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| The Road to Damascus by Jonathan Peter Jackson |
Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, when we stop for a few minutes and start to reflect on a passage from scripture. My name is Phillip Dawson.
This week the church celebrates the Conversion of St Paul - an event on the road to Damascus vividly described in the Acts of the Apostles. Paul’s own accounts of his experience appear, on the surface at least, to be less dramatic - but no less transformational. In his letter to the Galatians he explains that the revelation of the risen Christ caused him to reassess his response to three important questions:
Who am I?
Who is Jesus Christ? and;
How does Jesus Christ transform who I am?
Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles - inviting non-Jews to become followers of Christ, might be seen as a quest to help us all to explore the answers to these questions for ourselves.
Bible Reading - Galatians 1. 11-16a
For 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.
Reflection
The conversion of Paul is described three times in Acts of the Apostles. In the most familiar account, we learn how Paul encountered a blinding light followed by the sound of a voice from heaven that interrupted his journey to Damascus, where he planned to continue persecuting the followers of Jesus. Paul’s encounter with God is followed by his healing and baptism by Ananias and a vision of the risen Jesus himself, who commissions Paul as an Apostle to the Gentiles.
A “Road to Damascus experience” has since become shorthand for a radical and immediate about-turn in the way we live our lives.
When Paul describes the event in his own words - such as in his letter to the church in Galatia - his language is noticeably less “Hollywood” - he doesn’t even use the word ‘conversion’ nor refer to the ‘road to Damascus.’ Should we be concerned by the apparent discrepancy?
When I recall meeting people who have been through life-changing experiences - such as severe trauma or illness - often the way they describe the event seems extremely modest. They might explain its magnitude in terms of the lasting consequences - highlighting a greater appreciation of the smaller things in life; a change in attitude or perspective. It is when others tell their story that it is made to sound more dramatic! Perhaps this might help to explain the difference in the accounts of Paul’s conversion? In his surviving letters he certainly does not downplay the consequence of his conversion, which is ever present; the drama of the road to Damascus revealed in the lives of those belonging to the early church communities to whom he felt his guidance was needed. Guidance through which we glimpse something of the humanity of Paul - one of the few people of his age we know a good deal about and who must have been a contemporary of Jesus.
We know that Paul was a student of a liberal Rabbi who had called for tolerance towards followers of Christ. But Paul came to view them as traitors to the faith; acting against the traditions and teaching of the scriptures; in which anyone who dies on a tree is cursed by God. How could a man crucified on a tree be the promised Messiah? Paul, by his own admission, began violently persecuting members of God’s church.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul refers to his “earlier life in Judaism”. But it is important to remember that his conversion did not turn him into a Christian over-night. He did not abandon his Jewish teaching and fundamental beliefs in God who created the world, in the teachings of the prophets, or the covenant God had made with his people.
Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ meant he came to see himself, his faith and traditions in a new light. He sees and hears Jesus speaking to him, surrounded by the light of God’s glory. From then on he recognises Jesus to be the Messiah - the anointed - the one who saves the world. It is Jesus who commissions Paul to become the Apostle to the Gentiles; to see all of humanity as God’s chosen people.
Like Paul, we are products of our culture, upbringing, our choices and influences. Like Paul, we have encountered the glory of God revealed in the person of Christ. In the brightness of His light we can see the fullness of who we are; human beings made in his image - and we can see the fullness of who He is and to whom we are being drawn.
Silent Meditation
This week, let us ask ourselves the three simple questions we find at the heart of the dramatic conversion of Paul;
Who am I?
Who is Jesus Christ? and;
How does Jesus Christ transform who I am?
Prayer
Almighty God,
who caused the light of the gospel
to shine throughout the world
through the preaching of your servant Saint Paul:
grant that we who celebrate his wonderful conversion
may follow him in bearing witness to your truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Thank you for listening to this week’s Start:Stop reflection. Please visit our website for more information about our services taking place in church and online. I hope you have a wonderful week.
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