Monday, 16th Week of Ordinary Time

Acts 26:1-23
Morning Prayer

To catch us up, Festus the Roman Governor has agreed to send Paul to Caesar in Rome. But what exactly, is the charge against Paul. It’s clear the Festus that what’s going on here is an internal Jewish dispute. But he can’t just free Paul because to do so would probably cause a disturbance for which he, Festus, would be held responsible to Rome. But he can’t send Paul to Caesar without some explanation.

But now into the drama comes the local Jewish king, Agrippa II, installed by the Emperor. His grandfather was Herod “the Great,” mainly because of his cruelty. His father, Agrippa I had the Apostle James beheaded in chap. 12 of Acts. For Festus, the best thing about Agrippa was that he was Jewish, yet had been educated in Rome. Perhaps he might be able to make some sense of this Jewish dispute in a way that a pagan could understand. That’s why in today’s reading from Acts, Paul is defending himself before Agrippa.

For me, what stands out in Paul’s defense is the phrase that he only now recalls Jesus using: “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by hitting back, like an ox kicking against its owner's stick” (26:14, Good News Bible). What Jesus was apparently pointing out to Paul was his obstinacy. Now to be honest, that obstinacy didn’t necessarily leave Paul after his conversion (For evidence of that, read his letter to the Galatians, for starters). But it seems to have been the driving passion behind his work before he saw that blinding light on the way to Damascus: “according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee…and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities” (26:4,11).

The problem is that it seems that anger, more than anything, once drove Paul. But anger cannot be enough to sustain one’s faith and sense of purpose in the darker places of our life. In my former life in Washington, a political mentor has a number of “Laws of the Public Policy Process.” One of them is this: “Moral outrage is the most powerful motivating force in politics.” Perhaps; but the obstinacy that often accompanies this outrage may also be one of the most destructive forces in our political culture. And speaking from personal experience, “how hard it is to kick against the goads.”

As Christians, we are called to find a place of peace, good will and faith in him who died, and rose, for us. Paul may have occasionally lapsed into obstinacy, but the man who was able to endure all that he endured, without falling back into hatred, was the man standing before Agrippa.