these passages are building up to the crowning moments of Pauls misson to Rome
consulting the commentaries on these verses, this is what they say about Paul:
1) that he is a prisoner yet innocent
2) he had opposition/enemies who wanted him harm and yet being in prison, he was protected
3) Paul was tried, but no punishable charges resulted (similar to Pontius Pilate)
4) he was offered a change of venue...
"...in his defense, Paul began with the objective historical fact of the resurrection, and so must we. It is the essential foundation for any supernatural working whereby we come to our meeting with our risen Savior and entering into a personal relationship with him."
and coming to hearing Paul speak are Agrippa (Herod), Bernice, . . . high ranking officers, leading men of the city... unbelievers who will hear the truth of the Son of God who died and lives again and who will set them free
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2 comments:
thanks helen for such a moving and insightful commentary. so many parallels between our Lord Jesus and paul as he heads to rome and certain death. the gospel tells us that at the appointed time, Jesus set His face "resolutely" toward jerusalem where He would be persecuted and killed. the same might be said for paul as he headed toward rome. i hope that at the hour and moment of our own testing, in whatever form it may take, we may be just as resolute in our faith, having full assurance "that whatever befalls us Jesus doeth all things well".
Thank you, Helen!!!! How are you? I miss you!
As I was reading this passage, I agree with all you when you say there are many similarities of that with Jesus. What strikes me is when Festus mentions that Paul's accusers charged Paul with crimes that he didn't expect to hear. The Jews' argument against Paul was based on the offense towards their religious and moral standards and not common law. So i can understand why the Romans were like "why are the Jews throwing such a hissy-fit over one man." I just that it was amusing to see this. But then I started wondering if we're no different from the Jews of that time and the injustice they had against Paul.
What I mean is, when we gripe and grumble about Jesus and all the complaints and bad things that happen in our lives or the limitations and boundaries that we think Christianity set up for us, isn't that similar to what the Jews thought of Christ and the Gospel. They think Christianity is offensive because it questions and deems their religion and belief system to be faulty and meaningless. Don't we do that when we think God's way of life restricts us from doing the things we want and the way we want to live. I don't know, so excuse me for just rambling on about nonsense, but this is what came to mind as I read and thought about today's passage.
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