Acts 25 & 26
Can You Swith Off The Sun?

Now, Festus, new governor had arrived.
2 chapters, first another trial is recounted, very abbreviated, secondly an open hearing is held before King Agrippa.

Scripture Reading

Intro:

Have you ever tried to sleep with the lights on?
This past week I was doing some mid-morning reading, and I got up from my desk and went to lie down on the couch to read for a few minutes; I had been up half the night taking care of my daughters and my wife who has been sick (more than half the night really).  So as I lie there reading a fairly dense text I soon began to drift and to want to doze –now we have these bright can lights in the sealing which typically will shine right down on the couch (helpful for reading, but) in your face if your lying down.

However it is daytime, we have great natural light through the windows and so I strategically had left the electric lights off.  Only problem is, at that time of the morning the sun itself is shining directly between the trees through the window above the couch into my face.  Now we have no blinds or curtains on this particular window.  I can block the sunlight with my book so long as I’m reading, but I cannot put the book down to nap.  For a moment I actually tried to rest the book open on my face to shield the sun, but the balance was off kilter and clumsy, so I looked around and found a cloth I could fold and place over my eyes, which did suffice for a few minutes rest and protection from the sun – (I don’t think I ever actually slept). 

It is hard for me to sleep in direct sunlight.  Sunrays will pierce right through your closed eyelids.  That’s why we have (a whole industry of) sunglasses and eye masks and beach umbrellas.  It’s one reason we like blinds and curtains on our windows.  We can hide from the sun, we can shield our eyes...but we cannot switch it off!

**With these last trial scenes in the book of Acts, as Paul the apostle stands before the courts of Judea and Rome, appealing to the Emperor for judgment, the broad sweeping extent of the Christian vision for the dawning of the Kingdom of God among men in the personal reign of Jesus Christ is, at last, in view. (repeat)  From this vantage point, from this precipice, standing as it were with Paul before the thrones of men, before the seats of human power, we can see the more clearly that there is a new power abroad on the earth, a new and undeniably palpable presence of the Lordship of God.  You may hide from it, you may shield your eyes…but you cannot switch it off!

Of course if we have any sense we won’t wish to switch off the sun.  The sun is our constant companion.  We need its light and its heat.  As much as it is destructive and dangerous, yet still, all the more, the sun also nourishes life and health.  We need the sun in order to live.

Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? (Acts 26:8)
That’s Paul’s question to the court.  If God is God, the God of life and creator of all, creator of the sun, is it a stretch for him to also raise the dead.

If God is the God of scripture, O Agrippa, if he is the God of Moses and the prophets – why should it surprise you that he would also raise the dead.

It is, of course, the bodily resurrection of Jesus from death which seals the deal.  His resurrection is the great vindication proving Jesus was and is who he claimed to be – the Messiah, the Christ of Israel – more than that, the Son of God and Son of Man. 
Otherwise, Jesus is just another pretender, another false prophet; he is no Christ, he is no King, he is no Lord, and he certainly gives us no reason for any great hope (as his disciples in the world) – unless he walked alive out from the tomb.

If he did, as we the church confess, and as the scriptures testify, if so… then Hope has indeed dawned upon the world.  Not only is his resurrection a vindication of Jesus as the Lord of all Creation, the God of life and death, the Word made flesh, but, more than that, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is also the first-fruit of the new creation; it is the tangible inauguration of God’s new age, long awaited and spoken of by the prophets of Israel.  The age to come has come.  He, in his risen body, brings the full promise of the future restoration of all things into the present.

"Behold, I am making all things new."  (Rev. 21:5)

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  (Romans 6:8-9) 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  (2 Corinthians 5:17 ) 

(You see) It’s already happening now.  God’s future leaps into the present in the person of the Risen Savior.

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever."  Rev. 11:15
The resurrection of Jesus (of Nazareth) puts the world on notice – the world and sin and Satan and death itself – that God’s victory has already been won.

That’s what the apostle Paul wants this court and the world to understand, that’s what he’s been chosen to tell them:  The Reign of God has come; repent of your sins, and enter the kingdom by faith in Jesus.  Jesus is the true King.   (When you hear Kingdom of God/ Kingdom of Heaven – you should think, not so much of territory that belongs to God, but of God’s reign, his rule, his authority advancing among men and over all creation through the person and Spirit of Jesus Christ.) 

“The important point is that God brings about this new era by his own mighty action. Although the Jews spoke of ‘the age to come’, they did not regard it as being ‘beyond history’ but rather as being the next stage in history, brought into being by God’s action in history, bringing the rule of Satan to an end and commencing his own rule.  Thus the [Kingdom of God] is the full and powerful manifestation of the sovereignty that God already exercises over the world.”

(I. Howard Marshall, “The Hope of a New Age: The Kingdom of God in the New  Testament,” Jesus the Saviour. Studies in New Testament Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity / London: SPCK, 1990.  Hbk. ISBN: 0830612733. pp.213-238.)

