And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” 4 Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” 5 And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”
6 Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” 7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” 10 And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.
11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”
Yellow Hibiscus | Arbor Gate Nursery, Tomball, Texas | May 2024What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. -Ecclesiastes 1:9. Whether it’s controversy over the Olympics opening ceremony or political attacks, sexual immorality or vicious acts of violence and war. Everything new is old again. I recall the quote about Abraham Lincoln:
“The conduct of the Republican party in this nomination is a remarkable indication of a small intellect growing smaller. They pass over statesmen, and able men, and they take up a fourth-rate lecturer, who cannot speak good grammar.” – Chicago Times, 1860.
We have political intrigue and disrespectful talk and action right here. The High Priest won’t do it himself, but he’ll have someone else strike Paul. I wonder, frankly, whether Paul knew or not it was the High Priest to whom he spoke. We’ll allow that he did not know who it was, but his speech was clear: God would strike that whitewashed wall. His retribution would come against the one who had ordered Paul struck because there was no cause for it; it was unprovoked. Why would someone be offended at this comment? “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” The reason: they thought it was blasphemous. But even so, is that cause for such a violent response?
Paul’s retort was pointed but not violent. “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” His whitewashed wall comment reminds me of Jesus’ words “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27-28)
I wish it were not so. I wish we never had to engage in political debates, or that such debates remained civil. But there is nothing new under the sun. God is never surprised by it. He is not powerless in the face of the most blatant attack on Jesus or his Church. There is another thing to remember in the face of the most vivid displays of godlessness and immorality. God is on his throne. There will be a day of reckoning. Jesus will receive his due honor by all. The ancient truth of God’s glorious grace is never old news – even though it is from the foundations of creation. God’s mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. That’s the kind of nothing new I want to recall every day.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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