Acts 25:12-21: a reflection

12Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you shall go.” 13Now when some days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus. 14As he stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix; 15about whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, asking for a sentence against him. 16I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to give up any man to destruction before the accused has met the accusers face to face and has had opportunity to make his defense concerning the matter laid against him. 17When therefore they had come together here, I didn’t delay, but on the next day sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought. 18When the accusers stood up, they brought no charges against him of such things as I supposed; 19but had certain questions against him about their own religion and about one Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. 20Being perplexed how to inquire concerning these things, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters. 21But when Paul had appealed to be kept for the decision of the emperor, I commanded him to be kept until I could send him to Caesar.”

The Roman governor Festus, explaining Paul's case to King Agrippa, is clearly puzzled. He had expected serious criminal charges; instead, he found that the dispute was about matters of the Jews' own religion, and, he says, about a certain Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. Even to this outsider, who did not understand it, the heart of the whole matter was clear: it came down to the claim that a man who had died was now alive.

Notice that even the puzzled Roman governor could see what the real issue was: the resurrection. He did not grasp its meaning, and found it strange; but he could see that everything centered on Paul's insistence that Jesus, who was dead, is alive. The resurrection was not a side issue in Paul's faith; it was the crux, the claim on which everything turned, so central that even an outsider could identify it as the heart of the matter.

That prompts a question about our own faith: is the resurrection as central to us as it was to Paul? For Paul, everything came down to the risen Christ; it was the claim he would live and die for, the thing that changed everything. The resurrection is not one belief among many, but the crux of the Christian faith: that Jesus, who died, is alive, and everything turns on it. Do not treat the resurrection as a background belief. Let it be central, as it was for Paul, so central that it shapes everything, the claim that a dead man is alive, and that changes the world. Is the risen Christ the crux of your faith, the thing on which everything turns? Let it be so, as it was for Paul, whose whole life came down to this: that Jesus, who was dead, is alive.

Lord, even the puzzled Roman governor could see that the heart of Paul's case was one thing: a certain Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive; the resurrection was the crux, so central that even an outsider could identify it. Prompt me to ask whether the resurrection is as central to me as it was to Paul. For Paul, everything came down to the risen Christ; it was the claim he would live and die for, the thing that changed everything. The resurrection is not one belief among many, but the crux of the faith: that Jesus, who died, is alive, and everything turns on it. Keep me from treating the resurrection as a background belief. Let it be central, as it was for Paul, so central that it shapes everything. Help the risen Christ to be the crux of my faith, the thing on which everything turns, as he was for Paul, whose whole life came down to this: that Jesus, who was dead, is alive. Make the risen Christ the center of my life.