Now three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.
2 And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, 3 asking as a favor against Paul that he summon him to Jerusalem—because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. 4 Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly. 5 “So,” said he, “let the men of authority among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him.”6 After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. 7 When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove. 8 Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.” 9 But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?” 10 But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. 11 If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.” 12 Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”
I was sharing my experiences of serving as a chaplain at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. I was serving there in connection with a quarter of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). CPE is designed to offer pastors and other pastoral ministry servants learning experiences to sharpen their pastoral care skills. It involves lots of visits in a clinical setting, together with group feedback sessions. I was part of an interesting group of men and women. One was a Roman Catholic pastoral care minister. Another was a Baptist pastor. Still another was a liberal Methodist minister. None saw ministry or pastoral care the way I did.
I learned a lot from those folks. But sometimes I became defensive. My understanding of Scripture, God, and pastoral care were often challenged and sometimes attacked. As I shared some of those experiences with a colleague, admitting that I was perhaps a bit defensive, he offered this cogent observation: “Sometimes you need to be defensive.” A simple truth that encouraged me and helped me put things in perspective.
Being overly defensive is not healthy or helpful. But there are times.
Paul was right in defending himself from the false charges of his enemies. These were not just his enemies. They were enemies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They wanted to kill Paul. They wanted to thwart the spread of the gospel message. That’s an appropriate time to speak up for yourself. Paul will defend himself all the way to Caesar.
There will come a time when Paul’s defense will crumble. According to early Christian tradition and historical accounts, Paul was executed in Rome under the reign of Emperor Nero, likely around 64-67 AD during a period of intense persecution of Christians.
Paul’s martyrdom was a reflection of another. Jesus did not defend himself when he was accused before Pilate. Paul’s death was testimony to the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus knew he would lay down his life as the once and for all sacrifice for the sins of the world. He also knew he would take his life up again. And so he did. When Paul encountered the resurrected Jesus it changed his life.
In whatever ways we might face accusations and danger, we can remember that Jesus is our sure defense. He was there for Paul. He’ll be there for you.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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