Uproar, familiar

After Acts 23

He speaks to rulers and priests,

saying what he always says,

explaining what he always explains,

a remarkable consistency in view

of the inevitable result: the uproar

so familiar, so expected, that he must

be either baiting them or so completely

single-minded that he can do nothing

else. As he pits false belief against

false belief, opinion against opinion,

ignorance and blindness against

ignorance and blindness, hardened,

he finds himself, once again, taken

by the soldiers to protect him

from a gathering darkness.

Illustration: Paul before the Sanhedrin in Jersusalem.