Going back and going on

Crowds are fickle sometimes. Imagine having the crowd worshipping you as a god one day and trying to stone you to death the next.

You may relate. I can think of a few other positions that run the same line: a hero one day, a chump the next. Parents. Politicians. Pastors. Polls turn.

Paul ran into the same situation. This was an excitable group. They watched him heal a crippled man and rushed to an assumption: he was a god. There were obviously other explanations for what happened but the crowd grabbed a guess and held on.

Then Paul’s nemeses showed up. The same crowd who had tried to worship Paul as a god now decided these visiting Jews must be right instead. They could listen to their own conclusions and they could listen to some newcomers but they never really heeded Paul.

Churned up by the foreign Jews, the crowd stoned Paul and lugged him out of town, assuming he was dead.

He wasn’t. After a time, surrounded by believers, he got to his feet.

And went back into the town.

Wouldn’t you have been tempted to limp on down the road? Maybe find a cool shady spot beside a stream and wash off the dirt. Maybe lie under the sun for awhile to let the bruises heal.

Not Paul. He went back in. The next day he continued on his ministry journey. There was no wavering (“Did God really call me to this?”) and no self-pity (“How could they dishonor a man of God like me?”).

Paul had experienced the presence of God in a personal and real way. There was only one poll he cared about and it didn't concern the fickle crowd inside the wall. He went back and he went on.

But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city.

Acts 14:20 (NRSV)