Theological Commentary: Click Here
Yesterday we
saw the human heart turn cold. The heart
of the Jewish mob grew dark at the mention of God’s offer of relationship to
the Gentiles. It was a sad chapter; but
an insightful one.
Today we hear
more of the same. A plot is made against
Paul. The Jewish leaders plan to lie in
order to get Paul out in the open and away from Roman protection. They plan to assassinate Paul under the guise
of simple wanting to talk. They deceive
and manipulate in order to get their way.
We also are
allowed to peer into God’s response. As
these Jewish leaders make plans, they are foiled by a boy. In fact, they are foiled by Paul’s
nephew. The boy overhears their plan,
reports it to Paul, and then reports it to the tribune. The triune makes plans for Paul to be kept
safe, removing him from Jerusalem entirely.
I think that
it is rather neat to see that not only is Paul kept safe from the machinations
of the Jewish leaders, but that God foils the plans of those leaders through a
boy and a group of Gentiles. Don’t get
me wrong. I’m not saying that this is a
sign that God has turned His back upon the Jews. That won’t ever happen. Even when the Jews went into exile God did
not turn His back. What I am saying,
though, is that this is proof that God is bigger than us and our plans.
We often
want to see the world through our black-and-white lens of right and wrong. When we do that, we are prone to putting God
in a box. When we put God in a box, we
tend to miss His hand at work. When we
put God in a box, He comes around and frequently uses the very people, whom we
are so sure to be wrong, to do something grand.
God uses a boy and Gentiles to save Paul from the hands of the Jewish
leaders.
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