“Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, . . . . . . . . . . . .When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed; but they had certain points of dispute with him about their own superstition and about one Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.
Excerpt, First Reading, Friday 17th May 2024 – ACTS 25: 13b-21.
So, things, issues, just like people that will turnout big, huge, largely enormous, usually begin small.
“It all starts with a spark” as the saying goes,l as we all must have heard.
Take for example a neem (dogon yaro) tree, its seed that is planted that grows into that giant of a tree is as small as a groundnut’s single cotyledon – the main inner edible part.
Naturally, creation always favours small and humble beginnings.
Conception of a human person happens immediately at the mingling of the sperm with an ovum(egg).
Now, it may interest us to know that the length of the human sperm is around 55-65 µm, while the size of an ovum(egg) is approximately 0.12mm.
And at the time of fertilisation, the size of the zygote (the union of the sperm and egg) is about 0.7 mm in diametre.
Simply put, the size of the human sperm and that of an ovum as well as the zygote are each like the size of a seed of millet grain.
Suffice to say, that was you and I, until we grew to our present sizes.
So, it was in today’s teaching, though, Jerusalem was a Roman colony and rulers such as Festus were supposed to be abreast with all that happen in all Roman colonies, the name Jesus Christ was yet to make an impression with Festus and his guests.
Remember that was how it was too, with the Ethiopian eunuch that the Apostle Philip preached to,
““Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” ACTS 8:30-35.
The fire about Jesus Christ was flaming up gradually and spreading effectively like a tiny seed that grows into a gigantic tree, until it reached our part of the world.
And, it has been preserved and sustained from then until now.
Dear friend, the name and the story of Jesus Christ may seem strange to Festus and the Ethiopian eunuch of that era, nevertheless, it is and should no longer be strange to the ‘Festuses’ and the Ethiopians of today’s world.
My dear friend, know Christ Jesus and have life and have it in abundance.
No Jesus, no life! Know Jesus, know life!
Folks, have a fantastic day and a pleasant weekend.
#Blessed_Carlo_Acutis! #Pray_for_us!
– Akase F. Agabo