Chapter 26

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It’s hard to know what Agrippa and Festus are thinking when they confer together at the end of this chapter.

We know that neither of them believe that Paul deserves to be imprisoned. In fact, Agrippa goes as far as suggesting that, had he not appealed to Caesar (and therefore booked himself a trial in Rome), Paul may have been released.

It is possible that Paul may not have seen a release at this point as a positive. Some historians suggest that Paul was on bad terms with some of the leadership of the Jerusalem church, and even if this is not true, the fact remains that he had already decided that he wanted to go and preach the Gospel in Rome; the fact that he was to be tried before Caesar would give him an excellent opportunity to do so.

In any case, this chapter finds Paul repeating his story before Agrippa (and his . . consort, Berenice – since she was his sister, the relationship between the two appears frankly a little disturbing!) and Festus.

Once again we have the opportunity to read Paul’s story, but this time told to a non-Jew (Festus) and a person who was theoretically Jewish (Agrippa) but embraced little or none of his Jewish heritage. As you can see therefore, Paul’s testimony here differs in its audience.

Much of what Paul says you have heard before, so I shall not concentrate on these statements. Rather, I shall concentrate on the last few words of the chapter.

Bear in mind that Paul is actually on trial here. So it’s quite amazing to see him take the opportunity to preach the Gospel to his judges! Festus can see what is happening, and he declares Paul to be insane, although in the process he confirms our suspicions that Paul is a very clever man – “Your great learning has driven you insane”. But Paul denies this, suggesting that Agrippa is in fact a believer in the statements of the prophets.

(By the way, in doing this, Paul cleverly puts Agrippa in a difficult situation. He’s the legally appointed king, representing Rome in a place where Romans are unpopular. He’s also considered by many to be a pretender to the throne, with little or no legitimate authority. So if he is caught saying that he DOESN’T believe in the scriptures, it puts him up the creek without a paddle. Perhaps this is why you can almost hear a cheeky grin in Paul’s “I know you believe!” call. It also explains why Agrippa throws back the “do you think you’re going to make me a believer?!” exchange.)

In any case, whether the judges question Paul’s sanity and methods or not, it’s fairly clear to them that the accusations against Paul are at best incorrect, and at worst downright vexatious.

So what can we learn from this passage?

We’ve talked before about the Christian’s responsibility to speak to others about God. Here Paul puts it into action. I doubt you could find a worse scenario in which to minister than when you are on trial for your life. But when Paul was in that situation, sure enough he shared the Gospel!

I am not saying that next time you’re in a bad situation, you should hand out Bibles and start preaching. What I AM saying is to consider this – is your situation so bad that Paul couldn’t have preached the Gospel in your shoes?

I personally find this challenging. Generally speaking I (and remember I am rather bold!) would be intimidated by circumstances like these. But Paul chooses not to let the circumstances win.

Let’s apply this to our own situations. What would stop you preaching the Gospel? Would it be fear (as it often is)? If so, what fear is stopping you?