Observation: As Paul stands before the Jewish King Agrippa, this is Festus' explanation for the hearing ... he is going to send Paul to Ceasar as a prisoner, but doesn't have any crime to charge him with, so maybe Agrippa can help figure it out. The Jews want Paul put to death, and yet Festus can't find even the smallest thing wrong with him.
This statement gets to the heart of everything everyone has ever had against Paul. His "crime" is ... he believes that Jesus is the Messiah, went through the hardships - and resurrection - exactly as the prophets said he would, and thus now provides an avenue for redemption and salvation through faith.
Paul understands this, and his entire conversation with Agrippa will be about this fact. Paul will explain his personal history as a Pharisee, walk through his conversion on the road to Damascus, and proclaim that all he has done ever since that event is point out to everyone that the prophets all declared the need for a future Messiah, they described the life and actions of that Messiah, and now Jesus has fulfilled that hope that all Jews have had for centuries.
However, none of this is a crime. None of this is worthy of any kind of Roman action, let alone a trial, and certainly not a trial to be heard by Ceasar. Yet Festus wants to maintain peace in Judea, and thus is going to send Paul to Ceasar anyway, and needs to make up a reason. And the important takeaway of that statement is that ... it absolutely won't work. For reasons unrelated to Christianity, Judea will refuse to be a peaceful Roman province, and in only a few more years Rome will need to enforce its rule in Judea, and will mark that enforcement through a military siege of Jerusalem, resulting in the permanent (at least to this day) destruction of the temple.
Application: There is an important pattern here to be observed, when people motivated by evil attack people motivated by the Lord's truth and love. That pattern has three components I can see:
1) Those opposed to the Lord's truth desire, as an outcome, some violent retribution against the believers, which often itself seems immoral and wrong.
2) The accusers invent ideas - new words, new rules, new policies, new ideals, new morality - as a basis for accusations.
3) When they succeed in their attacks ... and yes, make no mistake, their attacks often succeed ... nothing changes. Their lives aren't better, their circumstances aren't better, and in fact their society is much worse.
I have seen first-hand how this happens in relatively small ways, with false attacks against single individuals regarding a very small social construct, and how the outcome made everything worse for everyone. And I know why this is the case ... because the Lord is on the throne, picking up the pieces for the faithful and restoring their strength and hope, while providing justice on all.
I wish I had more peace in my life over my past circumstances. It is finally getting better, but it all still lingers even after several years. I would like to better follow Paul's example, and simply live in peace, while I continue to know that the Lord is with me and my family.
Prayer: Lord, I do in fact you are with me, and see your hand in every aspect of every circumstance. May I find your Shalom. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment