Check out The Calling of St. Matthew
by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. His paintings, especially his observation
of the human condition, had a formative influence on Baroque painting. He burst
upon the Rome art scene in 1600 with the success of his first public
commissions. Thereafter he never lacked commissions or patrons, yet he handled
his success poorly. He would work on a painting for a couple weeks, and then go
on a drinking binge for a month or two, from one tennis court to another, ready
to argue and fight. He had a death sentence pronounced against him by the Pope
after killing a young man, possibly unintentionally, after a tennis match in
1606. In the painting, the apostle is in a dark and dirty Roman tavern,
surrounded by lowlifes. That is because Caravaggio spent plenty of time in
these pubs himself, drinking and brawling.
Rembrandt has a well-regarded 1633
etching The Good Samaritan. Having achieved youthful success as a portrait
painter, personal tragedy and financial hardship marked Rembrandt's later
years. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime. The
etching of the Good Samaritan is so down to earth that it has a dog relieving
itself in the foreground. Members of the Dutch Reformed Church loved Rembrandt’s
realistic artwork but did not appreciate his relationships with women. He
painted his wife, Saskia, as a prostitute in a tavern, sitting in the lap of
one of the most well-known of Jesus’ characters, the prodigal son. After Saskia
died, he became lovers with his housekeeper and then left her for another
servant, causing his housekeeper to take him to court. Messy.
Rembrandt lost the support of church
members because of his behavior and died in poverty in 1669 — but not before he
painted one of his greatest works, Return of the Prodigal Son. Like the sinful
son in the parable, maybe Rembrandt knew he needed forgiveness.
Then there is Salvador Dali, the
artist who created The Sacrament of the Last Supper. Although born to devout
Catholic parents in Spain, he was an atheist who indulged every outlandish
whim, including the throwing of orgies that he called “erotic masses.” Dali
returned to his Catholic roots after moving to the United States, but some
people questioned his sincerity. Dali may have been motivated more by money
than by spirituality, bragging that postcards of his Last Supper sold more
copies than did all of the works of Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael combined.
It would be so easy to judge each of
these persons. However, my reminder today is that all God has to work with is
sinners. The beauty of the Easter message is that God works with sinners – like
you and me – to be channels of grace and love. God changes lives.
Application
Why
does it take some of us so long?
It would have been easy to judge Saul, that zealous Pharisee who
persecuted early followers of Jesus. If anyone needed a second chance, it was
Saul.
Human beings need second chances.
In A Prophet with Honor: The
Billy Graham Story, William Martin says that the primary reason for Dr.
Graham's lifelong, phenomenal success and worldwide affection is that Graham
has consistently preached the transforming power of a second chance. Billy Graham has consistently preached, as
the one lasting solution to all ills in personal and social life, the
transforming commitment to Jesus Christ.
Martin notes the well-substantiated charge that the majority of the
hundreds of thousands of inquirers who came forward at Graham's crusades were
not really first time converts, but rededicators. Yet I agree with Martin that this is hardly a
criticism of Graham. Is a rededication
of one's life to Christ any less momentous than a first time conversion?
God keeps working with us.
No matter how far we have strayed,
God does not give up.
First, we may have difficulty
knowing who Jesus is.
If you have a relationship with
Christ, I grant this may be difficult, for Jesus means everything to you.
However, you may have gone through times when you questioned and doubted. I
suspect most of us have been there. We keep struggling with what it means for
him to be Lord of our lives.
We could get quite judgmental of
Paul, wondering why he would persecute early followers of Jesus. Yet, even the
family of Jesus found the behavior of Jesus mystifying.
