At Philip's house, a local prophet named Agabus tells Paul that he will be imprisoned and turned over to the Gentiles. All Paul's friends hear this and beg Paul not to go to Jerusalem. No way, Paul tells them. He's ready to die if that's what God needs him to do to spread the word.. When Paul sets foot in Jerusalem, everyone is pretty excited to see him. The day after he arrives, Paul heads over to visit with James and the church elders. He gives them a full account of all the things he's done for the Gentiles in the name of Jesus. Everyone is thrilled. The group tells Paul that they have lots of faithful Jewish-Christians right here in Jerusalem. Jewish-Christians who really like their Jewish roots. Word has reached them that Paul's been telling his Jewish converts that they don't have to worry about the laws of Moses anymore. He says they shouldn't circumcise their children or obey Jewish customs. These people are gonna find out that Paul's in town and, the elders warn him, once they do all heck is gonna break lose.
James and the elders give Paul some advice: he should go with four other men who are about to undergo a Jewish ritual to purify themselves. Not only should Paul join them, but he should pay their expenses. Paul agrees. ......... When the ritual is almost over (it takes seven days to complete), the non-Jewish-Christians in town see him in the temple and get upset. They grab Paul and tell everyone that he's been teaching "everyone everywhere" that Jewish law stinks. They also (wrongly) assume that he has taken a Gentile into the temple. The Jewish naysayers are all attacking Paul when a group of soldiers comes along and stops them from beating him up. They also arrest Paul. The soldiers are trying to figure out what Paul did, but the whole crowd is in chaos. The men lead Paul away while the mob is still trying to get at him. Before putting him in prison, Paul asks the soldiers if he can address the people. They tell him to have at it and then (we're guessing) sit back to watch Paul get torn apart.
Paul addresses the crowd in Hebrew (which makes their ears perk up a little) and tells them his life story. He is a Jew who was born in Tarsus and brought up in a good Jewish home where he learned respect for Jewish law and customs. He's a real mensch ,which means "a person of integrity and honor." He tells them how he persecuted Christians himself until he saw a light that blinded him on the road to Damascus and heard the voice of Jesus himself. Then he explains that Ananias restored his sight and encouraged him to be baptized. God himself warned Paul that the people in Jerusalem weren't gonna take too kindly to the new and improved him, so he sent him to the Gentiles. When the people hear this, they get upset and start screaming that Paul should be killed. The soldiers decide to take Paul aside and flog him. But before they can start, Paul points out that he was born a Roman citizen and it's not exactly legal for them to flog him. The Romans are all upset by this. If Paul was born a Roman citizen, then tying him up to flog him is a big no-no.
They release him and order him to appear before the Jewish high priests and council. Paul tells the Jewish council that he's always lived a good life and that's he's totally right with God. The high priest, Ananias, orders some of the others to punch Paul in the mouth. And they do it. Paul gets angry and calls the high priest a "whitewashed wall." He also points out that it's against Jewish law to hit him. But the council tells Paul that he has no right to insult the high priest and then Paul does a 180, agrees with them, and apologizes. Paul tells them that he himself is a Pharisee and that he's there because of the things he's been teaching about Jesus and the resurrection of the dead. A fight breaks out between the Pharisees and Sadducees who both have different views about the resurrection of the dead. No one can agree on anything apparently in this story. The Pharisees take Paul's side for a bit , but things start to get out of control and the Romans remove Paul from the room and take him back to prison.