***Some of you may be struggling spiritually, even floundering perhaps, b/c your seeking to carry the weight of God’s reign upon your own shoulders.  The kingdom is not yours; it belongs to Jesus Christ, the risen One.  If you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders or if you are overly discouraging by corruption and oppression in the world, or if you are yourself continually returning to the same sin, then it may well be that part of your (of our) problem is that you and I are failing to grasp the full implication of the resurrection of the Jesus Christ. 

If Jesus is Risen, then everything changes; his indestructible life is the first deposit and guarantee that all things will be restored, all knees will bow, all tongues confess, whether we like it or not, and whether we choose to cooperate or not in the end. 

It is fascinating how little emphasis is placed on the cross or blood atonement in the book of Acts.   The vital moment of the cross is named, of course it must be, but the emphasis consistently in Acts lies rather on resurrection.  N. T. Wright notes that this is fitting b/c resurrection is the basis of the proclamation that God’s Reign has arrived.

“And the basis of this announcement is the resurrection of Jesus:  not his parables, not his healings, not even his atoning death, important though all of those are and remain.  It is the resurrection of Jesus that means he is now enthroned as Lord.” 
  N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope (New York:  HarperOne, 2008), 243.

Do you see?  It is actually the Risen Savior himself who has been directing the course of events in Acts up to now.  It is Jesus himself in visions, but esp. in the person of His Holy Spirit, poured out to his disciples, who is now directing and leading his church.   It is He who strikes Paul on the Damascus road, shining out more brightly than the sun.  It is (no less than) the third time we’ve read a detailed account of Paul’s conversion – so it must be worth remembering.

And surrounding the event of this testimony we find that…
***While Festus the Governor and Agrippa the King are shying away from the light of the resurrection, seeking to shield their eyes and to hide away…yet in Paul the Apostle we find a man standing openly reflecting the resurrection life and light of his Savior.

1. Paul reflects the light
Acts 26:13-18   13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.  14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' 

Paul’s testimony glorifies Jesus; it’s not something he tells with personal pride.  The story highlights his own blindness and folly.  Despite his own religious passion he found he’d been working against the will of God all along.  Though he himself was angry and murderous toward the church of Jesus, yet Jesus showed him mercy. 

Paul’s glory now and his duty is simply to tell the story – to tell anyone who will listen the good news that Christ is Risen and that forgiveness of sins is on offer for all who confess his Lordship.  And to tell them also just how clumsily he himself came to encounter the Jesus and his forgiveness.

Paul is here fulfilling the purpose for which he was chosen.  Jesus told him on the road…

…for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness … … to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

Illus/ App.)  It’s a good sign if whenever you tell your Christian testimony to others you yourself gain a palpable since of your own sin and frailty and dependence on God.  In Paul’s testimony, his own reputation is decreased so that Christ might increase.  I was wrong.  I was proud and angry.  I was the blasphemer.  But Jesus is the Christ;  he is alive; he is my King, and he is merciful.  Paul reflects the light of his Savior.  We also should reflect that light.

And we do it, not only by acknowledging our own frailty, but also by unashamedly announcing the resurrection of Jesus.  Our stories are now intimately connected to his story and he should be glorified every time we share our life with another. 

You may not have had a Damascus Road experience, but whatever the character of your encounter with the Savior, if you are a Christian there should be some point where you can say with conviction – and here is where Jesus of Nazareth makes all the difference, you see this in my life b/c of Jesus Christ, b/c He is Risen and I am forgiven.  People may not understand, they may be offended or surprised, but we must give credit where credit is due.

The world is not ready to hear about resurrection, but Paul is ready to tell them.

And that’s why…
2.  Festus tries to shield his eyes.
Acts 26:24-25  …Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind."  25 But Paul said, "I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.

The world is not ready to hear about resurrection but Paul is ready to tell them.  Festus’ outburst follows just on the heels of Paul declaring
23 that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles."

Festus has had enough of this madness.  He seeks to shut Pual down, and to explain him away as mad. 
Make no mistake, people in the first century were not all that different from you or I today – they did not believe everything they heard and they certainly did not expect anyone to rise physically from the grave – no one ever had. 

Some have tried to say that the idea of resurrection was in the air at the time and any cult might have claimed a resurrection of their leader – but this is not so.  Trace the entire spectrum of pagan religious belief in the Greco-Roman setting and you will find no-one, no group or sect or philosophy, no indication that anyone except the Jews anticipated or hoped for a bodily resurrection following death.  Many pagans did believe in a spirit-life beyond death or life as shades in an underworld, but no bodily resurrection. 

Others emphatically emphasized that there was no afterlife whatsoever.  [“When a man dies, and his blood is shed on the ground, there is no resurrection.”  (Aeschylus, in a play in the mouth of Apollo)]

“…it is…wrong to imply that the choice is between an ancient worldview and a modern (or even a postmodern) one.  The ancient worldview of Homer, Plato, Cicero, and the rest had no room for resurrection either.  What is at stake is the clash between a worldview that allows for a God of creation and justice and worldviews that don’t.” 
(N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope, 69.)

