Sermons
A Message by the Rev. Harvey G. Throop
Palisades Presbyterian Church
San Diego, California
(17) The Apostle: Transferred and Tried!
(Acts 23:12-35)
“ Then he ordered the centurion to keep him (Paul) in custody… ”
(Acts 24:23a)
Have you ever gone through a period in your life when God seemed distant – a time when you wondered whether or not God really existed – or if he existed, if he really cared?
Paul had had a quite a week in Jerusalem. Three times he almost lost his life to an angry religious mob. The first time, when the crowd found Paul in the temple and dragged him outside to tear him apart; the second time, when Paul stood on the steps of the barracks and, armed only with the gospel, gave his defense to the crowd who again went after him; the third time, when Paul was being tried before the Sanhedrin by the chief priest and elders and his words resulted in a violent brawl with Paul in the center. Through it all, he had been accused of no crime, yet he was still in custody.
On the night following Paul's appearance before the Sanhedrin, Luke had written that “the Lord stood near to Paul and said, ‘Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome'” (Acts 23:11).
But now Paul was about to enter a period where there would be no special revelation, no direct word and no personal comfort from God.
There are days in our lives when things seem dark. God does not seem to be speaking to us. He seems silent and remote. Does that mean that God has forgotten us or doesn't know what is happening? What do we do at times like that?
The Jews from Asia visiting Jerusalem had been frustrated in their attempts to get rid of Paul. So a group of more than 40 of them hatched a plot to murder Paul. They had bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink anything until they succeeded in killing Paul. Their scheme was to have Paul brought back to court along a narrow street where Paul could easily be intercepted and killed.
Paul, of course, knew nothing of this plot against him. But the son of Paul's sister heard about the conspiracy, so he came and entered the barracks and told Paul (Acts 23:16). In a short time, this nephew got access to the tribune and informed him of the plot against Paul's life. The tribune acted immediately to send Paul to Caesarea to be judged by Felix, the Roman governor.
Keep in mind: this tribune is not a follower of Jesus Christ; he does not believe in Paul's message; he doesn't even understand it; and, for the life of him, he cannot figure out what Paul has done that is so wrong. The tribune respects the religious leaders of Jerusalem, but he refuses to allow them to kill Paul simply because of a religious disagreement. His job is to uphold the law.
So he sends a detachment of 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen to escort, guard and deliver Paul to the governor, Felix, in Caesarea. It was a journey of about 60 miles and took two days to travel.
The commander, whose name we learn in this passage was Claudius Lysias, sent a letter with Paul that confirmed that Paul had not broken any Roman laws. Whatever this is about, he assures the governor, it has to do with some internal religious matter.
When the military detail arrived and delivered their prisoner, the governor ordered that Paul be kept under guard in the magnificent palace which Herod the Great had built for himself and which was now the praetorium, the governor's official residence.
Five days later, Paul was arraigned. At the same time, the Jewish high priest, Ananias, came down with some elders and an attorney by the name of Tertullus, one of the most eloquent and clever trial lawyers of Jerusalem, to present their case before Felix.
The prosecution was first to present its case. Their lawyer, Tertullus, began his case against Paul by trying to win Felix's favor with excessive flattery. Then he presented the charges, “We have … found this man a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5-6). On and on went the charges, corroborated by false witnesses and not a word of truth in any of it.
However, neither Tertullus's flattery of Felix nor his flagrant demeaning of Paul was a match for Paul's brilliant response.
Paul was a wise man … and experienced. This was not the first time he had been wrongfully accused, nor would it be the last. So rather than responding in anger, which would have only helped the opposition, Paul simply gave his personal testimony of his faith and declared that he served God. Then he stated concisely and succinctly to the governor: “It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today” (Acts 24:21).
Paul won the day! Luke writes, “Felix, who was rather well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing with the comment, ‘When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.' Then he ordered the centurion to keep Paul in custody, but to let him have some liberty and not to prevent any of his friends from taking care of his needs” (Acts 24:22-23).
While Paul was in prison, Felix would periodically send for him hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe so that Felix could release him. Instead Paul would offer him a little sermon about justice, self-control, and the coming judgment of God. Felix would get frightened and send Paul back to prison. A while later they would go through the whole thing again. This was going nowhere. In essence, Paul was stuck.
Individuals can be made to feel “stuck” in countless ways. Paul was “stuck” in prison. You and I can feel “stuck” at work, in a relationship, in a financial crisis or with a health issue – to name just a few examples. We would love to move on but, for a variety of reasons, we cannot move on.
Victor Frankl, in his book Man's Search For Meaning , shares from his own experience in German concentration camps during World War 2, when he writes: “ Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms (is) to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances” (Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning , Simon & Schuster [New York, 1984], p. 9).
During his prison ordeal, Frankl learned that the men without hope were the first ones to die. They collapsed from the inside out. It doesn't have to be that way. Hope is available, but you have to choose it. And when you choose to believe in a future of hope, then you are better equipped to deal with the present.
That's what Paul did. He knew that his future was secure in God's hands, so he was able to deal with his present circumstances. Every time Felix called Paul to converse with him, he would listen to Paul and then send him back to his prison cell. Paul didn't get to first base converting Felix.
