In Acts 22, Paul's testimony falls on hostile Roman ears, and he narrowly escapes scourging by way of his Roman citizenship. Reflecting on this incident, Fr. Mike reminds us that God uses Paul's past to further his ministry, and that God does the same with each of us, today. Commenting on today's readings from 2 Corinthians, Fr. Mike highlights that we are called to be cheerful givers and disciplined thinkers. He also points out that, as Paul reminds us, the most important ministry credential is to be called by God and equipped by his grace. Today's readings are Acts 22, 2 Corinthians 9-11, and Proverbs 29:5-7. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of today's readings?
my name is father mike schmitz and you're listening to the bible in a year podcast where we encounter god's voice and live life through the lens of scripture the bible in a year podcast is brought to you by ascension using the great adventure bible timeline we'll read all the way from genesis to revelation discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today it is day 343 another palindrome day we're reading from the acts of the apostles chapter 22 as well as the second letter of saint paul to the corinthians chapters 9 10 and 11
and Proverbs chapter 29, verses five through seven. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is a revised standard version, second Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.
You can also, little known fact, in the last 20 some days of this Bible in a Year podcast, you can still subscribe to the podcast and you would be subscribed. It would be day 334. Nope. And day 343 for you, we're reading Acts chapter 22, 2 Corinthians chapters 9, 10, and 11, and Proverbs chapter 29, verses 5 through 7. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 22.
Brethren and fathers, hear the defense which I now make before you. And when they heard that he addressed them in the Hebrew language, they were the more quiet. And he said, I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as you all are this day.
I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women as the high priest and the whole council of elders bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brethren, and I journeyed to Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. Paul tells of his conversion.
As I made my journey and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, "'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' And I answered, "'Who are you, Lord?' And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.
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Chapter 2: How does Paul defend himself before the crowd?
Now those who were with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do. And when I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus.
And when Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing by me said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight. And in that very hour I received my sight and saw him. And he said, The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the just one, and to hear a voice from his mouth. Who
for you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now, why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. Paul tells how he was sent to the Gentiles.
When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, make haste and get quickly out of Jerusalem because they will not accept your testimony about me. And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.
Chapter 3: What is the significance of Paul's conversion story?
And when the blood of Stephen, your witness was shed, I also was standing by and approving and keeping the garments of those who killed him. And he said to me, Depart, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Paul and the Roman Tribune Up to this word they listened to him. Then they lifted up their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he ought not to live.
And as they cried out and waved their garments and threw dust into the air, the tribune commanded him to be brought into the barracks and ordered him to be examined by scourging to find out why they shouted thus against him. But when they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?
When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen. So the tribune came and said to him, Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? And he said, Yes. The tribune answered, I bought this citizenship for a large sum, Paul said, I was born a citizen.
So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him instantly, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him. Paul before the chief priests and council.
But the next day, desiring to know the real reason why the Jews accused him, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
The second letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapter nine, generosity and giving.
Now, it is superfluous for me to write to you about the offerings for the saints, for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them.
But I am sending the brethren so that our boasting about you may not prove vain in this case, so that you may be ready as I said you would be, lest if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we be humiliated, to say nothing of you, for being so confident.
So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren to go on to you before me and arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so that it may be ready not as an exaction, but as a willing gift. The point is this. He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
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Chapter 4: What does it mean to be a cheerful giver?
I think that I am not in the least inferior to these superlative apostles. Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not in knowledge. In every way, we have made this plain to you in all things. Did I commit a sin in abasing myself so that you might be exalted because I preached God's gospel without cost to you? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.
And when I was with you and was in want, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the brethren who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine shall not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.
And what I do, I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. Paul's sufferings as an apostle. I repeat, let no one think me foolish, but even if you do accept me as a fool so that I too may boast a little.
What I am saying, I say not with the Lord's authority, but as a fool in this boastful confidence, since many boast of worldly things, I too will boast. For you gladly bear with fools being wise yourselves. For you bear it if a man makes slaves of you or preys upon you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or strikes you in the face. To my shame, I must say we were too weak for that.
But whatever anyone dares to boast of, I'm speaking as a fool. I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one. I'm talking like a madman with far greater labors, far more imprisonments with countless beatings and often near death.
Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked.
A night and a day I have been adrift at sea, on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren." in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I do not lie.
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Chapter 5: How does Paul address false apostles?
