38th Day of Easter, Tuesday May 19: Acts 21:1-16

The journey to Jerusalem gets delayed, and Paul gets warned off by visions, a prophet, and by his companions, as he sailed south. The believers in Tyre were sure that Paul should not keep going. However, after worship on the beach, ‘we’ left ‘them’ and sailed south, a couple of further hops.

Caesarea was a port created by Herod for Roman deep-water shipping. Here Philip the evangelist, one of the 7 ‘deacons’ from the beginning of Acts, is the patron of the church. 4 ‘virgins’ or ‘unmarried daughters’ had a ‘gift of prophecy’ – women shared the emerging roles of clergy in the new movement. Let’s not reduce that to a folksy tale of Philip being a family man who couldn’t marry off his girls! Again, Paul is warned not to go on.

Finally, the witness of Agabus is a prophetic gesture using Paul’s belt to show how he would be bound and led away, if he continues to Jerusalem. However, like Jesus in the gospel, Paul knows the consequences of his choices, and remains faithful and heads south. Take a look at John 21:18, addressing the same symbol of being led around by a belt in old age, to Peter. Are you really in charge of your fate, and do we all in then end have to surrender the illusion of self-control?