God’s Word for You
Acts 17:5-9 Christ our King
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, October 10, 2020
5 But the Jews were jealous. They grabbed some marketplace loafers, wicked men. Having formed a mob, they started a riot in the city. They attacked the house of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they couldn’t find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here! 7 Jason has welcomed them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, called Jesus.” 8 The mob and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this. 9 They made Jason and the others post bond, and then they let them go.
Two thousand years had passed since God had promised the coming of the Savior to Abraham (Genesis 22:18). Fourteen hundred since the promises came through Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15). A thousand since David sang his heart out in hope of the Savior and the overwhelming promise that the Messiah would come from David’s own family line (2 Samuel 7:16; Psalm 110:1). Why, then, do the Jews so often attack the announcement of the Messiah throughout the book of Acts? We can’t help but notice that the ordinary Jews, the Jews in the pews, as it were, almost always welcomed the gospel message the same way Mary and Elizabeth did. But so often it was the men who proclaimed the promises in the synagogues that became enraged, violent, and murderous. They preached Moses and quibbled about the words of Moses (Matthew 19:3), but they acted as if they had never really listened to anything Moses had written.
The “marketplace loafers” were the kind of men who stood around all day where men came to find a day’s work, but these were the sort who avoided the eyes of the landowners who were trying to hire anybody. They only went down to the marketplace for something to do, in case something interesting turned up. They were looking for trouble. The city officials found them without any trouble and stirred them into a mob in short order. A few false charges, a lot of shouting, and their work would soon be over. The problem was that they couldn’t find Paul and Silas. We don’t know what happened to the missionaries, but they weren’t easily located, so the mob turned instead on a Jew named Jason who was known to have listened to Paul and who had welcomed Paul and Silas in his home. After a mockery of a trial, the officials made Jason and some other Christians post bond, that is, they had to pay a fine to be released. There wasn’t really anything else that could be done.
Let’s look again at the charge. Paul and Silas are accused of being men “who have turned the world upside down.” This is anastastosantes (ἀναστατώσαντες), “tipped the world on end.” The message of the gospel really does that. It takes the promises of the Old Testament and declares them to be fulfilled; therefore no more sacrifice is necessary (Hebrews 10:10), and by extension, the law of Moses no longer needs to be kept for salvation: “No one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith” (Galatians 3:11).
The gospel also turns the pagan world on end. No good deed makes anyone pleasing to God apart from faith in Christ (Romans 12:1). Our good deeds are all stained by sin, either by our original sin or by sinful impulses, sinful failures, or all of these and more. Paul said, “I see another law at work in the members of my body, making me a prisoner of the law of sins at work within my members. What a wretched man I am!” (Romans 7:23-24). So we can’t be saved by obedience to Moses, and we can’t be saved by doing good. How then can we be saved? The gospel assures us: We are saved because of Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. Faith in Jesus covers us with his salvation, his cure. “Love covers over all wrongs” (Proverbs 10:12).
The other charge brought out was that the gospel of Paul proclaimed Jesus to be “another king.” Certainly Jesus was another king, a different kind of king altogether. Jesus is not king of a race, king of a nation, or even king of the world. He is King of kings, and Lord of lords. He said, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins” (John 8:23-24). See how even in explaining his otherworldly kingship and kingdom, his message is all about the forgiveness of sins through him alone? This was his work on earth, and this is his message for us all: Our sins are forgiven by Jesus, who is Christ our King.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.