And Gamaliel said, you know, if you fight against them and they're from God, you might find yourself fighting against God. But if it's not from God, it'll burn out on its own. So Gamaliel, one of the chief rabbis, one of the most popular, famous, influential rabbis of the time. Here's Paul, who's one of his students. And then he tells his conversion story.
And this is, again, just an incredible kind of situation. But people don't necessarily respond to it. So what happens? The Romans come and they're about to scourge him. And then he, Paul pulls out his Roman card, his citizenship card, which is, you know, it's not his get out of jail free card, but it is a couple of times his get out of scourging free card. So that's good for Paul.
Actually, Paul is going to use this Roman citizenship to journey all the way to Rome with the idea that maybe he'd be able to even preach the gospel before Caesar. So this is one of those situations where God uses everything in our past to be able to forge a way for our future, right?
God uses everything in our past, something that maybe Paul at one point thought was useless or was thought was maybe he even thought it was foolish that he had this thing that he was born a Roman citizen. Because he was living in a Jewish world, right? He was living as a student, to become a rabbi at some point.
But maybe now that he's reaching out to the Gentiles, this Roman citizenship that he was born with took on a new value that he never could have imagined it having earlier on. I don't know, I don't know if that's true, but it's worth considering. In 2 Corinthians, we also have some St. Paul telling a little bit about his pedigree, but that's in chapter 11, where St. Paul says, are they Hebrews?
So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. And in that, right, we have St. Paul, who, again, God uses our past, even things we're not in control of, being born a Roman citizen, being born Jewish. He uses those things we're not even in control of to pave a way for our future if we are willing to surrender those things to him, to the Lord.
Now, Paul starts out chapter nine talking about generosity because he's been asking these Corinthians, these Christians in Corinth to be willing, maybe for the first time, maybe, we'll say this, in a new way, to be generous. He points out to other communities, other churches around where St. Paul has been a missionary to, he's been the evangelist of, that they are very generous.
And he's asking the Corinthians to also be generous, but not, and I love this, in chapter nine, verse six, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And this is a really big thing. We can be willing to serve.
I know this is true about me. I can be willing to give. I can be willing to serve. But sometimes I just get this, you know, This attitude and I, okay, I'll serve, I'll show up, I'll do the thing you're asking me to do, but I'm not going to, I'm not going to make it easy for you. Like, I'm not going to give you the impression that I enjoy this.
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Chapter 6: What are Paul's sufferings as an apostle?
But going on, Paul has to defend his ministry because what's happened, of course, is that there are these, I like how the RSV says superlative apostles. Other translations talk about the super apostles. And these super apostles are those who have basically kind of relied upon their credentials in maybe in some ways to usurp what St. Paul has taught to the people in Corinth.
And so he has to pull out his credentials once again. And one of the things that I think is really interesting is when St. Paul is talking about his credentials and not just his credentials, but talking about this battle against these people who have made themselves his enemies, it's very clear that St. Paul is not carrying on a worldly war. He even says that in chapter 10, verse 3.
He says, the weapons of our warfare, this is verse four, are not worldly, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. And this is important because this is not just in the context of St. Paul, who was arguing against people who are teaching falsely about Jesus.
But even it's true about, you know, so often we want to be wise in the ways of the world, which is not horrible, but we also have to have a wisdom of Christ, the mind of Christ. So here's what he says in verse five, we destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God. And here's this key and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
And this is really important to take every thought captive to obey Christ. And the question we get to ask ourselves is as a Christian, do I take every thought captive? Like, or do I just kind of let my thoughts be whatever I let my mind wander. And that doesn't mean that I'm like disciplined the entire time. And I can't sometimes let my mind rest. What it means is what do I feed my mind?
To take every thought captive means that I don't just treat every idea as equal to every other idea. To take every thought captive doesn't just mean I allow every thought unfiltered to go into my mind or every thought unfiltered to come out of my mouth. That is kind of important. to take every thought captive.
I think that's a good prayer for us today, to be able to recognize that we must not acquiesce, right? We have to take every thought captive. Now, going beyond this, there are so many things to be able to point out. One is St. Paul's, you know, his disposition.
He makes a point, we've already pointed this out, but that people would say, his letters when he writes to us, wow, he's really strong, but in person, he doesn't seem so intimidating. That's an interesting kind of side note. But there is something that happens when it comes to these other false apostles that bring up something in Paul.
This is in chapter 11, where he basically says, what you must not do is you must not compare yourselves. That comparison, because he's going to say, I'm essentially, I'm not going to compare myself to these super apostles either. And he basically warns against this wound. Maybe it's even a sin of comparison.
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