DEJA VU

Can I pray for you in any way? 

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, where the chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul. They requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there.”

After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him. When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove them.

Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.”

Acts 25:1-8

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Paul had been held in what could be seen as house arrest for more than two years by Felix, the Roman governor overseeing the province around the city of Caesarea where he had his headquarters. You’ll recall that Felix had presided over a court proceeding where the Sanhedrin had levied charges against Paul, accusing him of initiating riots and discord in Jerusalem and desecrating the holy temple. In his self defense, Paul systematically refuted all accusations. The scene was set for a quick acquittal as Paul had done nothing to violate Roman law but Felix failed to render a decision and left Paul in prison until he was relieved by another governor. The scriptures tell us he did so as a “favor to the Jews” and you’ll remember that his wife, Drusilla, was a Jew herself.

And so Paul remained in captivity as a new governor, Porcius Festus, took over. Would Paul’s situation now change? Would he finally be pardoned?

Not exactly. For as we see at the beginning of chapter 25, Paul experiences what we would call a bad case of déjà vu.

You know about déjà vu, right?

It’s when you are going through something and you have that feeling inside that says, “Here we go again”, or “I’ve seen this movie before”. You have the feeling that I’ve been through an experience before.

This had to be what Paul was feeling as the new Roman governor, Festus, decides to travel to Jerusalem and pay a visit to the “chief priests and Jewish leaders” in Jerusalem just three days after he arrived in the province he would rule over. Once there, the Sanhedrin leaders regurgitated the same charges against Paul, who now has not even been in Jerusalem for over two years time. Nothing happened then and certainly everyone has moved on in Israel’s capital city except the Jewish religious leadership who held a wicked, sinful grudge against Paul, just as they did against Jesus who Paul followed.

As we read our passage for today, we find that the prior charges weren’t the only things mined back up and used. The Sanhedrin also dusted off their plans to assassinate Paul. Of course, they wouldn’t reveal their intent to Festus. Rather, they tried to manipulate him to take an action that would support their murderous plot.

And so the Sanhedrin leaders asked Festus to bring Paul to Jerusalem as a favor to them so they could question him further. They must have been disappointed to hear Festus tell them this:

“Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there.”

In other words, it would be like déjà vu for the Sanhedrin as for Paul because this is what they did before after Paul was taken to Felix by the Roman commander in Jerusalem out of concern for Paul’s safety after wind of the fist assassination plan was exposed.

And so the Jewish religious leaders, bent on getting their way this time, traveled back to Caesarea after Festus had spent “eight or ten days with them”. Festus convened another court hearing and brought Paul into the scene where he found himself surrounded by his Jewish accusers who “brought many serious charges against him”, charges “they could not prove”.

Did I say this was déjà vu?

It was just like the first hearing and to further show this, Paul once again begins to defend himself, beginning with the following statement:

“I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.”

Paul declared his innocence in short and succinct fashion but he was far from finished. For as we will see tomorrow in the first devotion of an eight message series, Paul will begin to appeal to a higher power.

Have a blessed day there.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com