Felix's wife, Drusilla, also heard Paul speak. In fact, on several occasions, the two of them listened to Paul, not anticipating the moral implications and the cutting edge of judgment that were a part of Paul's message. Felix's adulterous relationship to Drusilla was now under question, something the governor had not bargained for in what he thought would be an entertaining encounter.
Besides that, his hidden agenda was that of hoping to be able to barter Paul's freedom for money.
The fact is that Felix was one of the worst provincial governors Rome ever saw. Two years later, he got into trouble with Rome over the way he handled a conflict between Jews and Greeks in Caesarea. He was deposed and transferred, leaving his post without either political or spiritual power.
A different breed of governor, Festus, soon replaced Felix. Yet, he did no better at untangling the charges against Paul by the Jews than his predecessor. Festus had barely arrived to take up his duties before he was confronted with this sticky issue.
He intended to begin his responsibilities as Roman governor by establishing good relations with the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. But the Jews had only one thing on their minds: getting rid of Paul of Tarsus! Once again, they tried to arrange an ambush assassination by getting the governor to have Paul moved from Caesarea to Jerusalem. However, Festus saw through that plot and insisted on a further trial in Caesarea.
The best we can say about Festus was that he was an honest and just man. But he was also weak. He wanted to succeed with the volatile Jews and gain their favor. His lack of fiber as a leader is shown by the fact that he asked Paul if he were willing to be tried in Jerusalem.
Now, this dialogue about the place where the trial should be held was used by Luke to prepare us for one of Paul's most courageous statements – one that sealed his destiny. Paul said to Festus, ‘I am appealing to the emperor's tribunal; this is where I should be tried… (Acts 25:10). Then Festus, after he had conferred with his council, replied, ‘You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go'” (Acts 25:12).
The secret of Paul's courage was that he had nothing to fear, whether life or death. Remember how he had written to the Philippians, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). He believed that! And that is how he lived. He could make his appeal to Caesar because he had already given his life to Christ! There was nothing left for him to fear.
After several days, Luke writes that King Agrippa and his wife, Bernice, came to Caesarea to pay their respects to the new governor, Festus.
A little background of Agrippa helps us understand this man. His grandfather was King Herod “the Great”, the king who panicked when he heard about the birth of Jesus and ordered the murder of all male children in the vicinity of Bethlehem at the time.
One of King Herod's sons, Herod Antipas, ruled in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus' trial and crucifixion, and it was after Jesus refused to do a miracle for Herod's amusement that Herod allowed his soldiers to mock Jesus by putting a purple robe on him.
King Agrippa belonged to the family lineage of that Herod. When Agrippa and his wife, Bernice, had arrived in Caesarea, the governor raised the matter of Paul's case, which he had inherited from the former governor, Felix. Agrippa was intrigued by Festus' summary of the case and he told Festus that he would like to hear Paul himself. So Festus arranged for the king to hear Paul the next day.
On the following day, Agrippa and Bernice arrived with great pomp and ceremony. On such an occasion, they would have worn their purple robes of royalty and the gold circlet of the crown on their heads. Festus would have worn the scarlet robe, which a governor wore on state occasions. Following them as they entered the audience room would be the high ranking officers, the military tribunes of the governor's staff and the leading men of the city.
When they had taken their seats, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. Paul would have entered the room in sharp contrast to the others, wearing handcuffs and perhaps a plain prisoner's tunic.
When everyone was in place, King Agrippa gave permission to Paul to speak for himself. It was a dramatic moment when the humble apostle stood before this representative of worldly power. It called to mind the words of Jesus to his disciples, “You will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:18).
Empowered by his knowledge of God's Spirit with him, Paul proceeded to tell his personal story, and he drew attention to its three main phases: his Jewish heritage, his persecuting zeal and his commissioning by Christ.
As Paul proceeded to make his defense, Festus interrupted him and accused him of being out of his mind, suggesting that all his study had driven him crazy. But Paul responded that what was madness to the governor's way of thinking was simply the truth, and then he appealed to Agrippa. Paul said, “ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you so quickly persuading me to become a Christian?” Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that not only you but also all who are listening to me today might become such as I am—except for these chains” (Acts 26:27-29).
Many commentators on this passage refer to King Agrippa as the “Almost Christian.” He came ever so close to accepting Christ as his Lord and Savior, but couldn't quite bring himself to taking that final step.
You and I know many “Almost Christians.” They listen with interest to the Gospel and, in some instances, even attend worship. But they just can't bring themselves to committing.
Well, the proceedings between Paul and the rulers ended. As King Agrippa left the hearings with his wife, Bernice, and with Governor Festus, he observed that Paul had done nothing in Rome's eyes that merited death or imprisonment, and he said to Governor Festus, "This man could have gone free, if he had not appealed to Caesar."
Paul had had the last word. Whether before kings and governors or simply with everyday folks, Paul's greatest desire was to tell them about Christ. And he did.
As you and I go about our daily living and as we interact with folks from all walks of life, is there anything in our manner, our conversations or our actions that conveys something of the faith we profess?
It is only as we share the message of Christ by word and deed that others will come to know him, and knowing him, accept him as their Lord and Savior.
