‘Am I willing for Jesus to change my mind?’ by Owen Lynch, 17 November 2024

What does it mean to follow Jesus and end up changing our minds about something important? Owen Lynch looks at Paul’s movements in Acts of the Apostles, which were not just physical across Europe, but changes in his long-held beliefs about what the long hoped-for Jewish messiah - their anointed leader - would look like. Many were quoting “clobber” passages from scripture to prove that Jesus could not take this role, but Paul’s experience forced him to rethink.

How much has Jesus changed our minds since we first encountered him? Do we expect Jesus to change our perspectives from time to time when we read the Bible? What deeply held views, beliefs or doctrines might Jesus be inviting us to reconsider?

Transcript

In the last episode based on Acts 17 that I shared last Sunday, I argued that the revolution of Jesus would not have spread across the Roman Empire if it had not been progressive, inclusive and hopeful.  And I asked you if the gospel had made you more progressive, inclusive and hopeful?

Today we are into Acts 18 and I want to ask you how much Jesus has changed your thinking since you encountered him?

Let’s have a read - Acts 18:1-17

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

So Paul goes to Corinth and meets two fellow Jews - Aquila and Priscilla who had moved to Corinth from Rome, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.  It is thought that Claudius issued the edict because some Jews were claiming that Jesus was a rival for Caesar making all Jews the enemy of the state!

It’s AD 51, seventeen years after Jesus death and resurrection and we can see that the Jesus revolution has already reached Rome and caused significant infighting amongst Jews.

Looking backwards through the Christian lens we can wrongly assume that Paul was alone in arguing that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah.  He clearly wasn’t, because the Jesus revolution was spreading like wildfire amongst Jews without his direct involvement.

It appears that Aquila and Priscilla have been expelled from Rome under this edict, but we aren’t told if they have been involved in the riots.

Paul seems to have a lot in common with this couple, because not only are they Jews who think that Jesus is the Messiah, they are also skilled Artisans working with leather to make items like tents.  They have a business in Corinth and invite Paul to work alongside them to earn a living.

So Paul worked Monday through Friday earning a living and spent every sabbath day reasoning and debating with the Jews there that Jesus was the Messiah.

It is an interesting description “reasoning”, because it is contrasted with the riots that followed Paul in Thessalonica. Was Paul having a calm, reasonable conversation, was he having a vigorous and constructive debate or was he getting angry and losing his temper with those who disagreed with him?

Well, we get a clue in the next verses:

Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

His opponents became abusive and Paul shows his utter frustration with them and I’m left wondering why many Jews struggled with Paul’s assertion that Jesus was the Messiah.

The word Messiah is the Hebrew word which was translated into Greek as “Christ” and in English it means “anointed one”.

We have a modern example in King Charles III, during his coronation last year, he was anointed with oil to symbolise him being chosen by God to have the ultimate authority in this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

So for Paul to call Jesus the Messiah is the same as saying that Jesus is the Jewish King meaning that he has ultimate authority over all Jews.

There’s a bit more to it than that as well.  The greatest King in Israel’s history is considered to be David and for four hundred years a descendent of David sat on the throne of Israel, until the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians 600 years before Jesus.  From then until Jesus, Israel did not have a King who was descended from David.  During that time, there was a growing sense of anticipation that a new King descended from David would once again sit on the throne of Israel.

So probably a majority of Jews would have expected the Messiah to be a human warrior king who would reassert Israel’s power and stature to at least the same level as David did.

Other Jews thought that the Messiah would be a powerful priest who would rule Israel by giving them the true interpretation of the Mosaic law.  Yet others thought that the Messiah would be more of a cosmic figure coming on the clouds of heaven to set up a new Kingdom on the earth.

Even though there were these different ideas of what a Messiah would be like, there were some common themes.  The Messiah would be a figure of power who would lead a revolution against Israel’s enemies and establish the Kingdom of Israel as a sovereign state and be Yahweh’s representative on earth.

With that background it is easy to see why so many Jews had difficulty accepting that Jesus was the Messiah.  Jesus was born into a peasant family, he was of questionable descent, he was a carpenter who for three years self identified as a Rabbi who worked in a small area known as Galilee.  After three short years in the public eye, he was rejected by everyone who knew him and was crucified on a cross by the Romans, which was considered to be the most humiliating and dehumanising way to be executed.