When his family heard it,
they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of
his mind." (Mark 3:21)
Few failures and
separations hurt as much as those within family do. When family tells you that
what Christians believe is silly or irrational, when family tells you that
Christianity is for weak people, thereby calling you weak, the hurt is somehow
deeper, and the separation is deeper. Jesus
left the security of home and a profitable business to become an itinerant
preacher. He took up with a rough crowd of people: smelly anglers, a
white-collar crook and a political revolutionary. He started alienating the
religious establishment. Observing all this, Jesus' own family asked, "Who
is this guy? He's not the Jesus we know!"
Jesus' family could only conclude: He has lost his mind. He has gone
over the edge. He is out of control. He has gone crazy.
The disciples did not find it easy.
They had little faith. They betrayed, denied, and deserted him in the end. They
even tried going back to fishing. God did not give up on them.
Do not think it an easy step to
take. Is the risen Lord the one to whom you need to give your life? I would not
be standing here if I had not said yes to that question. Frankly, as important
as the decision I made as a ten year old was, I have had to keep saying yes.
More times than I care to count, I have gone backward. I have struggled with
prayers unanswered. I have struggled with suffering. I do not pretend, however,
that the journey has been easy for me – or for you.
The Christian life is more interesting than a mere orderly progression
of spiritual development. Our plan for discipleship and spiritual growth might
look like a straight line moving upward. The reality, which is often the plan
of God, is that we have hills, valleys, and corners around which we cannot see.
Further, we often make serious mistakes. We often have profound
misunderstanding of what God wants. We sin.
Second, a second chance, early or
late in life, is no small thing.
It is fittingly ironic that when
Paul at last hears and recognizes Jesus as the risen Christ, God strikes him
blind. Saul once knew so much about
religion, God, and big, important ideas.
He knew big, significant people.
However, the blinding light on the Damascus Road, renders him, into a
little child who must be led by the hand, healed, instructed by the very ones
he once thought he was above. Here is a
strange path of enlightenment. He made
progress in the Christian faith by regression and falling backward.
Peter had to take a step backward.
In John 21, Peter goes back to Galilee with other disciples. He went fishing. A
stranger appears on the beach and tells them to put their nets on the other
side of the boat. They do so, and they catch 153 fish. The beloved disciple
recognizes the stranger is Jesus. Peter gets out of the boat and makes his way
to the shore. Jesus is already cooking some fish. Then we read these words.
15 When
they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you
love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love
you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said
to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you
know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He
said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt
hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to
him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him,
“Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17)
The primary goal seems to be the rehabilitation of Peter, who had
denied Jesus (18:17, 25, 27). As Peter denied Jesus three times, so also Jesus
gives him three opportunities to state his love for Jesus. Jesus goes on to
predict to Peter in veiled form the fact that he would be a martyr for his
faithfulness to Jesus and thus glorify God (21:18-19).
Notice that in his responses, Peter is unusually humble. While once he gladly boasted of his loyalty to
Jesus, even to the point of his own death, Peter now calls on Jesus himself to
verify the love that he feels, "You know that I love you." Jesus is bestowing upon Peter a leadership
role, that of a shepherd.
In every big move in life, there
must be detachment from old certainties and securities. We do not like that. We want to be big, in control, calling the
shots.
A second chance, early or late in
life, is not cheap.
Conclusion
Joe Garagiola tells about a time
when Stan Musial came to the plate in a critical game. As one of the great hitters of the game,
Musial was at the peak of his career.
The opposing pitcher in the game was young and nervous. Garagiola, as the catcher, called for a
fastball and the pitcher shook his head; Joe signaled for a curve and again the
pitcher shook him off. He then asked for
one of the pitcher's specialties and still the pitcher hesitated. Therefore, Joe went out to the mound for a
conference. He said, "I've called
for every pitch in the book what do you want to throw?" "Nothing," he replied. "I just want to hold on to the ball as
long as I can."
Have you ever felt like that
pitcher? You know your time has
come. You know you need to make the big
move in your life. Yet, fear takes over. You do not act.
Do not let today be like that.
