St. Paul in prison
MOST people, even non-Christians, know the dramatic accounts of Jesus Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection, historical events that are central to the Easter season. Fewer are familiar with the similarly dramatic events that occurred after Christ’s Passion and Resurrection. Understanding these events is crucial to understanding how the whole world came to know of this one execution.
The Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament tells of escapes, rescues, imprisonments, angry tribunals, executions and tense crowds that characterized the apostles’ evangelization efforts. The story of St. Paul’s visit to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem makes for especially riveting reading.
Remember, Paul had been a Jew who had been traveling through lands of the Roman Empire to round up other Jews who were joining the new sect of followers of the “Nazarene.” Those he captured were put in prison and sometimes executed. He had stood by as Stephen, also a Jew, was stoned to death by an angry Jewish crowd. Paul did all this until, as we all know, he was traveling to Damascus and was struck by a bolt of light and heard the voice of Christ. He instantly believed in the divinity of Jesus as the Messiah and became the most famous evangelist. He would receive other miraculous messages as well.
In Chapter 21, Paul visits the temple in Jerusalem to make sacrificial offerings. (The first Christians for a time honored what for many was their ancestral religion in this way.) After a few days of his presence, many in the temple come to realize who Paul is and seize him. They bring him before a Roman tribune, demanding that he be put to death.
Paul requests Roman justice: “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?” Read More »