Acts 26:19-32 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles. ”At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.” “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.” Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian? ”Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. After they left the room, they began saying to one another, “This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment.” Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
To believe as Paul believed, our world shouts as Festus shouted, “You are out of your mind, Paul!” Paul believed in the reality of the resurrection; he believed the prophets who prophesied that the Messiah would come to earth to rescue the human race out of darkness. Paul spread this message of Jesus being the Messiah and that He is the light, the truth, the way to eternal life. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. (John 14:6-7) After the road to Damascus, Paul’s life was constantly in jeopardy. Most of the Jews and Gentiles were vehemently opposed to his message of finding and knowing God through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. The people in the Caesarea courtroom rationally supposed Jesus to be dead; his bones resting in a tomb somewhere in Jerusalem. For these people, Paul was expressing madness, a fanatic who has lost his rational mind. Paul’s preaching of the resurrection of Jesus was an unbelievable story, counteracting what the rational mind knows about death. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise: the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” (1 Corinthians 1:1819) God chose not to allow many to approach his redeeming power through the rational mind. He selected the foolish and weak things of the world to confound the minds of the elite and strong. Jesus’ followers were mostly the weak and deprived. He told John's disciples who carried to Jesus a question from John the Baptist: Are you the anticipated Messiah? Jesus responds to the two disciples of John, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the POOR. (Luke 7:22) Jesus’ intimate followers that he dined with were considered by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law as “scum.” Paul talks to the Corinthians about the worldly status of most of those who believe in Jesus as Lord. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31) Paul in the courtroom of Caesarea does not have men of influence to support his innocence; he has only his testimony to enlighten these influential people. For them he is expressing madness, yet they knew he was an innocent man who should be freed, but Paul appealed to Caesar so they could not release him from the chains that bound Paul.
Everything Paul is saying in the courtroom is based on a truth he has observed. He knows through Jesus’ name people’s lives have been turned upside down. Once they lived in absolute darkness, filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They were full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They were gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful. (Romans 1:29-30) These people Paul ministered to in the Gentile world displayed little fidelity, love, mercy to others, especially to their enemies. But Paul saw the miracle of the newly born IN CHRIST. Through faith in the work of the cross, their lives emanated love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) God’s presence in them through the work of the cross had made them new creatures. As Jesus said, you must be born again. Paul saw the image of God come through these new-born people, Greek and Jew alike. They once had sat in darkness, but now as new creatures they were living lives of goodness and love. They were living testimonies of Jesus’ words. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48) As Jesus ministered, Paul ministered. Paul saw the truth of born-again lives. He knew his own life changed from hating Christians, killing them, hurting them, persecuting them, wishing for them to recant their belief in Jesus Christ as Lord. His life was so transformed that he gave his life away willingly to follow Jesus as his Lord. Festus evaluated Paul's life as madness. But Paul saw Jesus on the road to Damascus; he saw the living Savior and he could not put that aside and say Jesus was still in a tomb. He realized Jesus was alive and that He had a purpose for Paul’s life. As Jesus who died outside of the Holy City of Jerusalem, he too was to go outside of the camp to the Gentiles and give his life, spreading the Good News to a very dark, wicked world. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. (Hebrews 13:13-14) With an enduring city awaiting him, death meant little to him. The persecution of the world would not deter him from vigorously spreading the Good News everywhere. Now in the Caesarean courtroom he was stating that his life was not his own; it was purchased by Jesus Christ on the cross. He was living for Christ’s glory and not for his own glory. He honored only Christ and no one else.
In Hebrews 11, we read about the ancients, about men of faith who lived in former days. We read about people of violence who righted kingdoms and brought justice to the world. They defended the honor of the Israelites through the sword. Men such as Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, David and Samuel. They defended God’s Promised Land: Canaan. But after their rule, the people always descended back into slavery. As long as the edge of the sword was active, people found peace in their land, but as soon as the edge of the sword was gone, people reverted back to their sinful nature. Sin was rampant again, idol worship took the place of worshipping God. Every mountain, every low place, every crossroad, every tree had shrines and idols to gods, but not the living God. They rejected the consuming fire and the thunderous voice they saw and heard at Mount Sinai. The sword could not change the Israelites' hearts. Some of them did not pick up the sword to defend themselves but believed in the God of Mount Sinai. They were looking for a better world, a place of peace and prosperity. But without the sword, they were horribly mistreated: tortured, faced jeers and flogging, chains, prison, death by stoning, sawed in two, death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These people were looking for a better world than the one they were living in. They were looking for the ETERNAL PROMISED LAND OF GOD, not one built by human hands. These men and women were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39-40) Paul’s ministry expresses the fulfillment of God’s plan for humans from the beginning of time. Through Jesus Christ who died for the sins of all humans, people can find the way to God. Perfection can be achieved through the work of the cross. The Eternal Promised Land will be inhabited by mere humans because of the work of Jesus on the cross. But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous MADE PERFECT, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 22-24) To revenge the blood of Abel means violence will bring justice. But justice was achieved on the cross. Christ brought justice to the world; no longer do we need to hate our enemies. Christ has achieved justice for us. Therefore, Paul’s ministry seemed madness to a violent, dying world, but he was bringing healing to a very sick world. He proclaimed that God is love. He loves all people, even those who dwell in the deepest darkness. God’s plan for them is to know and to emulate God’s love towards all people so that peace can be established in this troubled world. So as Paul says, Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. (Hebrews 13:1-2) Brothers and sisters around this breakfast table, we are to be incubated in the grace of God. Faith in God’s grace will change everything in our lives; we will be new creatures in God’s eternal love. Amen!
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