Going deeper
The theme of Acts 9:1-19a is the conversion and call to a
mission of Saul. Conversions in
Luke-Acts are stories about beginnings the beginning of a new chapter in the
life of the church, the initiation of a new mission, as well as the beginning
of a new life for the individual person. Conversion is the beginning of the
Christian journey, not its final destination. Conversion is not for the smug
individual possession of the convert, but rather for the ongoing thrust of the
gospel. In Acts, significant shifts in this story of the early church have
conversions or call story at their beginning. Acts 2 is the converting of the disciples to their mission as the Holy
Spirit falls upon them. Philip goes to the Samaritans in Chapter 8, being the
messenger of their conversion. The apostles arrive, lay their hands on them,
and they receive the Holy Spirit. He is also instrumental in the conversion and
baptism of the Ethiopian along the road. Peter experiences the vision of
unclean foods in Chapter 10, which leads him to share the good news with
Cornelius, who receives baptism and the Holy Spirit. In such stories, God is
calling individuals to a godly work. Further, such conversion and vocation are
always the gift of God to the individual. Such change is the work of the
Holy Spirit in the lives of people.
Acts 9:1-20
(NRSV)
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and
murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest [note
that
Saul, not the High Priest Caiaphas
(to 36 AD) is the driving force of the persecution. Did the High Priest
have jurisdiction outside of Judea?]
2 and
asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any
who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ["Way" was the name
for Christianity also in 19:9, 23, 22:4, 24:14, 22. The letters are mandates empowering Saul to
root out Christians and place them under arrest.
As we see from 26:9-11, Saul believed he
ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth, including acting
under the authority of the chief priests against the followers of Jesus in
Jerusalem. He put them in prison and voted against them when the punishment was
death. Thus, we see that
although Paul
seems consumed with hatred and rage against the preachers and practitioners of
"the Way," Saul's legal training cautions and contains his actions,
enabling him to calculate carefully how he may best destroy these followers of
Jesus. Instead of looking for easy targets upon which to practice vigilante
justice, Saul goes before the high priest to petition for "letters" of
authority that would serve as blank arrest warrants. Only the officially
recognized Jewish council had permission from the Roman legal authorities to
extend such documents. This power was one Rome continued to allow the Jews,
fostering the illusion that the Jews still maintained a semblance of
self-governing power. Armed with the proper papers, the
letter-of-the-law-abiding Saul could wield genuine authority within not just
the homes, but also the synagogues of other Jews. Saul could legally apprehend
and bring to Jerusalem to stand trial before the high priest and council anyone
he viewed as suspect. As aptly demonstrated at the trial of Jesus, Jewish
leaders could then hand troublemakers over to the Roman authorities -- and let
the violent justice of the Roman state take its course.
The alliance between a Pharisee and the Sadducee formed in verse 2 is
an unusual one and highlights the monstrous lengths to which Saul was willing
to go to persecute Christians. Saul, a Pharisee, seeks out the Sadducee
high priest of Jerusalem to obtain the necessary authorization to continue his
fight against these miscreant followers of "the Way."
C.S. Mann has suggested that this unique
partnership between two rather unfriendly schools of Judaism occurred with an
eye toward their common concern about maintaining temple purity. Mann
proposes that Damascus was one of the "check-in centers" along the
journey for observant Jews making the annual pilgrimage to the temple in
Jerusalem. At Damascus, Alexandria and other central location the ritual purity
of the pilgrims was examined and their identity as faithful Jews established.
Mann suggests that the Jerusalem priests were worried that sectarian believers,
such as those professing to follow Jesus, would be willing to look the other
way and perhaps even allow Gentile believers to continue undetected to join the
throngs at the Jerusalem temple. Were a Gentile to enter the temple, the whole
structure would be defiled.
Whether or
not maintaining strict ritual purity adds to Saul's motivation, it is clear
that he intends to do his best to destroy the nest of believers at Damascus.
