Acts 26:24–32

Acts 26:24–32

Festus was a hard man, a Roman, who had one cause: his own advancement. He was ruthless and practical, so a conversation about God and salvation and the spiritual kingdom of darkness and Satan mattered little to him. “Can you touch it?” “Can you spend it?” “Can you use it for your benefit?” These were the questions he might ask. If the answers were anything other than “yes” he wasn’t interested. “Paul you were out of your mind”. He was a cynic who believed that too much reflection would drive you mad.

But Agrippa was another case. The heart was not completely severed from his links to his Jewish past. The prophets still haunted him. There were nagging questions that pop up in quiet moments or in conversations about all things Jewish. There was a shadow over his life, the shadow of a reality that he could not deny but only ignore. Now Paul is making ignoring that reality, that shadow, hard to do. He may not have liked the priestly delegation. They may have been his rivals but he knew the temple and sacrifices meant something. He may have not studied the law and the prophets but they rose from his past like a ghost to tell him you know something is not right.

Agrippa’s response is telling in both and what he doesn’t say and what he does say. He doesn’t say “Paul do you want me to be moral?” “Study the Bible?” “Participate in Temple worship?” Nor does he ask about any other activity that might be religious. His response to Paul’s defense, “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian”. We don’t know if Agrippa was being ironic or sincere. Was he wavering on becoming a disciple or merely mocking the earnestness of Paul? Scholars are divided and we will never know this side of Heaven. However one point is clear and sharp as a needle: the ultimate call is to be a follower, a disciple of Jesus. Often the gross immorality, injustice, and rampant wickedness of our world distress us. We rally to causes to change the behaviors on the outside. But in reality we are called to lead people to follow Christ. Once they follow him He will change them from the inside out.

"Lord, haunt me if I ever begin to drift. AMEN"