From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.”

Acts 20:17 – 19

In great humility?  What is Paul saying?  He is carrying the most precious Gospel, the power of God for all who believe.  I should have thought that Paul would have quieted all dissent as he proclaimed without fear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This does not describe how Paul felt.  He had witnessed to the Gospel in Ephesus for three years, in a most fruitful ministry.  He is now writing to them to encourage them to follow Jesus.

He uses himself as the example.  When he and the team of missionaries settled into Ephesus, it was in the context of the Jewish synagogue.  They lifted up Jesus there and some believed, but most seemingly wanted to get rid of the team. They were opening the Gospel to Gentiles as well as Jews.  The Jews found this difficult to accept.

Paul’s approach seems surprising, instead to raising his voice he expressed great humility, to the extent of weeping with the believers as the hard-lined Jews battered them.  This is the way of love, the way of faith, the way of Jesus.  Paul is a weeping evangelist!  I knew little of that, I admit, as I tried to lift up Jesus in the ministry that God gave me.  If I felt like crying it would have been for self-pity.  Not because I was overwhelmed with compassion for others.