“Paul looked intently at the Sanhedrin and said, ‘Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience until this day.’ 2 But the high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing next to him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, ‘God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck?’

4 And those standing nearby said, ‘Do you dare revile Gods high priest?’

5 /I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest,’ replied Paul. ‘For it is written, ‘You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.” 6 When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees! I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!’ 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, and no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees affirm them all.

9 The shouting grew loud, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees party got up and argued vehemently: ‘We find nothing evil in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?’ 10 When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, rescue him from them, and bring him into the barracks.”

Acts 23:1-10

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Paul is obviously in a difficult place during these moments in Jerusalem. Whether the corwds in the Temple complex, or here in the Sanhedrin, Paul is not surrounded by supporters. But where he seems to stand on his own, he is also doing well by keeping his wits about himself. He is aware of who is around him, what they believe and what is truly important to them.  For the Romans, he poited out his own Roman citizenship. For the Jews, his deep roots in the faith. Within this gathering in Acts 23, he finds a way to have half the group side with him based on a theological bias they already held. 

Jesus wanred His followers about times like these, and gave specific instruction that Paul seems to follow to the letter: ‘Be wise as serpents, but innocent as doves.’ 

Matthew 10:16-20 – Persecutions Predicted

“16 Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves. 17 Because people will hand you over to sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues, beware of them. 18 You will even be brought before governors and kings because of Me, to bear witness to them and to the nations. 19 But when they hand you over, don’t worry about how or what you should speak. For you will be given what to say at that hour, 20 because you are not speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is speaking through you.”

Paul was living out this exact scenario. And although he wouldn’t have been in Galilee to hear this teaching directly from Jesus while he was still learning under Gamaliel, I do wonder if Jesus didn’t repeat this to Saul as he was becoming Paul.

Paul knew that things weren’t going to be easy. There were zealots chasing him all over Asia Minor trying to kill him, and they weren’t finished with their effort quite yet. Jesus told Ananias that Saul/Paul was going to suffer for the sake of His Name. But even knowing all this, God was never going to cruelly leave Paul to stand on his own, abaondoned to suffer hardship. In fact, it was the strength and power of God upholding him through these trials. Jesus specifially says that the Holy Spirit would speak through these moments. And so, in that speaking, there is hop in the presence and in that hope, a deeper love and thanksgiving emerges. 

It was wise for Paul to know his audience whenever he spoke, and by & large, he did well identifying them in each instance. But the main thing he remembered was that God was his first concern, not sittingin the front row of the audience, but standing there on trial with him. He was not alone. 

As we GoLove people in the Name of Jesus, we must also trust that God is with us, giving us words to speak and strength when we need it most. Last week, 9 people died for their faith here in the United States, hope declared with a gun to their head. Sometimes the expression of our faith doesn’t come with elloquence and many words. Sometimes, in situations like these, a simple ‘Yes.’ will suffice. 

Be bold. Declare your ‘Yes.’ Stand with Christ.