17:5
Again we see the dual reaction. Some love the gospel, others hate it. So some of the Jews were jealous. In response, they gathered up a bunch of bad characters to form a mob and start a riot. As with the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, their methods are directly at odds with the Law. If they were indeed good Jews they would not do such things. Sadly there are times within the church today (and in churches of all varieties) where “Christians” adopt the most unchristian methods to achieve their supposedly godly aims. They sought out Paul and Silas.
17:6,7
However, their search proved fruitless, so they went for the believers instead, including Jason, and hauled them before the city authorities. They claimed that Paul and Silas had “caused trouble all over the world”, and that Jason had now invited these troublemakers into Thessalonica. “They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying there is another king, one called Jesus”. We do not realise how powerful a statement “Jesus is Lord” was, but in our day we may not be far from a state of affairs where once again it becomes as powerful and contentious as it was then. It was seen as being a direct challenge to Roman authority, and today we need to challenge the authority of our nation and the way it is going. The claim of the Jews was also somewhat ironic. Around this time, the Jews were evicted from Rome for being troublemakers.
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