For it seems absurd to me

Acts 25:1-27 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Paul before Festus

25 Festus then, having arrived in the province, three days later went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. ² And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews brought charges against Paul, and they were urging him, ³ requesting a concession against Paul, that he might have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, setting an ambush to kill him on the way). ⁴ Festus then answered that Paul was being kept in custody at Caesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly. ⁵ “Therefore,” he *said, “let the influential men among you go there with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them prosecute him.”

⁶ After he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷ After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him which they could not prove, ⁸ while Paul said in his own defense, “I have committed no offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.” ⁹ But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?” ¹⁰ But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. ¹¹ If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.” ¹² Then when Festus had conferred with his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”

¹³ Now when several days had elapsed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. ¹⁴ While they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix; ¹⁵ and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. ¹⁶ I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before the accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. ¹⁷ So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought before me. ¹⁸ When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, ¹⁹ but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. ²⁰ Being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these matters. ²¹ But when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.” ²² Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he *said, “you shall hear him.”

Paul before Agrippa

²³ So, on the next day when Agrippa came together with Bernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. ²⁴ Festus *said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not to live any longer. ²⁵ But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. ²⁶  Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. ²⁷ For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.”

Festus really had no idea of the magnitude of the situation he was part of. He thought that the whole thing was about him. What Festus didn’t realize is that he was simply playing a small part in God’s plan and mission for Paul. Festus was only being used to get Paul to Rome where he would continue to share the gospel and realistically change the course of human history. All that we read in today’s text was part of God’s plan.Those who planned to harm him could not and those who thought they had authority, did not. In Acts 9 after Jesus had appeared to Paul, when Ananias questioned whether he should go to lay hands on him, God said:

 “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; ¹⁶ for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15-16) 

God had a plan for Paul, He ordained that Paul would stand before Festus,  Agrippa and Caesar. We sometimes also fail to see the bigger picture or we don’t see things from God’s perspective. We tend to, like Festus, believe that we are the central to everything we are part of. Sometimes we ourselves or the things we are experiencing are simply a small part of a more significant plan God has for us or for others.

Romans 8:28-29 says :  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;  

God is not the cause of all things that happen in our lives. There are things that happen, such as sickness and disease that are part of living in a fallen world. There are things that happen that are caused by others, who God has also given a free will. What ever the cause or the source of the things that happen to us, God will use for good. He will use it to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus. He will also use it to accomplish His will, both for our lives and for the world.

God put everything in place to get Paul to Rome. As I said that changed the course of human history. Regardless of what we think of the Catholic church, whether we agree or disagree with it’s doctrine. It was the roots of the Catholic church which were planted and grew from Paul’s time  in Rome that allowed Christianity to become the force for good that it has been to the world.

We never know what God might do through us if we will take our eyes off of ourselves and see the bigger picture, God’s perspective. Jesus says we, like Paul will stand before rulers and authorities.

"When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." (Luke 12:11-12)

Who knows, if we will allow God to do what He wants in and through us, if we will be kingdom minded, we too might change the world.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit, thank You that You have a plan for me. Plans as You say in Jeremiah 29:11,  I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.   Help me today and each day to see Your plans. Help me to see how I fit into Your plans. Holy Spirit guide me and keep me on the path that You have for me. Thank You for the privilege of being part of Your work on earth. 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.     Amen