Pelajaran Sekolah Sabat 12, Ahad September 2018

Pelajaran Sekolah Sabat 12
Ahad 16 September 2018

Di Hadapan Felix

Lima hari selepas Paulus dipindahkan ke Kaisarea, sekumpulan pemimpin-pemimpin penting Yahudi – imam besar, beberapa orang ahli Mahkamah Agung dan peguam professional bernama Tertullus, telah datang daripada Jerusalem; secara resminya menyampaikan dakwaan mereka terhadap rasul tersebut di hadapan Felix (Kisah 24:1-9).

Inilah satu-satunya perbicaraan di dalam buku Kisah di mana pendakwa melantik seorang peguam. Dalam ucapan Tertullus, dia cuba gunakan strategi yang sangat menarik untuk menarik perhatian gabenor. Sesungguhnya, sama sekali tidak benar bahawa, dibawa kerajaan Feliks, orang-orang Yahudi telah menikmati sekian lama keamanan. Sebenarnya, tidak ada orang lain yang menjadi penindas dan kekerasan, dan penindasan ini menimbulkan pertentangan besar di kalangan orang Yahudi terhadap pemerintahan Roma. Dengan banyak kebijaksanaan, Tertullus menjadikan dasar pentadbirannya sendiri untuk meyakinkan dia bahawa dia akan mencapai kestabilan politik dalam kes ini juga hanya dengan cara penindasan yang teruk.

Selepas itu, dia terus menekankan tiga dakwaan tertentu terhadap Paulus: (1) bahawa Paulus adalah seorang penghasut yang sama-sama memusuhi kerusuhan di kalangan orang-orang Yahudi di seluruh kerajaan (Kisah 24:4); (2) bahawa dia adalah ketua kaum Nasrani (Kisah 24:5) yang membabitkan agama Kristian secara keseluruhannya sebagai satu pergerakan yang mengganggu; dan (3) bahawa dia cuba mencemarkan kekudusan rumah ibadah di Jerusalem (Kisah 24:6).

Sila baca Kisah 24:10-19. Bagaimanakah Paulus menjawab setiap tuduhan tersebut?

Dua lagi perkara yang Paulus bangkitkan telah membinasakan kes pendakwa: (1) ketiadaan saksi-saksi dari Asia (Kisah 24:18, 19), yang mempunyai potensi untuk mempersembahkan perbicaraan tersebut tidak sah, dan (2) fakta bahawa orang-0rang Yahudi di situ hanya dapat bercakap mengenai perbicaraan Paulus di hadapan Mahkamah Agung seminggu yang lalu (Kisah 24:20) dan oleh kerana mereka tidak mendapati sebarang tuduhan terhadap dia kecuali bahawa dia percaya kepada kebangkitan orang mati (bandingkan dengan Kisah 23:6).

Feliks segera memahami betapa kuatnya pengaruh Paulus, juga kerana dia agak mengetahui tentang kepercayaan Kristian, mungkin melalui isterinya Drusilla, seorang Yahudi. Hakikatnya adalah bahawa dia memutuskan untuk menangguhkan prosiding sehingga notis selanjutnya diberikan (Kisah 24:22).

Sambutan Feliks banyak menunjukkan perwatakannya: dia melengah-lengahkan, dia mampu disogok dan dia seorang oportunis. Paulus mempunyai sedikit peluang untuk mendapatkan perbicaraan yang adil dengan seseorang seperti Feliks.

Sila baca Kisah 24:16. Paulus berkata bahawa dia selalu berusaha untuk memiliki hati nurani yang tidak bersalah terhadap Tuhan dan terhadap manusia. Mengapa, jika ada, adakah anda perlu menukar untuk mengatakan perkara yang sama?

Sabbath School Lesson 12
Sunday September 16

Before Felix

Five days after Paul’s transfer to Caesarea, a group of important Jewish leaders—the high priest, some members of the Sanhedrin, and a professional lawyer named Tertullus—came down from Jerusalem and formally laid before Felix their case against the apostle (Acts 24:1-9).

This is the only trial in Acts in which the accusers employed a lawyer. In his speech, Tertullus tried an interesting strategy to win the governor’s favor. It was simply not true that, under Felix, the Jews had enjoyed a long period of peace. In fact, no other governor had been so repressive and violent, and this repression generated an enormous antagonism among the Jews toward Roman rule. With a lot of ingenuity, Tertullus used the governor’s own administrative policy to convince him that he would achieve political stability in this case also only by means of severe repression.

Then, he went on to press three specific charges against Paul: (1) that Paul was an agitator who was constantly fomenting unrest among Jews throughout the empire (Acts 24:5); (2) that he was a ringleader of the Nazarenes (Acts 24:5), which implicated Christianity as a whole as a kind of disruptive movement; and (3) that he had attempted to defile the Jerusalem temple (Acts 24:6).

Read Acts 24:10-19. How did Paul answer each one of the charges?

Two further points raised by Paul were devastating to the accusers’ case: (1) the absence of the Asian witnesses (Acts 24:18, 19), which had the potential of rendering the trial invalid, and (2) the fact that the Jews there could speak only about Paul’s hearing before the Sanhedrin the week before (Acts 24:20), and as such they had nothing to accuse him of except that he believed in the resurrection of the dead (compare with Acts 23:6).

Felix immediately understood the weight of Paul’s arguments, also because he was somewhat acquainted with Christianity, probably through his Jewish wife Drusilla. The fact is that he decided to adjourn the proceedings until further notice (Acts 24:22).

Felix’s response (Acts 24:24-27) revealed much about his character: he procrastinated, he was able to be bribed, and he was opportunistic. Paul had little chance of a fair hearing with someone like Felix.

Read Acts 24:16. Paul said that he strove always to have a “conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.” What does that mean? What, if anything, would you have to change in order to say the same thing?