Writing later to the people in Corinth, Paul explains why many of his fellow Jews rejected Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1:22-23

22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

Perhaps after his time in Corinth Paul had realised that the crucifixion of Jesus was the biggest stumbling block for Jews to accept him as the Messiah.  Here Paul highlights the paradox of the gospel.  Contrary to what we might think, the power wielded by the Messiah appears as weakness and foolishness compared to the way power is wielded by Caesar!

There’s a second example in Paul’s letters as to why many Jews didn’t accept Jesus as the Messiah. It’s in Galatians 3:13, Paul says:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

That phrase is from Deuteronomy 21:23 and forms part of the legislation of Israel:

22 If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, 23 you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Most Jews would have considered Jesus to be cursed because he was crucified on a pole.  They could not accept that Jesus was the Messiah, because they considered him cursed instead of blessed by Yahweh.

The reason we can have confidence that these were common reasons for many Jews to not accept Jesus as the Messiah is that these were the reasons that Paul himself could not and would not accept Jesus as the Messiah.

Before his Damascus road experience, Paul was utterly opposed to Jesus being the Messiah and those two reasons he describes in his letters to the Corinthians and Galatians are in his opinion two of the most common objections.

So why did Paul come to accept that Jesus was the Messiah?

Well, we know that Paul had a vision of Jesus speaking to him on the road to Damascus, not only that he was blinded by the experience for several days.

This experience caused him to reevaluate his view of Jesus and reframed his extensive education as a Pharisee.

Let’s take those two examples of reasons Paul gives for why Jews didn’t think Jesus was the Messiah and see how his experience of Jesus reframed his thinking.

In 1 Corinthians 1:25, Paul says that Jesus revealed to him that,

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

So Paul rethinks his previous view that the Messiah would be an all conquering King and argues in v27-29 that:

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

Now that sounds familiar - remember Jesus’ words in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5?   What will define Jesus’ Kingdom?

The humble, the weak, the poor, the grieving, the hungry, the thirsty, the merciful, the tender, the peacemakers, the persecuted.

It would be weird for the Messiah to be a warrior king who is proud, powerful, wealthy, ruthless and warlike!  But, that is what King David was like at times and that was what the Romans valued in their Caesars!

Paul’s experience of Jesus showed him that humility, kindness, patience, self control, love, peace would win wars that violence and brutality can’t.

Let’s take the second example in Paul’s letters as to why many Jews didn’t accept Jesus as the Messiah.

In Galatians 3:10-14, Paul says that Jesus revealed to him that:

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

The argument that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah because he was crucified on a pole was a “clobber passage” from Deuteronomy 21.  It was meant as an “argument ending” quotation of the Jewish law.  Paul may have used this argument himself before he met Jesus.

However, we can see in Galatians 3 that after his vision of Jesus Paul now views the Messiah’s death on the cross through the prism that everyone who fails to uphold every letter of the law is cursed.

He also quotes Deuteronomy 27:26 that says

“Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.”

He says in Galatians 3:13 that,

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

Paul now sees the cursed Messiah hanging on a pole as redemption for a Jew who has not upheld the law. But he also explains that,

14 He [Jesus] redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Yes Jesus was cursed, Paul says, but he was cursed so that both Jew and Gentile could be blessed just like Abraham was.

Back to Acts 18, Paul got so exasperated with his fellow Jews, because they did not accept his reading of the law and prophets.  They were reading the same scriptures, but drawing very different conclusions.

It was no small thing for Paul to change his mind that Jesus was the Messiah.  To accept that Jesus was the Messiah meant that Paul had to rethink his Pharisaical teaching and theology.

Those two examples from 1 Corinthians 1 and Galatians 3 show the remarkable shift in Paul’s thinking.

Instead of a warrior Messiah King, Paul realised that Jesus was a servant Messiah King who would govern the world through love, joy, peace, forgiveness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Instead of a blessed King, Paul realised that Jesus was a cursed King, who would include everyone in his kingdom through his identification with everyone - Jew and Gentile.

The question I want to ask us today is:

How willing am I to allow Jesus to change my mind?

Paul’s mind was changed by Jesus from the moment he encountered him on the road to Damascus, until the day he died.

• How much has Jesus changed my mind since I first encountered him?

• Do we expect Jesus to change our perspective from time to time when we read the Scriptures?

• What deeply held views, beliefs or doctrines might Jesus be inviting us to reconsider?

More in this series