Project 119: Acts 25:1-12
| Project 119 | Amy Hirsch
The proverb “Time heals all wounds” may be true, but sometimes, time can also intensify wounds. Two years had passed and Felix was no longer the governor; Festus had taken up his post. Paul was still in prison. And we see that the Jews were still enraged. They wanted Paul, and they wanted him dead. And notice, it wasn’t just the zealots planning an ambush this time; members of the Sanhedrin joined in, reasoning that, if Festus transferred Paul to Jerusalem to be tried, they might be able to attack and kill him while he was en route to the city.
Festus refused to go along with this plan, but invited some of the Sanhedrin to come to Caesarea for the trial, possibly to even sit on the jury. While they had been waiting with bated breath for two years for Paul to finally be punished, the Jews couldn’t come up with any witnesses against him, and their allegations remained unproven. Luke tells us that Festus wanted to get on the good sides of the Jews, so he offered Paul the opportunity to go to Jerusalem and be tried there. Paul knew such a journey would be a death sentence for him, so he appealed to stand trial before Caesar instead.
Why did these men hate Paul so much? I think part of the issue is that Paul was once one of them. He was a “Pharisee of Pharisees.” He held the coats of those who stoned Stephen and persecuted followers of the Way, before he met Christ on the road to Damascus, where his life was forever changed. They hated the message that Paul preached: that the Old Testament, the law that they so treasured, had been fulfilled in the coming of Christ. They rejected the truth that all of the temple sacrifices point forward to the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus’ death on the cross. They refused to believe that they needed divine intervention for salvation, that their close following of the law and observance of sacrifices and temple ordinances couldn’t make them right with God. And they abhorred the fact that Paul welcomed Gentiles into the fold of this sect, declaring that they need not be circumcised to be a part of God’s kingdom. By holding such a grudge, they denied part of the law they held so dear: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart...you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:17-18).
It’s easy to see their sin, isn’t it? But we are all tempted to hold grudges, aren’t we? We can preach about forgiveness, but it’s often easy to talk about it and much more difficult to offer it. These Jews refused to see the truth and turned away from the gospel, but when we understand the gospel, we understand that Christ has forgiven us fully for our sins. He holds no grudges. Thanks be to God!
Acts 25:1-12 (ESV):
Now three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. 2 And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him,3 asking as a favor against Paul that he summon him to Jerusalem—because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. 4 Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly. 5 “So,” said he, “let the men of authority among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him.”
6 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. 7 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. 8 Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.” 9 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?” 10 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. 11 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.” 12 Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”