Week 41: The Long Journey to Rome
Week 41: The Long Journey to Rome
Luke now narrates how Paul left Ephesus and then traveled from place to place until he reached Jerusalem (Acts 21:17). True, Luke has let us into the secret that Paul was intending after visiting Jerusalem to head for Rome (19:21). Nevertheless, it is Jerusalem that filled his vision at this stage. In fact, it seems clear that Luke sees a parallel between Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem (which is prominent in his first volume) and Paul’s journey to Jerusalem (which he describes in his second). Of course, the mission of Jesus was unique. Yet the correspondence between the two journeys seems too close to be a coincidence. Like Jesus, Paul traveled to Jerusalem with a group of his disciples, opposed by hostile Jews who plotted against his life.
Like Jesus, Paul made or received three successive predictions of his “passion” or sufferings, including his being handed over to the Gentiles. Like Jesus Paul declared his readiness to lay down his life and expressed his abandonment to the will of God. Like Jesus, Paul was determined to complete his ministry and not be deflected from it. We should not press the details, but surely Luke intends his readers to see Paul following in his Master’s footsteps.
Sunday: Paul Addresses the Ephesian Elders
Monday: Paul in Jerusalem
Tuesday: Paul the Prisoner
Wednesday: Paul the Defendant
Thursday: Paul the Witness
Friday: Rome at Last!
Saturday: The Providence of God