unreasonable

I don’t get why Festus didn’t just let Paul go.

Festus inherited Paul from the previous governor, Felix. He refused the request of the Jewish leaders to send him back to Jerusalem, but he didn’t really know what to do with Paul. So when King Agrippa showed up, he brought Paul before him.

And here’s what he said, from Acts 25:24-27: “Festus said: “King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome. But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write. For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”

Festus recognized that Paul hadn’t done anything wrong. He was willing to take the easy way out by sending Paul on to Caesar, as Paul requested. But he couldn’t figure out what to charge Paul with. Nothing fit, because Paul was a good man. To send him on without charges, though, would be unreasonable, so Festus asked the King for help.

I wonder what would have happened if Festus would have let Paul go. Maybe the Jewish leaders would have assassinated him. Maybe he would have gone on to plant more churches. But he wouldn’t have gone to Rome to witness to the government officials there. And he may not have written the book of Romans, which he did while in prison in Rome. I can’t imagine the impact on the world if we never had the wisdom of Romans.

In the end I marvel at how God works out his plans. To all of Paul’s friends, this multi-year imprisonment was a tragedy. Paul walked into it willingly, trusting God to be working out his kingdom even if Paul couldn’t see how. He did that because he knew God had something working, something he wanted Paul to help him with.

I wonder if God has ever been working something in my hardships, only I was too self-absorbed to see it. I wonder if, in the future, when he does that I’ll be spiritually sensitive enough to see it that time.