Resurrection was hotly disputed even among the Jews themselves, as we have seen – (cf. Acts 23:8).  The Sadducees denied this hope, while the much larger Pharisee party did expect a wholesale resurrection of all on the day of judgment. 
But no one really anticipated what actually happened with Jesus – everyone was surprised that one man, the Christ, would rise from death as the first-fruits ahead of all the rest. 

Festus describes the circumstance well…
Acts 25:18-20  18 When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed.  19 Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.  20 Being at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there regarding them.

The resurrection is an astounding and jarringly wonderful claim – which may sound like madness and folly to many, but for others it will be the fragrance of life.

Illus/ app)  Chinese students asked about branches of Christianity.  They had no idea:  tried to start with Catholicism – but did not know.

One student explained to me that many in China believe in a parallel universe – religion serves to bridge the gap and maintain communication between the two – all religions basically have this same objective and are, more or less, equally valid. 

I said: Yes, many people believe something like that here also, but I don’t.  Proceeded to explain why Jesus is unique and more than a great moral teacher.  First I talked about incarnation, God in flesh, and Trinitarian Union, about God choosing the Jews and then about the shameful death on the cross and the blood atonement – at which point we paused for a moment to discuss. 
But I had not yet gotten to the best news of all – I got excited, b/c realized no baggage here, they had never heard – I explained that all Jesus’ disciples claimed that though he died and was buried, yet 3 days later he rose up from death and walked out of his grave.  – Really? – yea, I know it’s strange, but that’s what we Christians believe.

They got it, something clicked – no conversion, confession or baptism, but the air was electric.

It’s fun to tell the story, b/c it’s true, and it awakens others to the possibility of the reign of God – even people like Festus who have no familiarity with Jewish scriptural expectations can get excited about resurrection from death – if they will only choose not to shield their eyes from his glory.

And you and I can tell the world with just as much rationality and composure as Paul does to Agrippa.

Even though…
3. Agrippa wants to hide. 
Acts 26:26-29   26 For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.  27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe."  28 And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?"  29 And Paul said, "Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am- except for these chains."

Agrippa is an informed and studied Jew, well aware of recent events in Jerusalem.  Of all people he should understand and grasp Paul claims – but he refuses to be persuaded, at least for the moment, and he exits the room, postponing any response to Paul’s invitation. 

What is it that makes the light of the Risen Savior so difficult to embrace?  What makes men and women turn away?  It seems to me much reluctance ties back to reputation.
Consider the juxtaposition of reputation in this passage. On the one hand Agrippa apparently feels his dignity slighted to be proposed conversion in front of the court.  On the other hand Paul, in his bold invitation to Agrippa, has nearly forgotten the indignity of the very chains he wears.  Agrippa is concerned with self.  Paul is preoccupied with others.  Paul, by virtue of his identification with Jesus, feels no need to hide or to self-protect.  He is more free in chains than Agrippa is in his political authority.
Social standing comes together with its own kind of chains.  The problem with following the Risen Jesus is that he will make demands.  If he does fulfill the law and prophets, then he might expect me to abide by them.  If I do believe, I may have to eat some humble pie.

“We could cope – the world could cope – with a Jesus who ultimately remains a wonderful idea inside his disciples’ minds and hearts.  The world cannot cope with a Jesus who comes out of the tomb, who inaugurates God’s new creation right in the middle of the old one.” N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope, 68.

Illus/ App)    - Jesus once told a story… Luke 16 – the rich man and poor Lazarus who die:  upon learning that there is no crossover between Heaven and Hell, then he pleads for his living family

Luke 16:26-31  26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'  27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house-  28 for I have five brothers- so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.'  29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'  30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'  31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"

Illus/ app) This kind of stubbornness is sadly all too common in our own setting.  Cf. critical scholarship, dividing up the gospels according to modern sensibilities, seeking to explain away the resurrection, etc.  But you may complain that none of these people encountered the living Christ. 

The only reason Paul can stand with such confidence is that he believes he has seen the Risen Savior – indeed, the rise of Christianity is unexplainable without the resurrection.

Conclusion: 

Seven Stanzas at Easter   by John Updike:
 

If the dawning of the new age has come and the new creation has already begun in Jesus Christ…If Jesus is risen from death, then…   ….there is an answer to corruption and decay.   …there is an answer to age and disease.
…there is a healing balm for human sin and rebellion.

If Jesus is risen…then we do have substantial reason for Hope in this world, then the Christ himself is vindicated and worthy of all our worship and obedience.  If Jesus is risen, then he is our true King.

To shut our eyes to the resurrection of the Christ, will ultimately prove like trying to sleep in direct sunlight – like trying to switch off the sun – ultimately His light will penetrate straight through any closed lids.