Acts 25.13-27
Did you ever wish things would follow the reason of your choice and not their own natural pattern? The appliance breaks down and the company extends the warranty for you? The city transit authority decides to change the bus routes so there is a free bus that picks you up at your doorstep and takes you to your workplace at the exact time you want to be there? Your elected officials call you up to ask you what they should do on policies about which you voted against them? Life would be pleasant indeed.
We can all look at our lives, though, and realize that the majority of events don't turn out that way. As a result of Adam's sin our lives, our relationships, our work – it's all cursed. And not a day goes by when we are not reminded of this cursed life. We wake up in the morning and can see and feel the curse immediately, or certainly as soon as we look in the mirror. And we go through our day trying to dodge the effects of the curse. Some days most of our events come off without major difficulties, but then there are other days. The day when the file we dread comes across the desk. The day when we get to deal with the case we didn't want, didn't ask for, and with which we don't know what to do.
In Acts 25 we meet Festus and find that he is having a couple of days like this. He has inherited a prisoner. The prisoner has appealed to Caesar. But part of Festus' job is to make sure that this is in fact the prisoner who appealed to Caesar, that he has had due process as a Roman citizen, and that when he arrives in front of Caesar that Caesar will know what to do with him. It should be no problem. Festus is a high ranking official. He has disposed of hundreds, if not thousands, of similar cases. Someone is accused or convicted of a crime. Our government needs to be sure it knows how to deal with him. We put the facts in order and dispose of the case. File closed, off my desk. Murderers are executed. Thieves are fined, sold, or banished. Political revolutionaries get to suffer publicly. We look at the case, we decide the case, we move on to the next issue. Lunch is on time. We make it to the political networking at the bathhouse at the appropriate time of the afternoon.
This day, Festus is confronted with a prisoner who is a little different. His name is Paul, though he is also known by his Hebrew name of Saul. Seems an educated man. He doesn't seem the violent revolutionary type. But he was arrested forcibly, taken out of a riot, and wound up inciting the people who were accusing him to some sort of frenzy by which they planned to die if necessary in their attempts to kill him. Strange. He doesn't seem that dangerous. What to do with him? It would be nice to say he is a violent and dangerous criminal, pass him on to Caesar, and be done with it. But that simply isn't to happen.
Sometimes talking through the situation is exactly what enables us to think clearly. So in an audience with Agrippa (a man of greater authority than Festus), Festus asks Agrippa to hear the prisoner. The dispute was not about something familiar to Festus. It was about some religious matter. Something having to do with Paul's religion, which is akin to Agrippa's religion. He's been talking about someone who was dead and whom Paul says to be alive, but his opponents insist is dead. This really doesn't seem like a state matter.
As you know, Agrippa agrees to hear the testimony. Paul will speak very boldly about Jesus. Agrippa, Bernice, and Festus are not of a mind to believe at that time. Paul remains a prisoner and is sent to Caesar with no better descriptor of his crime than he had before.
Some matters of life are simply perplexing. Yet when we look at those events understanding Jesus' death and resurrection to be the focal point of our life, many of those matters make more sense. Especially this seemingly irrelevant issue which doesn't appear to Festus to be an affair of state, this becomes an important state matter if we see the reality of Jesus' death for our sin. If the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is the mediation between God and man, if Christ's righteousness is imputed to his people, if Jesus calls people to take up their cross and follow him, if all this is true we have suddenly gained order and reason in our lives which would otherwise seem to be a smattering of irrelevant details. If the way I manage my work today in the office is an expression of my loving my neighbor for Christ's sake, even the most menial detail of what I do is important. It is all related to Jesus and his work on our behalf.
What is the charge against Paul? He believes Christ. What is the charge against us?
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