Saul is obviously a dangerous and formidable enemy of the church. Indeed,
nearly every one of Luke-Acts' uses of the verb "to persecute"
involves Saul and his activities. He is Luke's archetypal enemy of the church.]
3 Now as he was going along and
approaching Damascus, suddenly [The revelation was sudden]
a light from heaven flashed around him.
We find biblical language,
with resemblance to the legend of Heliodorus in II Maccabees 3, but
especially verses 22-28, 33-34, 35-40. It has its source in events between
187-175 BC. It involves intrigue surrounding the Temple. Heliodorus, present
with authority from the king, desires to take Temple money to the king. A
vision of two “men” or angels stops him. He is near death, but Onias III prays
for him, he returns to health, and offers sacrifices to the Lord, “the Savior
of his life.” He offers testimony of the deeds of “the supreme God, which he
had seen with his own eyes.” The point of the story is that God protected the
treasury. As to the vision, everyone present with Heliodorous experienced a
manifestation so powerful that the power of God astounded them, making them
grow weak due to their terror. A rider on a magnificent horse struck at
Heliodorus. The rider had weapons of gold. Two young men also appeared, strong
and beautiful, standing on either side of him and flogged him. Heliodorus was
so weak that they carried him out on a stretcher. After his healing, another
vision by the same two “men” said he should be grateful to Onias, since for his
sake the Lord gave him the gift of life. He needed to remember that he had
received his flogging from Heaven.
Saul's
vision begins (as Moses' did) with the appearance of "a light from
heaven."] 4 He
fell to the ground [as a devout Jew, Saul responds to this light by falling to the ground
and assuming the posture of worship] and
heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” [Christ completely identified with the
church. Although this passage describes the conversion experience that
transforms Saul from rabbinic Jew to a Jew who accepts Jesus as the Messiah of
the Jewish people, the experience itself relies heavily on his essential
Jewishness in order to make sense. Saul saw the form of Jesus in the light,
while those around saw a glare.
Though
the voice speaks the same words in all three accounts, this does not mean he
recounted it this way.
In fact, Gal l:15
and II Cor 4:6 make this unlikely.
The fact
that the witnesses did not perceive or hear suggests that its character was
that of a vision, as Paul himself has indicated.]
5 He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” [Saul's
response is to inquire about the identity of the voice. However, we should not
think Saul's question suggests he had no idea who was addressing him.
In the Jewish tradition, which is Saul's
identity, dialogue is the natural form taken by divine revelations. Saul's
question addresses the voice already with a partial identity --
"Lord." Saul only knows one God, so that divinity must indeed be the
source of this voice.
Saul falls into
the same dialogue that transpired between Moses and the Lord. Like Moses, Saul
is asking for the name of God as the divine now comes before him. Moses was informed that the divine power
addressing him should be understood as "I am who I am" -- a title
that results in the acronym "YHWH" (and may be vocalized as
"Yahweh," although a devout Jew would never dare actually to utter
the divine name).]
The
reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. [The identity of this Lord is Jesus, and to
persecute Christians is to persecute him. In contrast to Moses, Saul is told
that his miraculous revelation of God goes by a different name -- "I am
Jesus."]
6 But get up and enter the city,
and you will be told what you are to do.” [This now identified voice instructs Saul, a traditional Jewish
experience of divine revelation. The fact that he is told what to do now,
rather than his whole future, shows how completely he is under the guidance of
the Lord. He who a moment ago was so
powerful has now become utterly powerless.
However, Luke has the concern of showing the power of Christ, rather
than weakness of Saul.
Some would
say that the revelation to Paul is without precedent.
He was an unbeliever.
As in the Old Testament stories of calling,
there is no story leading up to it and came from God in such a way that it
could not be refused. Yet, there is no parallel to being called while yet an
unbeliever.
The error here may be that
Saul was a zealous believer in the Lord. He transitioned from a form of Judaism
that adhered to the Law to a form of Judaism that believed in Jesus as the
Messiah who would become a light to the nations.
