By the time of Christ, the Jews had moved so very far from their original calling in Abraham, God could have gotten better results from stones. Not only were they odious to God, but to most of the world around them. Yet, just as Jews were required to shed the trappings of Moses to enter the heart of God's Law, and reshape themselves under divine hands to the New Realm of Heaven, so the Gentiles could not carry their old hatreds of Jews, however justified, into the life of the church. We know there were divisions from the very start. If there was one thing for which Paul was known, it was vociferously defending stepping away from the Pharisaical rendering of the Law of Moses, even while he steadfastly adhered to the true meaning of the Law as Jesus taught it. At the same time, no one was demanding anything of the Gentile believers which didn't fit their place under God's Laws, either. The division now was merely a cultural comfort zone, and little more. Luke does not mention Paul's mission included a large collection for famine relief among the Gentile churches for the church at Jerusalem. This would do much to heal any rifts.
Still, even without noting this fund raising, Luke manages to portray how torn Paul was about the necessity of being in Jerusalem as soon as possible, even as he struggles to edify the Gentile churches one last time. Even without a warning from God, Paul surely could see the tension rising, as the Jews would seek to do with him as they had with His Lord. Having escaped the uproar in Ephesus, Paul passed through the Macedonian churches. This meant showing his face again in places where he had already made enemies among the Jews. On the way, Paul had written two letters to Corinth, then came in person to correct the many errors. While there, he wrote to the Christians in Rome. His three months there in Corinth gave the Jews another opportunity to plot his death. As he was about to take ship headed for Syria, he learned of that plot, and decided to head back along the land route through Macedonia. This time, he gathered an entourage to help protect him, but also to reinforce the message of unity which the fund represented.
It was this unplanned return across Macedonia which sees Luke rejoin the journey. While the entourage traveled on across to Troas, Paul and a smaller crew celebrated Passover in Philippi. Luke recounts a lot of details, not only because he was there to keep track of things, but to convey powerfully how torn Paul was in his heart. He was in a hurry to make Jerusalem at Pentecost, with some forty days left, as the church there was suffering. But so were the churches in Asia and Greece, though not in the same sense. Luke portrays Paul dawdling one last time on a day-long hike from Troas to Assos, a beautiful walk even today.
Sea travel in those days typically meant finding a ship going more of less in the right direction, but surely with stops along the way. Paul chose to sail early with a vessel not stopping in Ephesus, but with a layover nearby in Miletus, just a few miles farther south on the same coast. There he sent a messenger to bring down as many elders from Ephesus as would come to meet with him. Luke includes here a message he witnessed first hand, which seemed to sum up all Luke tried to portray of Paul thus far. Paul did not lord it over anyone, taking in stride the hassles from Jews who rejected the gospel. He refused to be intimidated and taught the whole truth, training the elders very well. He also refused to be intimidated by warnings of what the Jews would do back in Jerusalem, because he had no choice in the matter. Apostle or not, he was merely a disposable asset in the Kingdom. The only bad part about knowing he wouldn't see them again was the surety they, too, would come under attack. That's why he was so careful to teach them all they could absorb, so they would not be surprised at the inevitable appearance of hucksters passing through, building big business on a mere slice of the gospel. And from within the church would just as surely come those misguided and seeking to build their little kingdoms, too. These things must come, as surely as Paul's trials in Palestine.
Indeed, Paul had been careful to work for his own support, and he was bearing a large offering for someone else. It was all just a means to the gospel in his eyes. Otherwise, it meant nothing. That was what he taught them, as well. Nothing mattered but the gospel truth. So with this sad departure, they saw him off at the port.
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By Ed Hurst
12 September 2009
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