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Saul Becomes a Follower
(Acts 22.6-16; 26.12-18)
1Saul kept on threatening to kill the Lord's followers. He even went to the high priest 2and asked for letters to the leaders of the synagogues in Damascus. He did this because he wanted to arrest and take to Jerusalem any man or woman who had accepted the Lord's Way. 3When Saul had almost reached Damascus, a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, “Saul! Saul! Why are you so cruel to me?”
5“Who are you?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus,” the Lord answered. “I am the one you are so cruel to. 6Now get up and go into the city, where you will be told what to do.”
7 The men with Saul stood there speechless. They had heard the voice, but they had not seen anyone. 8Saul got up from the ground, and when he opened his eyes, he could not see a thing. Someone then led him by the hand to Damascus, 9and for three days he was blind and did not eat or drink.
Reflect
Although they are fundamental Charter rights, the banners of Christian liberty are meeting stiff headwinds in our day in Canada. While multiculturalism is publicly affirmed, Christians often seem to be mocked in the media, and our social policies seem orchestrated to manufacture the slow death of a Christian society.
Still, the cruelty faced by the early Christians at the hands of Saul seem more like a nightmare than a reality to us. The threat of social ostracism, or succumbing to the lures of pleasure and personal apathy is far greater for us than the possibility of violent death.
It is worth noting that it is not so for Christians in much of the world, particularly in Islamic lands, who are suffering in unprecedented numbers today.
Does their suffering contradict the lordship of Jesus Christ over all things, the church’s earliest confession? If so, then we too are struck at the very roots of our faith.
It is striking that in response to Saul’s determination to seek and destroy those that follow “the Lord’s way” (v 2), the voice that he hears from heaven does not charge him with being cruel to Christians. It charges him with being cruel to the speaker (v 4). And that speaker, whom Saul acknowledges is the Lord (v 5), is none other than Jesus himself (v 6).
The personal identification of Jesus with his people is touching, particularly in their suffering. But it is not surprising. Jesus not only predicted his followers’ suffering, he worked out his great might in the destruction of sin and death in his own suffering at the cross. His strength is revealed in their weakness.
The story begins with a powerful man on the road to Damascus. He reaches it in the end, but only after being blinded and led there by the hand.
Respond
Merciful Father,
Knowing that you sent your Son into the world to rescue sinners,
And endured suffering and death to achieve it,
Strengthen your church to be faithful in its witness, even in the face of suffering,
And show your grace and mercy to all those who truly repent today.
Scott Masson
Dr. Scott Masson is an Associate Professor of English Literature at Tyndale University College and a fellow of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity, appearing on television and radio. Scott did graduate work in Germany and England, concluding with a doctorate at the University of Durham, England. He is working on bringing Classical Christian education more widely to Canada. Scott lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.