Fantasy

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

FANTASY

Acts 25:23-27

23 The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high ranking officers and the leading men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. 24 Festus said: "King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. 25 I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome. 26 But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write. 27 For I think it is unreasonable to send on a prisoner without specifying the charges against him."

NIV

 

Oh, how vain is the man. We see King Agrippa and Bernice entering the audience room with great pomp. It is interesting the Greek translated pomp is phantasia. This is the word we get the English word fantasy, and that is exactly what that Greek word means. Their entrance was a fantasy, filled with all sorts of ceremonial devices. We don’t know much about Bernice, although some of our scholars are convinced, she was Agrippa's niece who he supposedly married after his brother died. He was also called Herod Agrippa who was mentioned in Acts 12, but just called Herod who was the son of Herod the Great who reigned during the time Jesus was born as a man and tried to have him killed. Agrippa Herod was the one who had James the brother of John killed by the sword, and who imprisoned Peter showing off because the Jews were pleased. Now he shows up with Bernice in full regalia, entering as a royal king with all the fantasy, fanfares, trumpets, the waving of banners, and whatever else a king would need to show his importance. It does make us think of how some people today put on a big show, bragging about their importance in the world. We only have to look at the political, entertainment, and sports arenas to see so many who have such a high opinion of themselves. We remember just recently in the past, a presidential winner, gave his acceptance speech in front of great Greek Columns in a filled outdoor stadium. Some have such an over exaggerated opinion of their importance. However, what we have to be careful of in the church is to always remain humble. We cannot afford to even give the appearance of pridefulness, boasting about our accomplishments, or our qualifications. We are all but servants of the Most High God, born again through faith in Jesus Christ. We are taught that we should not think more highly of ourselves than we should and to put the needs of others before our own. We think we fail at this far too much. How is it that we have trouble with this? Do we actually want others to see our importance in the church? We have noticed over the many years of being a believer that in various churches we have been involved in, there are those who are boastful and prideful of their qualifications, position, and all they do in the church. We cannot afford to be like King Agrippa and want all the pomp, which is nothing but a fantasy when we enter the church. Titles are manmade, for the only title that is meaningful is the King of kings, the Lord of Lord, the Anointed One, the Holy One of God, the Son, the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. Yet, he came in the humblest of ways, and became a servant, even washing the feet of his disciples, to show us the way to live, in humility, without any fanfare, without any fantasy, but just being all the Jesus intended us to be, with the only title that has any meaning of all, a child of God.