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Context No. 1756 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 28:17-22: in context

17After three days Paul called together those who were the leaders of the Jews. When they had come together, he said to them, “I, brothers, though I had done nothing against the people or the customs of our fathers, still was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, 18who, when they had examined me, desired to set me free, because there was no cause of death in me. 19But when the Jews spoke against it, I was constrained to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything about which to accuse my nation. 20For this cause therefore I asked to see you and to speak with you. For because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” 21They said to him, “We neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor did any of the brothers come here and report or speak any evil of you. 22But we desire to hear from you what you think. For, as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against.”

Paul, under house arrest in Rome after years of imprisonment and an unjust legal ordeal, calls together the local Jewish leaders. He explains his situation: though he had done nothing against his people or their customs, he was handed over to the Romans, and when they found no cause for death and wished to release him, his accusers objected, forcing him to appeal to Caesar. Yet, he is careful to say, this was not because he had any charge to bring against his own nation. It is for the hope of Israel, he tells them, that he wears this chain.

What stands out in Paul's words is the absence of bitterness. He had been wronged, gravely: falsely accused, imprisoned for years, dragged through an unjust process, and now bound in chains in a foreign capital, all at the hands of his own people. He had every earthly reason for resentment, for grievance, for wanting to accuse and condemn those who had done this to him. And yet he says plainly, it was not that I had any charge to bring against my nation. He holds no grudge; he does not use this meeting to air his grievances or turn the leaders against his accusers. Instead, he reaches out to them, seeks their fellowship, and wants to tell them about the hope of Israel, the very gospel for which he suffers. His concern is not to nurse his wrongs but to win his own people to Christ. There is a striking freedom here, the freedom of a heart not held captive by bitterness. Paul had been mistreated by his own, and rather than let that mistreatment turn to resentment and estrangement, he kept loving them, kept reaching out, kept longing for their good. It would have been so natural to grow bitter, to write off the people who had wronged him; Paul did neither. He bore the wrong without letting it poison him, and went on seeking the good of those who had hurt him. This is a hard and beautiful example for the times we are wronged, especially by those close to us: to refuse the bitterness that would be so natural, to hold no grudge, and to keep loving and reaching out toward those who have hurt us, seeking their good rather than nursing our wounds.

When I have been wronged, especially by my own, do I nurse the grievance and let it harden into bitterness and estrangement, or can I do as Paul did, holding no grudge against those who hurt him, refusing resentment, and continuing to love and reach out toward them, seeking their good rather than nursing my wounds?

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