Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Do not speak evil
Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?" And those who stood by said, "Do you revile God's high priest?" Then Paul said, "I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'" – Acts 23.3-5
Paul was angry. He was brought before the high priest Ananias. He had just begun his defence when Ananias ordered a guard to punch him in the mouth. No wonder he was angry!
He said 'God is going to strike you, you whitewashed tomb! You sit down to judge me by the law and you break the law by having me struck!'
The crowd was shocked. 'How can you talk that way to the high priest?'
'I didn't know that he was the high priest. It is written that no one should speak evil of the ruler of your people.'
It is not a big, deep, theological lesson for today. It is a practical one. The whole word of God teaches us that we should always show respect to those in authority. We never see a case where any cause if given for 'speaking evil' of a ruler.
The New Testament tells us how we treat those in authority. Obey them. Submit to them. Pray for them. Honour them. Don't speak evil of them.
Why then are we so quick to speak evil of our authorities and rulers?
No matter how popular it is today I think it is pretty clear that we need to be very, very careful about the way we treat and speak about our leaders.
Paul knew enough to be chagrined when he spoke this way. What do we do?
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2 comments:
Paul followed in Jesus' footsteps here. In Mt. 23:33, Jesus denounced his leaders in brutal terms: "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of Hell?" In John 18:20-23 Jesus told the truth about the High Priest's hypocrisy though an officer struck him for it. Jesus wasn't very Christian, either. :-) Moderns suggesting we "not judge lest we be judged" should note that Jesus had no qualms whatever about railing on His leaders, calling them "whitewashed tombs." Paul calls his judge a "whitewashed wall" even though he walked his comment back when he realized the crowd didn't like disrespect of the high priest. I Peter 2:17 says we should honor all people, including the king but I see no blanket prohibition against calling a spade a spade about those unworthy of respect. Like, Jesus, we should respect the office but speak truth about awful policies and poor character!
One difference with Jesus - He had no human authority over Him.
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