luke lost track of what happened to Paul at this point. That can hardly be the case – anyone who has gone to all the trouble to get this far would hardly have let the story of Paul slip out of his fingers at such a crucial spot. Likely that best answer is to believe that Luke really intended to end his two-volume work in the way in which he did. We need to remember that Luke’s story is really the full story of Luke-Acts. The two volumes belong together and are not complete without each other. Once again we need to admit that we are only speculating, and we do not know for sure, but it is likely that Luke ended the book of Acts as he did with a purpose. What might that purpose be? Why did Luke end his story in this way? First of all the way in which Luke ends his story is to end it in an open-ended way. It is a story that is not finished. Luke likely knew a lot more about the specifics of Paul – but the story is not finally about Paul. The story is about the good news of Jesus and that story is an open-ended story! So Luke ended his story in this way because the story had not come to an end as he was writing his part of it. This is much the same as the brilliant way in which Mark ended his gospel. The gospel of Mark ends in a disappointed way for many of Mark’s readers too. But Mark’s open-ended story does draw Mark’s readers right into the middle of it – Mark’s story is a story Mark’s readers must somehow end. Luke’s two-volume work ended in the same way – drawing Luke’s readers into the story and forcing us to continue it. Second, I suppose Luke could have told the story of the final demise of Paul. Certainly Luke and his readers did know that story. They knew the truth about Paul, that when it finally came time for Nero to dispose of Paul he killed him. Luke could have told us the gruesome details. But what kind of way is that to end a gospel story? Luke most likely chose not to tell us the story of Paul’s death because that would have taken us away from what is really important – the gospel of Jesus, the Messiah who was crucified, who God raised from the dead so that repentance and forgiveness of sins might be proclaimed in his name. Luke might also have gone on to tell his readers about the murder of James, the brother of Jesus, by Ananias the high priest in Jerusalem. He might have chosen to tell the awful story of the Jewish War and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. He might have told the story of the death of Peter. Actually Luke is such a good writer that we wish he had told us much more! Obviously he knew a lot more. But where does one bring a story to an end? What is the most effective way to end? Telling about the demise of James, the brother of Jesus, would have been an interesting tale but what would that have done to further the gospel and what kind of ending would that have been? Was Luke to move on past all of these events – the death of Paul, the death of James, the brother of Jesus, the death of Peter, and the Jewish War – and find somewhere else to bring his story to an end? Where would Luke find a better place to end? In the end there likely is no better place to end then exactly where Luke chose to end his story! Luke is indeed a brilliant author! What may seem at the beginning as a great disappointment turns out to reveal the genius of Luke. Thanks be to God for Luke! OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS I WILL BE POSTING SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS ABOUT THE GOSPEL OF LUKE AND THE BOOK OF ACTS. I WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS, REACTIONS AND QUESTIONS.