Acts chapter 17 v 5-9:

Acts chapter 17 v 5-9:

V5:  The unbelieving Jews – probably the synagogue rulers – are jealous and stir up a mob – there are always those ripe for trouble in any age and culture, and soon the whole city is in an uproar. They attack the home of a man named Jason, where Paul and his companions are staying ( v7.) Remember that behind all such human opposition, Satan’s malice is always at work.

V6:  Paul and Silas are not there, so the mob seize Jason, and some other new believers, and drag them, no doubt roughly, before the city authorities. These new converts find out early in their Christian lives what it is to suffer for Christ’s sake. Note the accusation ” they have turned the world upside down” – aimed at the absent Paul and Silas really, but witness to the spread of the Gospel and it’s transforming power. The real truth is, of course, that the Gospel turns a world which is upside down ” right way up.”

V7:  As so often, the false charge of sedition against Rome is brought. Jesus is indeed a KIng, of course – King of Kings – but neither He nor His Apostles ever preached earthly rebellion – see rather Mark 12 v 17, and Paul’s words in Romans 13 v 1-2.

V8:  The charges disturb both the ordinary people and the magistrates, for these are charges that could bring down Rome’s wrath on a city, as those who bring them well know.

V9:  Yet, in God’s over-ruling mercy, no heavy punishment is given to Jason and the others. They are fined – the “security” suggests a kind of bail, to guarantee future ” good behaviour”, perhaps with the condition that Paul leaves Thessalonica.