It also appears to be the first revelation of Christ outside Palestine.]
7 The men who were traveling with him
stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8 Saul got up
from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they
led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. [The Christophany is over, the earthly action proceeds. Now blinded, he is led by the hand to
Damascus.
Such is the pitiful state in
which the terror of the Christians makes his entry.]
9
For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. [
We may suppose that those to be baptized in
Luke’s community fasted for a period. His blindness is not punishment, but
a natural consequence of the vision.
The
three day fast, a form of penance, demonstrates his inward transformation. Like
Moses' "shining face," Saul, too, is physically affected by the power
of this revealed divinity. His blindness renders him helpless and dependent on
the graciousness of a community whom he had been intent upon riding over
roughshod with his letters of authority. In darkness, Saul goes on a strict
fast, neither eating nor drinking for three days.]
10 Now
there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a
vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” [These
simple straightforward directives, coupled with the further instructions
received by the devout and obedient Ananias "in a vision," constitute
the final New Testament record of direct
revelation by the resurrected Christ to any of his believers.] 11 The
Lord said to him, “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, 12 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.” [Just
because Luke does not mention the role of the Holy Spirit, we can assume that
he viewed the Holy Spirit as active here.] 13 But
Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil
he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the
chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” [Ananias
does not know Saul personally. Luke
presents him as a member of a Jewish-Christian group in Damascus. The
hesitations of Ananias show the reader what a menace Saul had been. Some
scholars believe verses 10-14 are an anti-Paul text, but such is not a
necessary interpretation. The call and
response of Ananias fit the classic biblical “call narrative” genre. Probably
the most famous of these narratives is that of Moses (Exodus 3:1-4:17). When
the Lord commissions Moses to confront Pharaoh, Moses poses six different
reasons why he should not proceed as asked. The Lord counters each objection
and offers signs of reassurance for the success of the mission. In the first
two chapters of the gospel of Luke, two call stories appear, in the
annunciation of the coming births of John the Baptist and of Jesus. In each
episode, the prospective parents, Zechariah and Mary respectively, object that
a birth is impossible; the angel refutes the objection and gives each a sign
(Zechariah’s muteness and Elizabeth’s pregnancy). In the story of Ananias,
Jesus appears and commissions him to an onerous task: curing the blindness of
an enemy.] 15 But 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; [When
Ananias objects, Jesus reassures him and offers a sign: Saul is praying and has
a vision of the whole episode. Mollified, Ananias cures Paul. With the reminder
of how dangerous Saul was, the reader
cannot fail to appreciate the transformation that Christ is bringing
about. Instead of persecution, God
chooses Saul to bring Christ to the world. Note, furthermore, that rather than
rejecting the Jews, his mission was to bring the “name of Jesus” to “Gentiles
and kings and ... the people of Israel.” ] 16
I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”[Instead of causing suffering for the followers
of Christ, Saul will suffer for the sake of Christ.] 17 So
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.” [Doubtless,
Luke intends these three days Saul
spends cut off from his normal physicality to remind the reader of the three
days Jesus himself spent in the tomb before his resurrection. At the conclusion
of Saul's "entombment" he, too, is reborn. The healing touch of
Ananias restores his sight, and the gift of the Holy Spirit revitalizes his
soul.] 18 And immediately something
like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and
was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
[This version emphasizes the role of the
community in the discernment of vocations. The blinding light on the road
has rendered Paul helpless, as he tries to discern the meaning of the episode.
Others lead Saul to Damascus, bound in an affliction of blindness, as he had
planned to lead Christians bound in chains to Jerusalem. Not only does Ananias cure Saul’s blindness, he begins to catechize
Paul, for within this story it is to Ananias, not to Paul, that Jesus has
communicated Paul’s commission, and Ananias, not Jesus, instructs Saul.
