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Acts 23:25-35. The Roman tribune in Jerusalem, Claudius Lysias, is sending Paul to the governor, Felix, in Caesarea, with horsemen and soldiers as guards because the Jews are trying to kill Paul. Claudius writes a letter to Felix indicating that the Jews are trying to kill Paul, a Roman citizen, but the charge against him seems to be nothing more than "questions of their law ... nothing deserving death or imprisonment", so he's sending Paul to Felix and has ordered Paul's accusers to state before Felix what they have against Paul. On receiving Paul and the letter, Felix asks what province Paul is from, and Paul replies Cilicia. Felix then says he will hear the case once Paul's accusers arrive, and he orders Paul to be guarded in Herod's praetorium.

 

First, I'm so happy to finally learn the tribune's name! I have been writing "the tribune" over and over again and wishing I could just refer to him by name. Now that it seems he will no longer be part of the story, we finally learn that he is Claudius Lysias. Things like this are one way we can be certain that these stories are true. Any author trying to write fiction or an embellished account of the facts would be sure to give each character a name, and maybe even some background, to make him or her more believable. But because Luke is not writing fiction, but is simply trying to preserve accurately what happened, he doesn't bother with unimportant details. If we needed to know Claudius' name or anything else about him other than the fact he was the tribune, Luke would have told us before now.

 

Also, say what you will about the Romans, but their justice system did law and order well! The tribune protects Paul, a single Roman citizen, with 470 men when sending him to Felix the governor! This shows the Jews who are plotting to kill Paul that Claudius takes Paul's protection seriously. Even though he has no idea what Paul has done to anger them so much, he knows that Paul deserves a fair hearing because he is Roman citizen, and so he sends him, well protected, up the chain of command and orders the Jews to appear before Felix with their charges. The first thing Felix does is verify that Paul is a Roman citizen by asking which province he is from. Thus, Felix establishes his own jurisdiction in the matter, and holds Paul until his accusers arrive. Now the Jews will have to calm down and actually articulate their case against Paul, and they will have to do it under the unbiased authority of the Roman governor.

 

This is how authority in service of justice, law, and order should behave, but often does not, for example Pilate abrogated his responsibility to justice when he washed his hands of Christ. It is often religious fervor that riles up unreasonable blood-lust. Not many other ideas that we disagree on cause us to want to kill our enemy. The Romans, not sharing the Jews religious beliefs, can act impartially and in accordance with the rules of justice and be sure that Paul gets a fair hearing.

 

Unfortunately, in the modern world (or in the US at least), many have allowed their individual beliefs and feelings to rise to the status of religious beliefs in their own minds, and this has been encouraged by political parties trying to solidify their bases and, I believe, other more nefarious actors as well. When all beliefs are religious beliefs, as they now seem to be, then we all, even those in the justice system, can end up acting like the Jews here. That is what we see happening now in the United States - corruption is rampant in our political and judicial class, and everywhere else. "Heretics" must be punished, or even die, because they are a threat to the "one true faith" - so we see untried people rotting in jail; children taken from parents who disagree with gender ideology; filmmakers arrested and jailed; scientists and doctors silenced and losing their licenses for counseling against the state's mandates; politicians and those in government lying, manipulating, and even doctoring evidence; people lying to Congress with impunity; and the list goes on.

 

Chaos is the result of lack of justice, law, and order, and we see it all around us. Unfortunately, this will continue as long as we substitute ourselves and our beliefs for God, and I see no end to that in sight right now.

 

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“To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’ — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.” ― Aldous Huxley, Crome Yellow