Acts 21:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see? This is foretold so that, when you hear the words, "I go bound in the Spirit," you may not think that he goes by necessity, or suffers without knowing it. They wept, but he consoled them, grieving over their tears. "What are you doing?" he says. "Why do you weep and break my heart?" No one was more loving than Paul. He was grieved when he saw them weeping, but he did not grieve over his own sufferings. You wrong me, he says, by doing this. Am I grieving? Only then did they stop, when he said, "What are you doing? Why do you weep and break my heart?" I weep for you, he says, not for my own sufferings. As for them, I am ready to die. When Paul heard that many calamities awaited him, then he set out with haste.

"What are you doing, weeping?" The others wept, but Paul comforted them. He who did not fear his own trials grieved over their tears. I weep for you, he says, not for the sufferings that await me. For the sake of the Lord Jesus I am ready even to die.

This instrument of piety, by which faith is broken, must be restrained by the wall of the Gospel.

The Apostle’s words made a deep impression on the hearts of his hearers (Acts 20:36). All wept. All fell on Paul’s neck. All kissed him. The travelers barely tore themselves from their hands (21:1).

This scene was repeated afterward in Tyre, and finally in Caesarea Philippi. The nearer Paul came to Jerusalem, the more clearly and strikingly the fate awaiting him there appeared before him.

In Caesarea, Agabus was the same man who, fourteen or fifteen years earlier, had opened Paul’s way to Jerusalem with alms by his prophecy about the famine. Now, meeting him also with alms, he bound the hands and feet of the benefactor himself with his own belt.

This means, said the prophet, that in Jerusalem they will bind this man in this way and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

At this time the prophet Agabus came to Caesarea from Judea (Acts 11:28). By the symbolic act of binding his own hands and feet with Paul's belt, he foretold that the Jews in Jerusalem would bind the Apostle in this way and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. This moved the Caesarean Christians to beg the Apostle together not to go up to Jerusalem. But Paul answered that he desired not only to be a prisoner, but was ready even to die for the name of Christ. By the feast of Pentecost he arrived in Jerusalem.

But the Apostle was unshaken. "What are you doing? Why are you weeping and breaking my heart?" he said to them. "I am not only willing to be a prisoner, but am ready to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." Then it became clear to all that further entreaties would torment him and be useless. Therefore they became quiet and wiped away their tears, saying, "Let the will of the Lord be done."

Paul clearly perceived within himself another prompting of the Holy Spirit: he must go to Jerusalem without fail, even if he had to die there. Therefore the requests of the Christians, accompanied by tears, only broke the Apostle’s loving heart. They could not turn him away from the intention he had undertaken. He expressed this movingly to those who entreated and wept. I wish, I am ready: the irresistible impulse of the Spirit (Acts 20:22) fully agreed with his own desire and readiness. He was ready not only to suffer, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. This was the place where he had once persecuted the confessors of that name with such fury. It was also the place where the Lord Himself suffered and died. "No one was more loving than Paul.

Paul’s attitude toward those who wept out of compassion for his bonds is remarkable for its loving-kindness and its power of admonition and edification. In admonishing all concerning the futility of their pity, he said nothing like what Jesus Christ said in a similar case, when He called the Apostle Peter Satan (cf. Matt 16:23). Instead he exhorts them not to weep, for by this they cause him great grief. As for bonds and sufferings in Jerusalem, he himself desires this. He is even ready to die in Jerusalem for the name of Christ. "No one was more loving than Paul," says Saint John Chrysostom. "He was grieved when he saw them weeping, but he did not grieve over his own sufferings. You wrong me, he says, by doing this. Am I grieving? I weep for you, he says, not for my own sufferings.

To this one must answer: "Why do you hinder me, lamenting the path that lies before me, after hearing that bonds and torments await me when I arrive in Jerusalem? Know, then, that I follow the Spirit, Who has shown me what will happen to me, and I am beginning my journey to this city. I am not ignorant of what awaits me there, for I foresaw it beforehand. Nor have I been forbidden to set out on this journey. Therefore do not tear my heart with your tears." Didymus means that Paul has in mind: "The Holy Spirit did not forbid me," as happened in Acts 16:6. Thus one who is truly ready for courageous deeds, so as to despise even his own death, will not grow timid, even if someone tries to induce faintheartedness. As for these people, confusion arises in their thoughts.