WHITE WASHED TOMBS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.

Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.”

At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.

Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”

Acts 22:30-23:1-3

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus said:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matthew 23:27-28

In Chapter 22, we read Paul’s testimony to the murderous crowd gathered against him in Jerusalem. This testimony included the time when he was called Saul and persecuted Christians before he was challenged in a big way while on his way to Damascus by Jesus. At that time, Paul couldn’t have been further away from his Savior. They were polar opposites of one another.

And yet, Jesus saw something in Saul that he didn’t see in himself, a future leader who would bring people to Him instead of mistreat them. He had plans for Saul to change and become Paul, bringing people to salvation instead of death.

How far did Paul come from that fateful day on the road to Damascus?

We can see the answer to that question as we turn the page on Chapter 22 of Acts and head into the opening verses of Acts 23.

In our passage, we find the Roman commander in a state of flux. Having saved Paul from being killed by the Jerusalem mob, he orders him brought into the barracks to be flogged and interrogated as he wanted to know why the crowd was treating him like they were. You’ll remember that just as they were stretching Paul out to be flogged, he asked them if it was legal to do so because he was a Roman citizen. The centurion who received the question quickly passed it to the Roman commander himself who came to Paul and sought to confirm that he was indeed a Roman citizen. After Paul affirmed that he was a native of Rome by birth, the commander devised another plan to find out “why Paul was bring accused by the Jews”. And so the next day, he “ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble” before releasing Paul and having him stand before them.

It had to be a moment that Paul was eager for because we see him waste little time making it clear what he was doing in his ministry efforts. For “Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin” and said:

“My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.”

In other words, all that Paul had done in bringing the Gospel to not only the Jews but the Gentiles was done with God’s endorsement. This allowed Paul to stand before them with a good conscience. He had carried out Jesus’ Great Commission, even when it meant heading into danger such as he was immersed in as he addressed them.

Well, Paul’s statement was too much for the “high priest Ananias”. The leader of the Sanhedrin quickly “ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth”. He viewed Paul’s words as blasphemy but note here that he was making this call based on his own opinion. He didn’t say something like, “In the name of the God you blaspheme and by His direction, I order you struck in the mouth!” He didn’t say this because God wasn’t in the picture. This painted a stark contrast between Paul and his accusers who painted themselves as being pious and righteous men of God but in reality were nothing less than self absorbed hypocrites who sought to eliminate anyone who might threaten their seat of religious power. Their behavior showed that they almost believed that they were gods unto themselves.

This is what Paul got riled up and through His words, we see just how close he was now to being like the Jesus he once opposed. For go back to the opening verses from the Gospel of Matthew, ironically also found in the 23rd chapter, and you’ll see where the Savior of the world used the exact same analogy, whitewashed walls or tombs) to describe the teachers and the law and the Pharisees.

The comparison was one grounded in the matter of hypocrisy. The Sanhedrin liked to appear like they were clean on the outside, like the whitewashed walls of the tomb. But when you looked at what was on the inside, you found nothing but rotting flesh and death. Apply this to the Sanhedrin and you can see where they seemed God-centered on the outside when they were really godless and spiritually dead on the inside. The people saw righteous men but God and Jesus could see them for who they truly were for the inner most sinfulness and wickedness are seen by both. Nothing can be concealed.

And so Paul channels his inner Jesus as he lashes out in righteous indignation toward Ananias saying:

“God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”

It was a strong statement and Paul wasn’t exactly in a negotiable position but he could speak so boldly because he knew the Lord Jesus was with him.

How would the members of the Sanhedrin respond to Paul’s verbal assault?

We’ll look at that in tomorrow’s message.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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