That night, Paul hears God tell him that things are gonna be fine. Paul's going on a trip to Rome soon to talk up Jesus. Meanwhile, about forty of the Jews on the council agree that they're gonna kill Paul (and they won't eat or drink until they achieve their goal). They arrange to have him brought back to the council so they can unleash their secret plan to attack and murder him. Somehow, Paul's nephew hears all about this and manages to find the Roman tribune in charge of Paul's case, Claudius Lysias, and warn him about the plot against Paul's life. Claudius Lysias has his soldiers take Paul to Caesarea to appear in front of the governor there (named Felix). He also sends a nice long letter explaining the whole situation. The governor meets with Paul and tells him that he'll arrange a hearing when the Jews from Jerusalem arrive to accuse him of something. Five days later, the high priest Ananias, some of the council elders, and a lawyer named Tertullus come up to Caesarea. When the hearing begins, Tertullus accuses Paul of being an outside agitator who has come in and said blasphemous and profane things in the temple. Paul defends himself to the governor. He tells the governor that no one in the temple saw him arguing or teaching about Jesus. In other words, the charges against him are straight-up lies.
Paul admits that he is a follower of Jesus, but he's also a Jew who believes in God and the authority of Jewish law and the prophets. Jesus is just the natural continuation of all this. Paul explains that when he was in the temple just minding his own business and not upsetting anyone, some Jews from Asia came along and had him arrested. Basically, this whole shebang is bogus. The governor, Felix, actually knows quite a bit about Jesus, so he tells Paul he'll decide what's going to happen when Claudius Lysias stops by. He also gives Paul some freedom in jail. A few days later, Felix and his wife Drusilla (who happens to be Jewish) send for Paul and ask him to tell them a little more about this Jesus fellow. Paul obliges. Jesus is his favorite subject after all. Over the course of two years, Felix keeps Paul in jail, but keeps talking to him every once in a while about Jesus. Felix isn't very convinced. In fact, he thinks that one of these days Paul will offer him a bribe to get out of jail. But Paul never does. He's so honest. When Felix retires and a new governor, Porcius Festus, takes over, Paul is still locked up. Festus Takes The Reins As soon as Festus takes charge, he makes a little trip to Jerusalem. The Jewish authorities tell him about Paul. The religious authorities want Paul transferred back to Jerusalem (where they can finish up their murder/death/kill plot). But Festus is all like, No, come to Caesarea and we'll do a trial.
About a week and a half later, everyone is back in Caesarea and it's trial time. The Jewish guys from Jerusalem say a bunch of completely untrue stuff about Paul. Typical.Then it's Paul's turn. His defense: not guilty. Festus says that since it sounds like they're all disputing over Jewish religious stuff, maybe Paul should just head down to Jerusalem and face trial there (maybe then the council members can kill Paul and Festus can cross one thing off his list). But Paul says he's appealing to the emperor's tribunal in Rome. He's headed up to the highest court in the land. He hasn't done anything wrong to the Jewish people, so why should they try him? Off to the emperor he goes. Several days later, King Agrippa and his sister, Bernice, come into town and stop by Festus's house. Festus discusses the case with Agrippa, who decides he wants to meet this Paul guy. Maybe they can figure out something intelligent to tell the emperor about him.
When King Agrippa tells Paul to go ahead and talk, he does. Paul starts by talking to Agrippa. The king knows about Jewish customs and he should know that Paul has lived a good Jewish life. He even persecuted Christians for their crazy, wacky beliefs. Everything changed one day when he was on his way to Damascus and… well, you know the rest of that story. After his conversion, Paul explains that he roamed all over the place spreading the good word about Jesus. That's why the Jewish authorities had him arrested even though he didn't even do anything wrong. He's only been talking about Jesus this whole time. The same Jesus who Jewish prophets from the Old Testament and scripture predicted would come. So what's so terrible and anti-Jewish about that? Festus tells Paul that he sounds nuttier than a fruitcake. But Paul says he's not mental, and he asks King Agrippa if he believes in the Jewish prophets. Paul says that he hopes everyone will come to believe in Jesus and to be like him, except for the chains he's wearing right now. Those people could do without. Agrippa has heard enough. When he leaves with Festus, he tells him that he can see Paul hasn't done anything wrong. Too bad he had to go and appeal to the emperor. Otherwise they could have let him go free today.
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