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Acts 26:1-8. King Agrippa gives Paul permission to speak for himself, and Paul begins his testimony. First he says he considers himself lucky to have the opportunity to make his defense before Agrippa, since the Jewish king knows better than most the customs and controversies among the Jews. He asks King Agrippa to listen patiently to him. Paul says all of the Jews are aware of his manner of life from the time he was a child. He has always been a faithful Jew and, as an adult, "according to the strictest party of our religion", he has lived as a Pharisee. He stands before Agrippa now as a prisoner for "hope in the promise made by God to our fathers." He says, "[F]or this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?"

 

First, compare Paul's opening words to Agrippa to Tertullus' opening words to Felix. Tertullus is overly obsequious, praising Felix in order to get on his good side. Paul, however, does not offer false or exaggerated praise to Agrippa, but he does acknowledge that Agrippa is especially well suited to hear Paul's defense, since he is a Jew himself and knows the Jews well. Paul is laying out a reason for Agrippa to listen with patience, and is appealing to Agrippa's rational nature; position as king; and specialized knowledge of Jewish law and custom. Paul's words are serving a similar purpose to Tertullus', but Paul's ring true and reasonable, while Tertullus' sound ingraciating and insincere.

 

Paul shows us here the correct way to appeal to an authority figure who is in a unique position to hear our case. We should always assume his (or her) reasonable nature; be differential to his authority, but not annoyingly overbearing; and ask for his patient, unbiased ear. We may or may not be successful in this approach, but it is always better to give authority figures the benefit of the doubt and treat them as the leaders we would hope they would be. This assumed expectation alone often causes them to get in touch with their better nature when listening to us.

 

Secondly, I completely feel Paul's exasperation as he asks "Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?" This gets to the core of my feelings as I have been so flabbergasted by many of my fellow Catholics over the last few years! Take the most recent presidential election as one example (and there are many more!). I can kind of understand believing that Donald Trump is a threat and therefore finding it immoral to vote for him (I think these feelings have been nurtured by a lot of propaganda and lies, but people who have been affected by those cannot be fully blamed for believing them, unless they stubbornly refuse to hear any other facts or point of view). So during the election, even though I found the level of hatred levelled against Donald Trump and his supporters shocking and, yes, sinful, I gave many of my fellow Catholics the benefit of the doubt, assuming that they found it existentially wrong to vote for Donald Trump. That benefit of the doubt was not returned in kind.

 

My conscience tells me that belief that one man is a threat to democracy does not make it morally acceptable to vote for a man who supports abortion up to birth! Further, people are allowed to believe that abortion is the defining issue of our time and therefore that it was morally acceptable, and maybe even necessary, to vote for Trump. They are also allowed to believe that Trump is not as much of an existential threat as people were led to believe. Everyone deserves the benefit of their own free will and rightfully exercised conscience.

 

As we all know, though, that is not at all what happened. Instead, large numbers of Catholics acted like anyone even entertaining the thought of voting for Trump was reprehensible and worthy of scorn, derision, and even ostracization. At the same time, many of them actually celebrated Joe Biden, lauding him, putting his signs on their lawn (along with signs accusing others of hatred!!), and being ecstatic that he "won" the election! For anyone who sees abortion for the evil it truly is, the whole thing was truly unbelievable. I felt like asking "Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God creates life and asks us to protect it?" "Why do you think it is OK to put someone in charge of our country who supports infanticide?" "What are you all thinking?" But I never got the chance to ask these questions. I had no hearing before the king or anyone else, I was simply told never to speak to people again. I have, though, learned the answer - it is the devil. He has been desensitizing people to evil and making them idolize a political party/movement, and hate the "other side," for so long that they simply cannot see what they are doing - they have been blinded. So I just pray and trust that God will one day open their eyes.

 

One good thing that has come from this, though, is that I realized that I must look for my own areas of blindness, because I certainly have them as well! When I ask the Holy Spirit to show them to me, He always answers and I find yet another idol that I must give up. It's quite a process, and I have enough work to do on myself that I do not have time to think about what others are doing!!