The Conversion of St. Paul
Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus is probably the most famous conversion in Christianity, if not all of history. It is dramatic not only in how it happened, but also in who it happened to. You’ll hear people talk about a “Damascus Road experience”. And people who haven’t had that kind of dramatic conversion will sometimes wonder if there’s something wrong with them- especially if they grew up in the church. … Let me just say that there are all kinds of conversions, and I think that if we are faithful, we will continue to have conversions as we grow closer and closer to God. Paul wasn’t converted from being an Atheist to being a Christian. He was already a passionate believer in God, and he grew to have a deeper understanding of God as he came to know Christ.
Paul is a passionate believer in God, and so zealous that he is willing to have those who he sees as dangerous heretics imprisoned or killed. We might compare him to a member of the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL), who killed Christians (among others). Members of ISIS believed that what they were doing was in keeping with God’s commands, according the Quran. Paul, likewise, saw the followers of Jesus as dangerous heretics who could lead people astray. They were like a cancer that had to be cut out before they grew and infected more of God’s people.
Saul of Tarsus (‘Saul’ is his Hebrew name- ‘Paul’ is his Greek name) was fanatical about hunting down and destroying what he saw as a heretical sect of wayward Jews. We read that Saul was watching the coats of those who were stoning Stephen and giving his approval (Acts 7:58; 8:1). We read that
“Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison” (8:3).
We read today that,
“Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem” (9:1-2).
Later in Acts he says,
“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities” (26:9-11).
In his letter to the Galatians he says,
“For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers” (Gal 1:13-14).Saul is on his way to destroy the church in Damascus. Some of these believers may have gone to Damascus to flee persecution in Jerusalem. … While Saul is on the way we read,
“… suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ [Saul] asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do’" (9:3-6).
Saul, who was ferociously defending God and truth, was suddenly humbled and thrown to the ground. Saul thought he knew God. He was so confident in who God was that he was willing to imprison and kill those who threatened that truth. He believed the Temple and the sacrifices were eternal elements of what it meant to be God’s people. … Jesus and his followers threatened that. Jesus claimed to be the new Temple, and he claimed to be the only sacrifice needed.
Saul was blinded to aspects of God. … We can all be blind to parts of God, especially when God challenges us to leave our comfort zone. We often prefer a God that doesn’t challenge us. We prefer a comfortable God. But, the real God challenges us out of our comfort zone. Abraham, in his old age, was told to leave everything he knew. Moses did not want to go to back to Egypt to be God’s apostle to rescue the people from slavery. The prophet Jeremiah did not want to be the one to bring the bad news to God’s people that Babylon would win because of the faithlessness of their leaders. … It seems like God is constantly calling people into places of discomfort, which makes sense if God is calling us to grow. Growth is about becoming something new, which requires changing from what we already are. When God calls us into newness, we are (in a way) called into discomfort, to think differently, to grow in love towards people we don’t want to love. … We should always recognize that God is bigger than we can imagine, and that means God will continuously surprise us. The real God will tell you things you don’t want to hear. That is the God we meet in the pages of the Bible.
Later, when Paul is describing his experience, he describes himself as kicking against the goads (Acts 26:14). Goads are a kind of ancient cattle prod. It was pointy and it hurt. The farmers would use the goads to direct the animals- to do work, towards food, or away from danger. To kick against the goads is to resist the direction of the master. Perhaps God had been trying to direct him, like a good shepherd, and Paul was resisting that direction. It was too uncomfortable to consider that the followers of Jesus might be right.
Paul will later describe his Damascus Road experience as experiencing the resurrected Jesus. For him this was not a vision or a dream. Jesus, who he thought was dead, came and spoke to him. … We have seen that Jesus had incredible abilities in his resurrected form. He can keep people from recognizing him, he can appear into locked rooms, and also disappear from sight. So we should not be surprised if Jesus’ appearance to Paul has some of these unusual qualities.
Paul’s train of thought must have been overwhelming: If Jesus is resurrected, then God raised him; If God raised him, then God approved of him; If God approves of him, then he approves of his teaching; If he approves of his teaching then he approves of those who follow his teaching. …
Jesus says this amazing thing to Saul, “why do you persecute me?” Not only are his followers right in following the true teachings approved by God, but Jesus so identifies with his followers that to attack them, is to attack the Messiah. In that short interaction Saul suddenly realizes he has been fighting against God’s Messiah. He has been fighting against God, which is what his teacher Gamaliel warned the Council in Jerusalem about when he said,
Saul was blinded to aspects of God. … We can all be blind to parts of God, especially when God challenges us to leave our comfort zone. We often prefer a God that doesn’t challenge us. We prefer a comfortable God. But, the real God challenges us out of our comfort zone. Abraham, in his old age, was told to leave everything he knew. Moses did not want to go to back to Egypt to be God’s apostle to rescue the people from slavery. The prophet Jeremiah did not want to be the one to bring the bad news to God’s people that Babylon would win because of the faithlessness of their leaders. … It seems like God is constantly calling people into places of discomfort, which makes sense if God is calling us to grow. Growth is about becoming something new, which requires changing from what we already are. When God calls us into newness, we are (in a way) called into discomfort, to think differently, to grow in love towards people we don’t want to love. … We should always recognize that God is bigger than we can imagine, and that means God will continuously surprise us. The real God will tell you things you don’t want to hear. That is the God we meet in the pages of the Bible.
