My pals and I soon grew tired of buffeting Saint Paul. We quit. In our stead, to keep the Church's top evangelistic ego in check, the Lord appointed certain Jewish Pharisees to take up the baton, and to rap it on Paul's metaphorical bottom at every convenient opportunity. But the Pharisees, as usual, turned good fun into malice, and harmless buffets into a cruel game of "Let's Get Paul." Every time they caught Paul breaking some jot or tittle of the Mosaic Law – which he tended to do quite often, after becoming a Christian – the Pharisees punished him according to Scripture, dutifully whipping him more times than Paul could count. Thrice, the Jews beat him with staves, once for having tied his donkey to a post already taken by a local's ox, once for eating shellfish, and once for calling the Jews "Christ-killers" (
2 Cor. 11:23-25,
Deut. 22:10).
Eventually, the Jews arrested Paul and turned him over to the Romans, saying, "This is Paul of Damascus, the Christian. He has broken the Law of Moses, and we'd like you to teach him the wages of sin. Kill the schmuck!" (
Rom. 6:23).
Hoping to save his skin from the lions, Paul appealed unto the emperor, which he was entitled to do because (unlike his Pharisee accusers) Paul was a Roman citizen. He believed that he and the emperor Nero could work out a mutually satisfactory compromise, thereby to save the neck of an innocent Christian citizen, and to spite the Jews.
The apostle's historic interview with the emperor went less well than planned. The Romans and Jews had been able to agree on just three things: that the apostle Paul was "a pestilent fellow," "a mover of sedition," and "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes" (
Acts 24:5). And sadly, that is all the emperor knew about him. Nero knew nothing of Paul's good points, such as his skill in tent-making, or his foreskin-tolerant position on the circumcision issue. So when Paul invited Nero to accept Jesus of Nazareth as his personal lord and saviour, and to make Christianity the official religion of Rome, Nero declined. He then issued Paul an invitation: "My dear, pestilent fellow," said Nero, slapping him on the shoulder, "I think I should let you perform at my new stadium, called 'Nero's Circus,' before a standing-room-only crowd, in a one-on-one contest with a lion!"
"What do you mean?" asked Paul.
"I mean, I shall let you choose how you wish to die," said Nero.
"And what's my other choice?" asked the apostle.
" – or I'll crucify you, upside down. Same Circus. Your call!"
Paul saw this challenge as an opportunity to spread the gospel. He had ample assurance that he could "stop the mouths of lions" (
Heb. 11:33). There were Scriptural precedents for it:
q.v., Samson, who slew a lion with his bare hands (Judges 7)
q.v., Benaiah Ben-Jehoidah, who once slew a lion with his bare hands, in a pit, on a snowy day (1 Chron. 11:20-23)
q.v., King David, who, in his sheepfarming days, slew a sheep-poaching lion and a sheep-poaching bear, and delivered a lamb from the mouth of each, and then killed both predators, with his bare hands, on the same day, although not, evidently, during inclement weather (1 Sam. 17:34-36)
q.v., The man of God from Judah who was sent as a missionary to Bethel. (1 Kings 13)
q.v., Daniel, who, when thrown into a den full of hungry lions in the court of King Darius, "turned the pride of great men into folly, and the pride of lions into a litter of pussies" (Dan. 6).
[
Editor: Please blue-line the third example. My friend Beelzebub reminds me that when the said "man of God" from Judah stopped for lunch, a lion, also "from God," tore the man to pieces (
1 Kings 13:1-32)]
Then, too, with the growing popularity of gladiator games throughout the empire, Nero was running short on trained lions. With luck, Paul might well be matched with a tired old cat who could barely mew. Paul therefore chose the lion-fight over the upside-down crucifixion.
As the day drew near, the holy Ghost comforted Paul, and Paul comforted his fellow believers, with a prophecy from
Isaiah:
No lion shall appear, nor shall any ravenous beast rise up thereon – it shall not be found there. Instead, the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD shall return safely. (Isaiah 35:9-10)
6 June 66 CE. It was a warm, sunny Friday afternoon. Because Saint Paul was, by now, the most famous surviving Christian in the entire Roman Empire, Nero's Circus that day was packed to the arches. Emperor Nero sat on the royal panoply, surrounded by drunken whores and Roman degenerates.
Up comes a gate at the east end. Out steps Paul – short, bald, bow-legged, unshaved, still slightly overweight despite his recent imprisonment, and yet bearing his sword like a true gladiator, even swishing it around a bit in a manly fashion. The pagan crowd hooted at him. Paul beneath his bushy eyebrows just smiled beatifically like the Virgin Mary, or like Bert of Sesame Street, and here's why: Paul of Damascus had a surprise in store for those who were playing the odds and had placed their bets on the lion.
Up comes a gate at the west end. Out trots a young lioness. The crowd cheered. Paul's opponent was not a tired old cat unable to mew, but a fierce young cat ready for lunch.
Now, the apostle Paul may have had his faults; in fact, he had lots of them – okay, I never really liked him – but he was also a man of great faith – which is not to say that he knew no taste of fear – in fact, when he first saw the lion, he wet himself – but he knew he would not have another chance like this one to stand up and be counted for his faith.
It is a lonely experience, I think, even for a Christian apostle, to stand up for one's beliefs in a crowded stadium, in wet knickers, facing a hungry lion before some 52,700 Roman spectators, all of whom are rooting for the lion. But Paul did it. He stayed the course (unlike the apostle Peter, who, by the way, when his turn came two years later, opted out, chose Plan
b., and was crucified upside down in Nero's Circus [
John 21:18]).
With nothing to protect him but his sword and shield, the apostle Paul took a deep breath. He then did something incautiously theatrical: he threw his weapons to the ground.
The crowd hissed and booed. It was never fun when the Christian would not fight back against the lion.
What the Circus audience didn't know, however, is that Paul's faith, on a good day, was stronger than worldly weapons.
Meeting the lioness face to face, completely unarmed, Paul said: "Lion! I command you, in the name of Jesus! – peace, be still!"
I closed my eyes – and held them closed – and held them closed – and held them closed – and opened them again. To my amazement, the lion was still standing there, unmoved, as calm as a cow. It was as if her human prey had become invisible to her sight. (The entire true story is told in the first-century historical book called, The Acts of Saint Paul.)
The stadium crowd began to hiss the lion. They booed. Bottles and garbage were hurled into the arena. Still the lion stood, with an almost thoughtful expression on her face.
Paul next pointed his finger and said, firmly, "Sit." And again, "Sit, lion, sit."
And again, more firmly this time: "Lion, I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, lord of Heaven and Earth, to sit!"
Instead, the lion ate him.
– L.
