Paul's unfinished sermon

“‘Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’’ The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, ‘Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!’” Acts 22:21-22
In yesterday’s post we saw how Paul began his speech to the Jews after they had seized him in the temple and beaten him. He had been accused of preaching against the Law of Moses, and for bringing Gentiles into the temple (Acts 21:28). Neither of these were true, and it would seem that Paul was intending to address this in his speech. But he was only able to share his testimony: how he was once as zealous for the law as all of them, persecuting the church and putting believers to death (Acts 22:3-5). Then he went on to tell them how Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus (Acts 22:6-11), how Ananias, a righteous man, had prophesied to him concerning his mission (Acts 22:12-16), and how after this the Lord Himself had appeared to Paul, telling him to go to the Gentiles (Acts 22:17-21).
Most likely, if Paul hadn’t been interrupted, he would have gone on to talk about God’s grace and how the Gentiles had received it – and how these Jews listening to him could accept it too, and become complete. He later wrote, “salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious” (Rom. 11:11).
Abraham was given a promise by God: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:3). But over the centuries, the Jews developed a superiority complex. They looked down on Gentiles, and thus anyone – like Paul – who associated with them, much less ministered to them and taught them the word of God, was a traitor to his nation and to God. This is why their response was so extreme.
Let’s finish with some more of Paul’s words: “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.’” (Rom. 11:25-27).