Paul is a prisoner without a crime. After a couple years, the Jews accusing Paul seem to have lost direction and have now become an unorganized mob of haters. The Roman officials are seeing right through this but since Paul is causing such a commotion, he has become a celebrity. I'm not sure how Felix, Festus and Agrippa compare to Pilate in terms of status, but it seems pretty clear that Paul's "case" is getting the big guns to show up and get in the press. Yet, throughout this, Paul remains upbeat and downright "cheerful" (24:10).
The theme of today's children's sermon was that we should all be "imitations" of Jesus. As close as we can get to the original, but knowing that we can never be exact. (Kind of like Luther's "little Christs" concept). I was trying to think of a modern day person who is an "imitation" of Paul and the only person I could think of was Nelson Mandela. Someone who preached their beliefs (without having committed a crime), wound up in prison, but instead of plotting revenge, instead used the time to make himself a stronger person. How strong one's foundation must be in order to be constantly beguiled of strength and hope and yet have faith and purpose.
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