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Paul: The Road to Damascus
It is always unpleasant to watch a man die. Saul understood this but he participated in the event anyway. Perhaps he forced himself to watch while the leaders of the highest ecclesiastical body in the Jewish nation nailed a man to the ground with a volley of large stones. Or perhaps he chose to do it in order to strengthen the zeal coursing through his veins. Stephen was, after all, a heretic. A man who had blasphemed God and the temple; the nexus between heaven and earth. Perhaps it occurred to Saul that in order to be both a good Jew and a good leader he needed to force himself to do hard things.
Regardless of his thought process the martyrdom of Stephen pierced his conscience. He knew that what he was watching, as he guarded a pile of cloaks, was wrong. He heard Stephen’s plea to Jesus to receive his spirit. Heard his prayer of forgiveness for those who killed him. All of this converged into a tiny sliver of conviction that punctured Saul’s well constructed Pharisaical armour.
Like a grain of sand inside the mouth of an oyster the truth began to chafe. It rubbed him raw, leaving him as bruised and bleeding as the man he had watched being bludgeoned to death. In order to fix the problem Saul did the only thing he could think of; he fought the very thing that seemed to draw him.
The idea of poor Messiah was one thing but the idea of one who allowed himself to be nailed to a Roman cross was quite another. Saul, like many other Jews of his time, could have overlooked the former but never the latter. The Messiah’s role was to overthrow the Romans and restore national pride. He was meant to bring Israel to the pinnacle of glory, create an empire of peace and make the temple the centre of the earth. Instead this Jesus had predicted the destruction of the temple and plainly stated that His kingdom was not of this earth. Then he had been beaten and nailed to a cross.
Yet his disciples insisted that he had been raised from the dead. They claimed to have seen him. Touched him. They claimed, as Stephen had done right before he was dragged out to die, that Jesus now occupied a throne at the right had of God.
All of this created such dissonance in Saul’s mind that in order to drown out the noise he began to persecute every Christian he could lay his hands on. The Bible says in Acts 8:3 that Saul “made havoc of the church, entering into every house and haling men and women…to prison”
Saul set his mind to destroying the church with the same rabid zeal that led him to become a leading Pharisee. By his own admission he was “exceedingly zealous of the traditions of (his) fathers” (Galatians 1:14)
When Saul was at the pinnacle of his rage against the early church he encountered Divine intervention that jolted him off his destructive path. The Bible says that Saul was on his way to Damascus to arrest more Christians when “suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven” (Acts 9:3) Startled and blinded he stumbled off his animal and onto the ground and immediately heard a voice saying “Saul, Saul why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4) To which he responded “Who art thou Lord?” (Acts 9:5) It is interesting that Saul instinctively addressed this shadowed being speaking from the midst of a halo of light as Lord.
Perhaps referring to this and by extension the battle that raged in his conscience Jesus responded “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:5)
Jesus pointed out the obvious; Saul in his rabid desire to extinguish the church was simply fighting conviction. Trembling and astonished Saul said “Lord what wilt thou have me to do?” In response Jesus said “Arise and go into the the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:6)
When Saul stood up he eyes were opened but he was blind. A fitting metaphor for the reality of his situation; his eyes were opened to the fact that he had been fighting conviction regarding Jesus but he was still blind to the depth of that truth and the possibilities it held. He needed time and space to sort out the warring thoughts and emotions in his mind.
His traveling companions led him by the hand into the city and he was given shelter by one of the people he had come to arrest. He spent three days in Judas’ home on Straight St, wrestling with himself as much as he wrestled with the truth he had been confronted with.
Three days after he arrived Jesus sent Ananias to help him. Both of them understood that this encounter was a Divine appointment. Jesus gave Saul a vision to let him know about it and Jesus spoke to Ananias about it. When Ananias entered the house of Judas he prayed for Saul and immediately the scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he received his sight.
Saul was baptised and immediately began to preach in the name of Jesus. Now instead of wreaking havoc in the church he began to wreak havoc in the synagogues by building up the church he had been so bent on destroying.
Saul’s conversion story is both unique and ubiquitous. It is unique in that it was his story. The details were closely and irrevocably linked to his personal circumstances. It is ubiquitous in that the bare bones of it apply to us all. We are all, in some way or another, forging a path of our own making. We know where we’re going. Our destinations are clear in our minds. But Jesus often intervenes because he sees that the path we are on diverges sharply from the path he wants us to be on.
It is a Divine encounter with Jesus alone that can set us on a path to both freedom and growth. When we surrender our plans in favour of his the possibilities that are before us suddenly become clear. The scales fall from our eyes and we suddenly realise that following Jesus is better in every way that matters. What we thought was good pales in comparison to what He offers.
And that’s the key takeaway from Saul’s conversion experience; You might have something good (or not) but Jesus offers you something better. (Which is an awesome thing if you don't have something good to begin with). Saul thought destroying the church was good. Jesus set him on a different path. One that led him to establish the church he had been so set on tearing down. In doing so, not only Saul but millions of other people over the last two millenia have been given the opportunity to grasp eternity.
Better doesn’t even begin to describe that.
