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Acts 23:9 "Then a great clamor rose; and some of the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended, 'We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?'"

 

Paul has just defended himself before the council in Jerusalem after his arrest. In his defense he especially appealed to the Pharisees, reminding them that he was one of them, and telling them that he was on trial with respect to a hope in the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6). Some of the Pharisees were at least open-minded enough to hear Paul's story and give him the benefit of the doubt - perhaps a spirit had appealed to him, they admitted. This caused terrible dissension among the council, many of whom were clearly so convinced Paul was an enemy that they could not hear the slightest defense of him.

 

In times when great things are happening in the world (as then and now), or even in our individual lives, there is often a lot of confusion and uncertainty. God's plan often does not look the way we think it will look, as the Pharisees of Jesus' time could tell us. It is human nature in these times to try to make sense of things by determining who or what is right, and who or what is wrong; who is telling the truth, and who is lying (or spreading "misinformation"); in short, by constructing a "narrative." This is often necessary, in fact, in order to decide what to do and how to proceed. But there are dangers to this necessity, dangers the devil exploits to his advantage.

 

Once we have made a determination, one that is sometimes based on available evidence, or sometimes just on what others, often experts, are saying because we cannot access the evidence for ourselves, there is a strong part of us that wants to adhere to that determination at all costs in order to maintain our pride. This defensive urge is even stronger, much stronger, when we have done or allowed unconscionable things while under the conviction of our chosen "narrative." But it is so vitally important, for the world and for our own souls, to be open to new evidence, eyewitness testimony, or any other aspects of reality that may fine-tune or even wholly contradict the narrative to which we are adhering. The more resistant we are to hearing contrary things, the louder and more violent we or those promoting our narrative become, the more alarm bells should be going off in our heads.

 

The council of Jewish leaders had believed their own narrative with vehemence: that Jesus Christ was a wicked man, a threat that had to be eliminated, despite there being no evidence whatsoever of His having done anything wrong. The intensity of their feelings about Him led to His excruciating public torture and death. That alone should have been pricking, if not shouting, at their consciences. And perhaps it was, in fact I think it definitely was, but that they were "moving on," telling themselves "What is done is done", and perhaps that they would do better next time.

 

Paul and the other apostles are the "next time," unignorable reminders of who Jesus is and what the Jewish leaders had done. Paul himself was a Pharisee who had thought of Jesus as the enemy, and had killed and persecuted His followers, until he had his own personal encounter with Christ. The council knew this, so unless Paul was crazy or lying, they had to confront his testimony. The Pharisees who here admit they find nothing wrong in Paul, and allow that he may have seen a spirit, are doing that. They are receiving the "new evidence" and are allowing it to penetrate their narrative. They are in the first stages of repentance. The others, though, are still consumed by their pride. They are not allowing Paul's testimony to dismantle their false reality, the one they've constructed to justify their behavior, nor can they tolerate any of "their own" defending Paul. So a great dissension breaks out and becomes so violent that Paul is removed by the Roman tribune for fear of his life. (Acts 23:10). These violent members of the Council are still in denial of what they have done, and want to stay there because the enormity of it is too much for their consciences to bear. The truth, in the form of the Gospel being preached by Paul and the other apostles, will go right on announcing itself. It will never stop, because it is actual reality, it is truth, there is no escaping from it. The ones denying it will eventually have to either repent and accept it, or they will lose their minds and, even worse, their souls.

 

There is a tremendous amount of this behavior going on today. Truly unconscionable things were done or condoned by many (see There is No Truth or Justice in Them) who are now being confronted with the slow revelation of truth. I think this explains a lot of the very strange and dysfunctional behavior we are seeing all around us, especially among those who wholeheartedly bought into the narrative. Our job as Christians is to continue to speak the truth with charity and mercy, understanding that Jesus wants to save even those who did terrible things in service of their narrative. He wants us all to see the wrong we've done, not to make us suffer, but so that we will repent and come to believe in Him, the Truth.