Religious bad men are the Worse

Acts 25:1-12

Paul has been given a promise from Jesus while in a Roman prison in the city of Jerusalem.  It was after his meeting with the high priest, the religious leaders, and the tribune that he had his soldiers go down to the meeting, taking Paul by force because he feared the Jews would kill him.  “It was the following night that Jesus stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.” (Acts 23:11 emphases added)  Now when Jesus spoke to Paul Rome may not have been penciled in on his calendar, and it may have seemed to many whom Paul shared what Jesus had promised him, that Paul heard what he wanted to hear.  It had been two years and Felix has been replaced by Porcius Festus, and he had been the procurator of Judea for days when he arrives in Jerusalem. 

Upon the arrival of Festus you would expect the leaders of the Jewish people to talk about important matters like the cruelty and dishonesty of Felix, but those items were not on the list, at least they were not at the top of the list.  A prisoner by the name of Paul, being held in Caesarea, was all they wanted to talk about.  It is a must to recall that the leaders of the Jews are very religious folks, and what was their end game?  They wanted the new guys to win favor with them by asking for a trial in Jerusalem for this guy named Paul, who Festus has not yet met.  And why Jerusalem, because a plan was in place to ambush the soldiers, and kill Paul, but it should never be forgotten that religions’ end game is death.  We should never forget these words of two men from our history: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it with religious conviction.” -- Blaise Pascal  “Of all bad men religious bad men are the worse.” --C.S. Lewis

The new Procurator listened and then he said, you who have authority come on down to Caesarea with me and we will examine this Paul.  Now this is doctor Luke’s account of what took place next.  “After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove. Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.” But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?” But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.” Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”  (Acts 25:6-12 ESV)

Many a Christian has had a word spoken to them by our Lord, and after a few months, have dismissed it.  But Paul is not surprised, for long ago it was established that he could trust the promises of the Lord.  If you raise the covers of your mind and look, what will you see, “But God”! 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice