"What'd I Say?"

Scripture Passage

Acts 21:37-23:35

Scripture Focus

The crowd listened until Paul said that word. Then they all began to shout, “Away with such a fellow! He isn’t fit to live!” (Acts 22:22 NLT)

Observation

There’s much to enjoy in today’s reading, from the robust adventure of Paul’s experiences to the robust hunger that a certain forty men must have felt if they indeed kept their vows! (see Acts 23:12-35) I admire Paul’s strategy—again and again, really, but—especially as he successfully divides the Sanhedrin between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. What a great move! I’m reflecting today, however, on the crowd’s response to Paul’s address in chapter 22.

Paul has entered the sacred space of the Temple grounds in Jerusalem and, while there, been accused of encouraging disobedience to the Jewish law and even bringing a Gentile into an area of the Temple restricted to Jews. An uproar results, but Paul asks for and receives the opportunity to address the crowd. Things seem to be settling down as Paul speaks to the crowd in their native Aramaic and explains to them his own Jewish heritage. But then he describes God’s call, announcing the Lord’s command to him: “Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!” (Acts 22:21 NLT)

The New Living Translation (NLT) says, “The crowd listened until Paul said that word [emphasis mine]. Then they all began to shout, ‘Away with such a fellow! He isn’t fit to live!’” (Acts 22:22 NLT)

Isn’t it interesting how one specific word became the trigger for the resumption of all hostilities? It leaves me wondering—as a guy who’s been reminded a time or two lately of how valuable “just the right word” is to me—how much I might miss because of the words people choose. I’m not meaning that folks might not use “just the right word” so much as that people often use words with significant “history” and “emotional baggage.”

That’s most easy to see in our current U.S. political environment. Practically no one actually discusses anything anymore. Politicians and citizens alike just trade barbs. But it also happens in marriages and families and churches and workplaces in a million other places. I’m thinking maybe today would be a good day to move past the emotional rhetoric towards genuine dialogue…to listen and respond thoughtfully instead of just reacting emotionally.

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