Acts 28:17-22: a reflection

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 has arrived in Rome as a prisoner, in chains; and when he gathers the local Jewish leaders to explain his situation, he frames his imprisonment in a striking way. It is because of the hope of Israel, he tells them, that I am bound with this chain. He does not describe his chains as mere misfortune or injustice; he sees them as bound up with the hope he preaches, the hope of Israel fulfilled in Christ. His confinement was, in his eyes, for the sake of that hope.

Notice how Paul understands his chains: for the sake of the hope he preaches. He was a prisoner, confined, in chains, in circumstances most would see only as loss and injustice. But Paul saw them in the light of the gospel: it was for the hope of Israel, for Christ, that he was bound. And rather than being silenced by his confinement, he used even his imprisonment as an occasion to gather people and bear witness. His chains became a platform for the hope he lived for.

That way of seeing hardship, in the light of the hope we live for, and using even confinement as an occasion for witness, is worth learning. We can see our hardships and confinements only as misfortune, loss, injustice; and often they are hard indeed. But Paul saw his chains in the light of the gospel, and made even his imprisonment an occasion to bear witness to his hope. When you are confined or constrained by circumstances you would not have chosen, do not see them only as loss; consider how even they might serve the hope you live for, and be, like Paul, an occasion for witness. Paul was bound for the hope of Israel, and made his chains a platform for it. Let even your hard and confining circumstances be seen in the light of the hope you live for, and used, as Paul used his chains, to bear witness to it.

Lord, Paul arrived in Rome a prisoner, and framed his chains in a striking way: it is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain; he saw his confinement in the light of the gospel, and used even his imprisonment as an occasion to bear witness. Teach me that way of seeing hardship, and using even confinement for witness. I can see my hardships and confinements only as misfortune, loss, injustice; and often they are hard indeed. But Paul saw his chains in the light of the gospel, and made even his imprisonment an occasion to bear witness to his hope. When I am confined or constrained by circumstances I would not have chosen, keep me from seeing them only as loss; help me consider how even they might serve the hope I live for, and be, like Paul, an occasion for witness. Paul was bound for the hope of Israel, and made his chains a platform for it. Let even my hard and confining circumstances be seen in the light of the hope I live for, and used, as Paul used his chains, to bear witness to it. Help me witness even from my constraints, Lord.