17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- V1 – Thessalonica was one of the wealthiest and most influential cities in Macedonia.
- V2-3 – Paul used the scriptures to show how Jesus the messiah was fulfilling the prophecies from the Old Testament scriptures. This is cool as he met them with what they knew and where they were at and then used this to introduce them to who Jesus is… in the same way we need to meet the people around us at a level they know, and then lead them to what Jesus has done.
- V4 – The start of the church at Thessalonica was due to Paul sharing how Jesus fulfilled God’s plan. We need to remember the power that this truth has. We can then see in Thessalonians Paul’s letter of encouragement to them.
- V5-6 – Here we can see the power of God’s word. It’s crazy to think that such a small group of people peacefully sharing their beliefs would cause such a stir, that they would discuss far & wide – to “cause trouble all over the world”. We can also see that the other Jewish leaders didn’t try and disagree with the theology that Paul preached, but were jealous and decided that a riot and mob was the best option.
- V9 – Here Jason posts bond, this is basically posting bail – where money is paid for freedom and an agreement is made that no more trouble will be caused.
submitted by Michael Gregory
PRAYING IN FAITH
For Yourself
That God would help you to be bold as Paul was to stand and share about Jesus.
For your five
That they too would see that Jesus’ death was part of God’s master plan.
For the church
That we would stand together as a body of believers, helping and encouraging one another.