(This, we should note, is in direct contradiction to Paul’s own account of the
same episode in Galatians, written some four decades earlier. There, Paul
insists that he received the gospel from no human, but from God alone
[Galatians 1:11-12].) The role of the
community in the cure of Saul supports the ecclesiological understanding of
“the Lord” on the road near Damascus that Saul is persecuting Jesus (vv. 4-5).
The risen Jesus defines himself with the community of Christians.]
For
several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, 20 and immediately he began
to proclaim [the imperfect tense suggests he was preaching on
numerous occasions in the synagogues of Damascus] Jesus
in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” [The entire community at Damascus is
apparently as accepting and trusting of Saul, as was Ananias. The immediately
baptize this former enemy into the family of faith and then sits down to eat a
meal with them. One might reasonably conjecture that this may have been a
Eucharistic feast. After being nurtured by this remarkable Damascus community
for only a few days, Saul is ready to take his place in the saga of faith.
Verse 20 closes the passage with Saul, the former persecutor, now standing in
the midst of the synagogue proclaiming Jesus to be "the Son of God."]
[Luke
viewed the problem of Paul's mission as his insistence on a mission to the
Gentiles. Had the early Christians been
content with a mission to Jews, there would have been no problem with Jews or
Romans. The account of the conversion demonstrates that this mission of Paul
came from Christ. Contrary to
psychological motivations, Luke wants to show that no human evolution could be
responsible for this mission.]
First, I want to explore the conversion of
Paul in the context of what has happened in Acts.
Today, many
associate conversion with the excesses of revivalism or razzle-dazzle
electronic evangelism, where any means becomes legitimate and conversion is the
beginning and end of Christianity. The famous Damascus Road theophany has been
held up to all generations of the church as one of the most stirring and
miraculous transformations ever recorded. Some “liberal” Christians reject even
the use of the term “conversion”. In Luke-Acts, conversion is not a peripheral
event. Conversion as evidence of the miraculous power of God to make the church
and to overcome every enemy and boundary is at the center of the church's life.
We ignore the phenomenon of conversion
as the peril of losing the church. Here is a God who takes me "just as I
am without one plea," as we are fond of singing in the old hymn. However,
God does not leave us just as we are. Too much of mainline Protestantism focuses
not upon conversion but upon accommodation, adjustment, and the gospel reduced
to the status quo. Acts reminds us that change and turning are part of the
Christian lifestyle. At the same time, conversion is only a beginning of a
call or vocation with Christ. Conversion
is not the result of skillful leadership by the community or even of persuasive
preaching or biblical interpretation. In many accounts, such as those of
Philip's work with the Ethiopian, the mysterious hand of God directs
everything. In other stories, such as the story of Peter and Cornelius, the
church must be dragged kicking and screaming into the movements of God.
Manipulation, strategic planning, calculating efforts by the community aimed at
church growth are utterly absent. Even our much beloved modern notions of
"free will" and personal choice and decision appear to play little
role in conversion in Acts. Conversion is a surprising, unexpected act of
divine grace. "By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living
hope" (1Pet 1:3b).
In recent
years, there has been a growing consensus that the term “conversion,” with its
sense of a movement of commitment from no religion to a religion, is misplaced
here. Krister Sendahl points out that Jesus’ depiction of Paul to Ananias as a
“chosen instrument” recalls Isaiah 49:1 (“. . . The LORD called me before I was
born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me” and Jeremiah 1:5 (“Before I
formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations”). Stendahl concludes that if we
choose to speak of Paul’s experience as
a
conversion, rather than a call to a particular mission, then we should use
the same language of Isaiah and Jeremiah.
