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7 December. Acts chapters 23-25
The parallels between Paul and Jesus did not stop with him going up to Jerusalem and being caught up in a mob with false accusations. Like Jesus, Paul is brought before a series of courts – the unnamed tribune in Jerusalem, the high priest Ananias, the Roman governor Felix and his successor Festus, and King Agrippa. None of them (apart from Ananias) could see the point of the charges brought against Paul, because like those against Jesus, they had to do with Jewish ‘law’ (religious rules) and not the law of the land under the Romans. If it were not for Paul’s Roman citizenship which had already got him out of danger twice, he may have been handed back to the Jews to be killed. But he uses his privilege again to claim the right to appeal to the Emperor in Rome.
The balance between religious and secular law is another one that is familiar to us. People of faith living in a multi-cultural society have to consider both. In many ways the two reinforce each other – to love your neighbour and to keep the civil peace amount to much the same thing. But sometimes the two clash, and then we have to make a choice. If you want your son brought up in the understanding of your own faith but the local state school wants to teach about all religions and atheism equally, is it right to refuse to send him to those lessons even if it risks a fine? If your place of worship is vandalised by non-believers, is it more important to show an example of “forgiving your enemies” according to religious teaching, or to expect the police to prosecute them, and risk increasing division in the local community? If you belong to a religious tradition that is strongly pacifist, but the country you live in has compulsory military service, is it right to refuse on grounds of conscience and risk imprisonment?
Where is the balance, in other words, between obeying the law of the land and following your religion? There are, of course, no right answers. Paul knew that, acknowledging that there was a risk he would end up being found guilty of sedition under Roman law and executed (25:11) but for him, obeying Christ was always more important.