Paul in Jerusalem (Acts 22-23)

Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem to die on the cross for us. But God had other plans in mind for Paul. His journey to Jerusalem resulted in his imprisonment but not in his death; or rather, the road to his martyrdom would be a much longer one. God reveals His plans to Paul in Acts 23: “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome" (Acts 23:11). 

While Jesus said nothing in his defense before the Sanhedrin or Pilate, Paul (perhaps already aware through the Spirit that his mission is not to end in Jerusalem) defends himself in a variety of ways before his accusers. He is promptly arrested, beaten, and nearly killed by a mob in Jerusalem, charged with encouraging Jews to disobey the Mosaic law. When the Romans intervene to prevent a riot, Paul asks to speak to the crowd. Addressing them in Hebrew, he shares his personal testimony: how he was a Pharisee zealous for the Law and a persecutor of the Church, how Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and how the Lord then called him to preach to the Gentiles. 

In prior evangelical speeches to Jewish audiences, Peter and Paul presented the ministry of Jesus within the context of the story of Israel, as the culminating act in God's salvation of humanity. In Athens, addressing a crowd of Greek philosophers, Paul presented Jesus as the Son of God, the One who revealed in His fullness what the Greek poets and sages had been seeking for centuries in partial and varied ways. Now back in Jerusalem and facing personal accusations of infidelity to God, Paul gives his own testimony, of how Jesus intervened decisively in his life, of how the Son of God is his personal savior who has tasked him with sharing the Good News with others. 

Luke does not present any of these three methods of evangelization as better or worse than the others. Peter and Paul are led by the Spirit to share the Good News in particular ways with particular audiences. They are met at various times with success, hostility, and indifference. The results are in God's hands. They follow His call to share His Word.

It's interesting too, that the crowd in Jersualem listens to Paul up until he proclaims that Jesus sent him to preach to the Gentiles. At that point, they are filled with rage, and seek to kill him again. The crowd in Jerusalem is profoundly insular, seeking to hoard God for themselves. They value their nation and tribe above the salvation of all. They are a warning to us not to place our nation or our ethnic group above our mission as disciples of Christ, to share the Good News of salvation and practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy as much as God provides for us. 

Paul escapes scourging in Jerusalem by letting the Roman leaders know that he is a Roman citizen. He skillfully divides the Jewish council by playing off the differing beliefs between the Pharisees and Sadduccees. And God comes to his aid to affect his final escape from Jerusalem, acting through Paul's nephew, who overhears a Jewish plot to murder him and informs the governor, who sends Paul to Caesarea to be tried. Thus through the will of God Paul's mission continues.