James D.G. Dunn argues that it would be historically and theologically more
accurate to speak of
a movement from one
mainline sect of first-century Judaism, Pharisaism, to another sect which saw
itself as a “light for the nations.” Dunn points out that within this episode,
Paul never expresses repentance for his actions. His praying and fasting are
more easily understood as the preparation for his acceptance into the new
community. Throughout Acts’
description of Paul’s mission, he invariably begins in a new city by preaching
Jesus in the Jewish assembly. On his arrival in Rome, his first act is to call
the Jewish leaders to explain himself (Acts 28:17 ff). Noting why the division
between Jews and Christians occurred, one cannot point to this incident as the
genesis.
Luke
records this event three times, with the second account in Chapter 22 assuming
the Chapter 9 account, and with the third account in Chapter 26 an abbreviated
version of the first two. In the third account, Luke heightens the contrast
between Paul's pre-Christian and Christian periods. He takes the story of the
conversion in Acts 9 and steadily applies it to the Gentile mission. In Luke’s
plan for Acts the mission of Paul is not yet a theme in Acts 9. Luke probably
deliberately interpreted the tradition of the story of a calling of Paul as a
conversion story and put it in a series of three conversion stories. The event
had great importance to Luke. Paul was the key Christian thinker and missionary
through the middle of the century. The story recounts the appearance of the
risen Christ to Paul on the way to Damascus. Paul refers to this event I
Corinthians 15:8 and Galatians 1:15. The
persecutor became the one who proclaims. The enemy of Christ becomes a disciple
of Christ. Thus, the text combines
the conversion of Saul and his call to be an apostle to the Gentiles. Luke
emphasizes that one who had been such a menace to the Christians and caused
much suffering would not become a Christian and experience suffering for the
sake of Christ. This can be nothing other
than an election of grace. In later autobiographical notes Paul testifies to
his extreme sense of righteousness and his wholehearted love of the Torah-Law
he sought to both follow and protect. In fact, Saul's precise knowledge of both
Jewish and Roman law makes him an effective persecutor of the first Christians.
Second, I
want to discuss the narrative of the conversion of Saul.
Luke's sense of drama and gift for
storytelling skillfully place this first of three accounts of Saul's conversion
as a crescendo in a series of conversion stories. Beginning in Acts 8:4, Luke
looks at Philip's remarkable work among the Samaritans, recounting their many
conversions and healings. Luke follows Philip out on the road and tells of the
sudden transformation of the Ethiopian eunuch into a believer. The stage now
set with vivid examples of the Spirit's wonder-working activities, Luke turns
to Saul.
Luke has only slightly foreshadowed
his reader's knowledge of this man Saul. Luke first mentions him in 7:58 - at
the scene of Stephen's martyrdom. While apparently he does not physically
participate in the stoning, Saul holds the coats of those who do. Immediately
after Stephen's murder, a period of widespread persecution against the church
begins; Luke portrays Saul (8:3) as a zealous participant in that activity.
Early in the passage, Saul goes before the high priest to petition for
"letters" of authority that would serve as blank arrest warrants.
Saul initiates the action, and thus is not just doing the bidding of
authorities. Only the officially recognized Jewish council had permission from
the Roman legal authorities to extend such documents. This power was one Rome
continued to allow the Jews, fostering the illusion that the Jews still
maintained a semblance of self-governing power.
When Luke
then reintroduces Saul and his hatred for the church in 9:1, we know Saul only
by his evil reputation as chief persecutor of Jesus' disciples. We know very
little about the man himself - Saul's background or education or status. Luke's
description of Saul encapsulated the fierceness of his focus - as one who was
"breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”
A voice now calls out to Saul
asking the rhetorical question, "Why do you persecute me?" Saul's
response is to inquire about the identity of the voice. Note the completeness
of the identity between Christ and the church. By asking, "Who are
you" Saul falls into the same dialogue that transpired between Moses and
the Lord. Like Moses, Saul is asking for the name of God as the divine now comes
before him. In contrast, the vision tells Saul that his miraculous revelation
of God goes by a different name -- "I am Jesus" (v.5). Like Moses'
"shining face," the power of the revelation physically affects Saul.
