Imagine standing before heads of state and giving them a gospel invitation. That’s what Paul did before Governor Festus and King Agrippa (Acts 26). Trying to determine what charges to write against this controversial figure before he was sent to Rome so the emperor could decide his case, the king and governor decide to listen to him. Paul took this wide-open opportunity to share the gospel of hope. His message was simple, nothing but what the prophets said – Scripture – and that it all came true in Jesus.
Upon hearing this Festus blurts out, Paul, you are out of your mind! Paul’s response was immediate and winsome, I am speaking true and rational words. The gospel of grace in Jesus is true and rational. It is not propaganda or myth but anchored in real life of One who walked this earth, died for the debt of our sin, and certified this truth by walking out of the grave. Therein is hope, for Jesus said, because I live you shall live also.
Jesus’s story is true, and it is better than any other narrative imagined or propagated by human ambition. The true and better story of Jesus and what He has done for us is what we proclaim. This is what Paul, the prisoner, proclaimed to his audience of a governor and a king. In the boldness of his freedom Paul looked directly to King Agrippa and asked, Do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. King Agrippa’s answer was a bit of a put off, but not an outright refusal.
Paul’s invitation was that his listeners might become such as I am. That was not an I-am-better-than-you disposition, but by God’s good grace, reconciled, free and full of hope. Paul spoke and acted as a man who was free even though at that moment he was bound by chains. As a free man in Christ, he was fighting for the freedom of others.
May we take Paul at his invitation to follow him – to live as people who are free. For our position of reconciliation is true and better, and by it we invite others to taste and see that the Lord is good.
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