Later, when Paul is describing his experience, he describes himself as kicking against the goads (Acts 26:14). Goads are a kind of ancient cattle prod. It was pointy and it hurt. The farmers would use the goads to direct the animals- to do work, towards food, or away from danger. To kick against the goads is to resist the direction of the master. Perhaps God had been trying to direct him, like a good shepherd, and Paul was resisting that direction. It was too uncomfortable to consider that the followers of Jesus might be right.
Paul will later describe his Damascus Road experience as experiencing the resurrected Jesus. For him this was not a vision or a dream. Jesus, who he thought was dead, came and spoke to him. … We have seen that Jesus had incredible abilities in his resurrected form. He can keep people from recognizing him, he can appear into locked rooms, and also disappear from sight. So we should not be surprised if Jesus’ appearance to Paul has some of these unusual qualities.
Paul’s train of thought must have been overwhelming: If Jesus is resurrected, then God raised him; If God raised him, then God approved of him; If God approves of him, then he approves of his teaching; If he approves of his teaching then he approves of those who follow his teaching. …
Jesus says this amazing thing to Saul, “why do you persecute me?” Not only are his followers right in following the true teachings approved by God, but Jesus so identifies with his followers that to attack them, is to attack the Messiah. In that short interaction Saul suddenly realizes he has been fighting against God’s Messiah. He has been fighting against God, which is what his teacher Gamaliel warned the Council in Jerusalem about when he said,
“keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (Acts 5:38-39).Saul is thrown into darkness- a physical blindness that matches his spiritual blindness. Paul has to be led to the city of Damascus. There, he refuses to eat or drink. He is fasting and praying in a state of repentance.
Jesus then speaks to Ananias, one of the men Saul was probably coming to arrest.
"Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight" (9:11-12).
Understandably, Ananias has some reservations.
“But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name’" (9:13-14).This is like Jesus coming to you and telling you, “Go to this member of ISIS and tell him Jesus sent you to pray for him”. So, understandably, Ananias has reservations. But God challenges us to go into uncomfortable places.
“… the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name’" (9:15-16).Then we read,
“Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized” (9:17-18).
Ananias may have been the leader of the church in Damascus, who Saul was coming to imprison and kill. He comes to Saul and calls him “brother”, lays his hands on him and prays for him and then he receives his sight. It is an incredible act of courage, mercy, and love. This is a man who was responsible for imprisoning and killing his friends- he was there encouraging those who stoned Stephen.
It’s interesting that Jesus speaking to Saul wasn’t enough. Jesus wanted to connect him to the community. His conversion wasn’t complete until he connected with other Jesus followers. Saul knows these Jesus followers hear God- they have intimacy with God. He sees that they are willing to sacrifice. They are willing to risk their lives to come to him and show him love. They live unselfishly. … He is baptized and joins that Body he was persecuting. He becomes willing to do the uncomfortable and unpredictable thing as he follows God.
It is tempting to follow the ‘god of the comfortable’. The god who agrees with all my thoughts and ideas. The god who never challenges me to go outside my comfort zone. But that god is an idol. … We are challenged to resist that temptation and follow the God who is real. That means I will be called into places of discomfort. The real God encountered Saul and changed his life forever. It wasn’t an easy life that he was called into. The real God encountered Ananias and asked him to do something very uncomfortable. He might have thought he was going to a cross, but he went. … The real God will make us uncomfortable, but the real God is the only one worth believing in. AMEN
It’s interesting that Jesus speaking to Saul wasn’t enough. Jesus wanted to connect him to the community. His conversion wasn’t complete until he connected with other Jesus followers. Saul knows these Jesus followers hear God- they have intimacy with God. He sees that they are willing to sacrifice. They are willing to risk their lives to come to him and show him love. They live unselfishly. … He is baptized and joins that Body he was persecuting. He becomes willing to do the uncomfortable and unpredictable thing as he follows God.
It is tempting to follow the ‘god of the comfortable’. The god who agrees with all my thoughts and ideas. The god who never challenges me to go outside my comfort zone. But that god is an idol. … We are challenged to resist that temptation and follow the God who is real. That means I will be called into places of discomfort. The real God encountered Saul and changed his life forever. It wasn’t an easy life that he was called into. The real God encountered Ananias and asked him to do something very uncomfortable. He might have thought he was going to a cross, but he went. … The real God will make us uncomfortable, but the real God is the only one worth believing in. AMEN
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