Acts 28

…for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against. (From verse 22)

The Roman Jews did not know much about the Way, and all they had hear was bad. That was fine with them – the Jews, especially in places like Rome, were used to having their way of life, their families, and their God maligned. They knew a bad report could be the slandering of God’s true work, just as it had been in the times of the Prophets, and more recently, the Maccabees.

Today, that is still the case with true Christianity. People laugh at those who “waste” their Sunday mornings at church or their time in prayer. They mock those who attempt to do good (I never realised until recently how hated Mother Teresa is/was, and precisely for the reasons she is so known, not her dodgy theology or her long-time hidden doubts). Christians are made fun of in a way that just isn’t acceptable for in regards to any other religion.

Yet these things are not bad things in God’s plan. People are interested in the ‘weirdness’ of true Christianity, and for some of them, their interest will develop into faith. We must never be ashamed of the gospel, in spite of those who appear to be arrayed against us, for the gospel is the power of God to save the souls of those who are yet to believe.