Conversion of St. Paul

Discipleship Questions for

Sunday January 25, 2008

Scripture Readings:

First Reading: Acts 26:9-21

Psalm Reading: Psalm 67

Second Reading: Galatians 1:11-24

Gospel: Matthew 10:16-22

Acts 26:9-21

Paul said to King Agrippa, "Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

"With this in mind, I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, `Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.' I asked, `Who are you, Lord?' The Lord answered, `I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles-- to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

"After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me."

Psalm 67 Page 675, BCP

Deus misereatur

1

May God be merciful to us and bless us, *

show us the light of his countenance and come to us.

2

Let your ways be known upon earth, *

your saving health among all nations.

3

Let the peoples praise you, O God; *

let all the peoples praise you.

4

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, *

for you judge the peoples with equity

and guide all the nations upon earth.

5

Let the peoples praise you, O God; *

let all the peoples praise you.

6

The earth has brought forth her increase; *

may God, our own God, give us his blessing.

7

May God give us his blessing, *

and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.

Galatians 1:11-24

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.

Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy." And they glorified God because of me.

Matthew 10:16-22

Jesus said to the twelve, "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved."

Discipleship Questions:

1. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul and so today we’re going to explore what conversion is all about. Please reflect upon your own conversion to the Christian faith – when did it happen, how did it happen, what do you think was the reason for it happening then and so on. Try to explore the process of your own conversion.

2. Now let’s explore St. Paul’s Conversion. Please read the following and then either reflect on it or discuss it in a small group: Acts 26:9 Paul said to King Agrippa “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. Incidentally the Message’s translation of that last verse – verse 11 goes this way: I stormed through their meeting places, bullying them into cursing Jesus, a one-man terror obsessed with obliterating these people. And then I started on the towns outside Jerusalem.

Reading on:

12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ Now first let me say that I find it interesting that Paul made the point of noting to King Agrippa that the voice spoke in Hebrew the Aramaic vernacular of Palestine at the time. In fact during Jesus' lifetime, the common people would've spoken Aramaic. The educated and the religious leaders would've spoken Hebrew, as well as some Greek and Latin. The Roman occupiers would've spoken Latin and possibly some Greek. But listen to the next question – verse 15 and we’ll get our answer as to why the voice was speaking in Aramaic:

15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. Ah – it was Jesus and we know that Jesus spoke Aramaic almost exclusively. But did you hear what Jesus said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!” But Paul was persecuting jewish schismatic’s! No! What Jesus told him and is now telling you and me is this – when you persecute anyone who follows me – you persecute me! No, I don’t know about you but that gives me a lot of comfort and confidence – my big brother – Jesus will come to my defense if anyone takes a shot at me! Wow! I love it!!!

Let’s read on:

16 Jesus went on, ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Now that’s a mouthful! Don’t you think? What did Jesus just tell Rabbi Saul? That He, Jesus was appearing to him to appoint him as a servant and as a witness of what Jesus has done to him and will show him in the future!

Now think about that – Jesus is forcefully taking charge of Paul’s life – is it against Paul’s will? We don’t know yet but we will soon. But this event is certainly forceful and Jesus is very clear about what direction his life is to take in the future. It’s to be a complete and radical turnaround of what he has been! He has been persecuting the Christians and now he will be honoring them – joining them – and seeking to convert not only the Jews but more particularly the gentile nations all around them!

Let’s read on:

19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.

Did you hear something unusual in that last reading? Listen to this, “I preached that they should repent and turn to Christ and prove their repentance by their deeds.”

No that’s not what he said. He said, “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.”

Ponder that . . . what Paul is saying then is that the Jews were not following God – the God they claimed to be following – the God who sent Jesus His Son. They Jews were not following God!

Now that’s an indictment! That’s what was so upsetting to the Jews – the Christians were in fact telling them that they were the heretics while the Christians were in fact the real believers in God!

Talk about an insurrection! Just imagine that you’re a Jewish person in good standing in Jerusalem and you hear that the Christians are claiming to be the real followers of God while you and all your friends are in fact heretics who are not really following God!

Ouch! That’s rough language don’t you think. But then listen to the rest of that verse:

I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.

And prove their repentance by their deeds! In other words the real fruit of true repentance is actions consistent with their faith!

Wait a minute – faith is enough isn’t it? Yes, but it must be faith that leads to actions! Without actions there is no faith! A Christian in words only isn’t a Christian – but a hypocrite!

Real conversion leads to real change which must become manifest in actions – not just pretty words!

2. Now please read the Galatians reading and discover how Paul’s thinking about his conversion has changed and deepened with time for reflection. The idea here is that our conversion is ongoing.

3. Please read the following and reflect or discuss: Now what does all of this mean for you and me?

Are you a Christian or are you just a good person – or perhaps in reality not that good – for what I mean by good is good in your inner bring – in your inner person.

Are you just playing a good game or are you really a Christian. Look at the fruit in your life – fruit that has come from your actions which are consistent with who you are in your inner being!

Our fruit really tells the whole story! Look at your fruit and allow God to bring us to deeper repentance and deeper conversion . . . .OR . . . we can do what many still do for we have learned how to justify our bad actions and hide from the condemnation of our bad fruit and so we live on in our self-made prisons of – Christians in name only – pathetic hypocrites! O God protect us from this terrible fate!

But there’s something else that we may be able to learn from this – God has a plan not only for our ongoing conversions but also for the initial and ongoing conversion of those “gentiles” as it were, all around us!

Are we going to give them a chance to be converted or are we going to be so intimidated by the antagonistic culture all around us that we don’t ever dare to talk about Jesus at all!

We don’t have to force anyone – the process of conversion is in God’s hands. But God does call us to witness to the reality of Jesus in our lives – the living breathing – real life Jesus. Now perhaps Jesus isn’t present in your life and you can’t in fact witness to His real reality in your life. If that’s true is His absence because He was never there or because you have stopped nurturing your relationship with Him and consequently your soul has become lukewarm or even cold to any spiritual reality?

Listen to what the renowned author Madeleine L'Engle had to say about conversion:

“Conversion for me was not a Damascus Road experience. I slowly moved into an intellectual acceptance of what my intuition had always known.”

Listen to what C.S. Lewis has to say about conversion:

"Every story of conversion is the story of a blessed defeat." (in Foreword to Joy Davidman’s Smoke on the Mountain)

St. Peter had it right when he reminded his readers that conversion was far more than just a psychological change. In his words conversion makes us: “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

Partakers of the divine nature – wow!

Pope Benedict XVI said recently when paying special homage to St. Augustine’s conversion:

“St. Augustine is ‘model of conversion’ for Christians of all ages. Although conditioned by the passions of youth and the habits of his time, St. Augustine sought the truth -- and that led him inevitably to faith.”

Ah – a seeker of truth! Jesus said, “I am the way THE TRUTH and the life!” Seek the Truth and you will find Jesus! You can’t fail – He won’t let you!