Book of Common Prayer
Riot in the Temple
27 When the seven days were completed, some Jews from Asia spotted Paul in the Temple. They gathered a crowd and grabbed him.
28 “Men of Israel,” they yelled, “come and help us! This is the man who’s been teaching everybody everywhere against our people, our law, and this place! And now, what’s more, he’s brought some Greeks into the Temple, and he’s defiled this holy place!” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with Paul in the city, and they thought Paul had taken him into the Temple.)
30 The whole city was stirred up, and people rushed together from all around. They seized Paul and dragged him outside the Temple, and the gates were shut at once. 31 As they were trying to kill him, word reached the tribune of the guard that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 At once he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When the crowd saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the tribune came up, arrested him, ordered him to be bound with two chains, and asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd said one thing, some said another. Since he couldn’t find out what was really going on because of the uproar, he gave orders for Paul to be brought into the barracks. 35 When they got to the steps, the pressure of the crowd was so strong that the soldiers had to carry Paul. 36 The great mob of people was following, and shouting, “Kill him! Kill him!”
The request of James and John
32 They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and the people following were afraid.
Again he took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him. 33 “Look,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem. The son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the legal experts, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the pagans. 34 They will taunt him and spit at him and flog him and kill him—and after three days he will rise again.”
35 James and John, Zebedee’s sons, came up to him.
“Teacher,” they said, “we want you to grant us whatever we ask.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” asked Jesus.
37 “Grant us,” they said, “that when you’re there in all your glory, one of us will sit at your right, and the other at your left.”
38 “You don’t know what you’re asking for!” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I’m going to drink? Can you receive the baptism I’m going to receive?”
39 “Yes,” they said, “we can.”
“Well,” said Jesus, “you will drink the cup I drink; you will receive the baptism I receive. 40 But sitting at my right hand or my left—that’s not up to me. It’s been assigned already.”
41 When the other ten disciples heard, they were angry with James and John. 42 Jesus called them to him.
“You know how it is in the pagan nations,” he said. “Think how their so-called rulers act. They lord it over their subjects. The high and mighty ones boss the rest around. 43 But that’s not how it’s going to be with you. Anyone who wants to be great among you must become your servant. 44 Anyone who wants to be first must be everyone’s slave. 45 Don’t you see? The son of man didn’t come to be waited on. He came to be the servant, to give his life ‘as a ransom for many.’ ”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.