WEDNESDAY February 7, 2024

Not Fit to Live

And Festus said: “King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer. But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him.”
Acts 25:24-25

Festus continued to relay the situation regarding Paul to King Agrippa. Notice the plea from the Jewish council. It was a plea to end the life of Paul––to have him killed. Therefore, Paul appealed to Caesar, whose full name was: Nero Claudia Caesar Augustus Germanicus. This caused a big problem for Festus. Listen to his next comments to the King in Acts 25:26-27, to find out why:

“I [Festus] have nothing certain to write to my lord concerning him. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I may have something to write. For it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him.”

Festus said he realized that Paul had done nothing wrong––no charges could be found against him. Yet Festus refused to release him. Why? The reason was political. He wanted to do the Jews whom he governed a favor. Remember, the Jews had asked for Paul to be summoned to Jerusalem. Fetus asked if he would go to be heard (Acts 25:9).

Paul sensed he would not get treated fairly, so he appealed to Caesar; but before he could be sent, the governor needed something more definitive in the charges brought against him. It was hard to convict an innocent man. As King Agrippa was a scholar of Jewish matters, perhaps he could help him find something substantial to fit the charges against Paul.

What can we learn from this awkward scenario? In our world today, there are many political prisoners who are being held purely because they are a threat or nuisance to another leader’s political power.

If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
~Martin Luther King Jr.~

For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!