Acts 21:27-22:29: “Surprise! I’m a Citizen.”

The Rev. Steven Theiss, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, MO, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 21:1-26. Arriving in Jerusalem, Paul is met with suspicion and hostility due to rumors of him forsaking Jewish customs. A riot erupts in the temple, leading to his arrest. In a bid to defend himself, Paul requests to address the crowd. Speaking in Aramaic, he recounts his devout upbringing and his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. This personal testimony stirs the crowd, revealing his transformed faith, but as the dust settles, tensions remain. Paul is beaten until he reveals that he is a Roman citizen. The Book of Acts takes us back to the earliest days of Christianity, unveiling the incredible acts of the apostles and the growth of the early church. Acts offers a firsthand account how the Apostles and Jesus’ disciples respond to his death and resurrection. It makes us witnesses to the beginning of fulfilling Jesus’s command to spread the Gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. We encounter miracles and wonders, we see the church struggling to organize itself in the absence of Jesus, and we learn of the trials and tribulations the early Christians faced in a world that rejected them.