His blindness renders him helpless and dependent on the graciousness of a
community whom he had been intent upon riding over roughshod with his letters
of authority.
Saul's dramatic vision on the road,
and his ensuing career as the apostle to the Gentiles, naturally leads us to
focus our attention on him during this story. But Luke gives equal time and
space to the simple, obedient disciple of Damascus, Ananias. The vision Ananias
experiences from the Lord is every bit as startling as Saul's. In obedience,
Ananias presents himself before the voice in his vision, saying "Here I
am, Lord."
Nevertheless, what a test of
faith and nerve is set before Ananias! Incredulously, he listens as the Lord
tells him not just to purposely seek out this fire-breathing dragon named Saul,
but that he is then to heal him, making the now helpless and thus safe Saul
once again strong and dangerous. Little wonder that this disciple thinks it
wise to remind his Lord who it is he's talking about - giving the divine a
second chance, as it were, to get this message right.
The reader cannot fail to
appreciate the transformation that Christ is bringing about. Instead of persecution, God chooses Saul to
bring Christ before Gentiles and kings. God first reveals to Ananias, not Saul,
the purpose and plan for the new apostle's life. Saul is now to be the Lord's
"instrument" - a term that literally means a "container or
vessel." Thus, Saul will "carry" Christ's name to the Gentiles,
to kings, and to the people of Israel. As shocking as this news is to Ananias,
the Lord does ease his disciple's mind a bit. Ananias' job is simply to go to
Saul and heal him - for the Lord assures him that "I myself will show
[Saul] how much he must suffer for the sake of my name" (v. 16). Note that
in verse 17, Ananias even addresses this fearful enemy of his people as
"Brother Saul" - demonstrating with his words his trust in the Lord's
transformative abilities. Saul is no longer an outsider persecuting the church
- he is now a true brother in Christ.
Here are some historical
considerations.
Josephus
notes that in 37-41 AD, Caligula is Roman Emperor. There were popular demonstrations in
Jerusalem from 39-41 against his attempt to erect a statue of himself in the
Temple. It was the largest, most
widespread popular outcry during the whole period until the revolt of 66. He decided to place a statue of himself as
Zeus incarnate and ordered Petronius, his Syrian legate, to do so by taking two
legions into Judea. This was 12,000
soldiers, half the number stationed at Antioch.
He put his troops into quarters for winter 39-40 at Ptolemais on the
Phoenician seacoast due west of Galilee.
Both Josephus and Philo record a massive unarmed and nonviolent refusal
to cooperate with Petronius based on a declared willingness to die rather than
give in. Petronius gave in. Agrippa I persuaded Caligula to abandon the
statue project. The Jewish masses
initiated this protest, and thus, the Jewish elite had nothing to with this
protest.
Historians
are reasonably certain that Paul was in Arabia and Damascus for three years
after his conversion, and thus, we are concerned with the years 33-36 AD.
Ludemann notes that verses 19b-20 may derive from Luke in their entirety. It is part of the tradition that Paul
preached in Damascus. However, the
assumption is only indirectly supported by the present text, which has a
redactional stamp throughout, and arises mainly out of historical
considerations.
Paul did
preach in Damascus and had to escape, though Paul says the reason was King
Aretas IV. Historically, Paul gives his own testimony that he had to escape
from Damascus. In II Corinthians
11:32-33, the real reason for the escape was the ethnarch of King Aretas IV of
the Nabataeans, who reigned from 9 BC to 39 AD, rather than some Jews. The reasons for the action against Paul are
not clear.
Here is the
portion of this passage with which the historian can be reasonably certain.
{19b After (Saul) had spent only a few
days with the disciples in Damascus, he began preaching in the synagogues ... 23
(After three years in Arabia and Damascus, King Aretas IV sought to kill
him). 24 They were keeping watch at the
gates ... 25 but the disciples took him by night and let him down from the
wall, lowering him in a basket.}
