Paul's turn around!

Acts 9:1-22

Saul was still breathing threats to slaughter the Lord’s disciples. He had gone to the high priest and asked for letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, that would authorise him to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way, men or women, that he could find. Suddenly, while he was travelling to Damascus and just before he reached the city, there came a light from heaven all round him. He fell to the ground, and then he heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ he asked, and the voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me. Get up now and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.’ The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless, for though they heard the voice they could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but even with his eyes wide open he could see nothing at all, and they had to lead him into Damascus by the hand. For three days he was without his sight, and took neither food nor drink.

A disciple called Ananias who lived in Damascus had a vision in which he heard the Lord say to him, ‘Ananias!’ When he replied, ‘Here I am, Lord’, the Lord said, ‘You must go to Straight Street and ask the house of Judas for someone called Saul, who comes from Tarsus. At this moment he is praying, having had a vision of a man called Ananias coming in and laying hands on him to give him back his sight.’

When he heard that, Ananias said, ‘Lord, several people have told me about this man and all the harm he has been doing to your saints in Jerusalem. He has only come here because he holds a warrant from the chief priests to arrest everybody who invokes your name.’ The Lord replied, ‘You must go all the same, because this man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before pagans and pagan kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he himself must suffer for my name.’ Then Ananias went. He entered the house, and at once laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on your way here so that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately it was as though scales fell away from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. So he was baptised there and then, and after taking some food he regained his strength.

He began preaching in the synagogues, ‘Jesus is the Son of God.’ All his hearers were amazed. ‘Surely’ they said ‘this is the man who organised the attack in Jerusalem against the people who invoke this name, and who came here for the sole purpose of arresting them to have them tried by the chief priests?’ Saul’s power increased steadily, and he was able to throw the Jewish colony at Damascus into complete confusion by the way be demonstrated that Jesus was the Christ.

Food for thought!

Today, we mark Paul's turn around; his conversion. The First Reading of today tells us of the incident. Every time I read this story, I stand amazed at the grace of God. When I see the Lord taking this great sinner and transforming him into the great saint, I realize that there is hope for people like you and me. The truth is, Saul was a very unlikely candidate for the service of the Lord. Here was a man who was feared and hated by Christians and one who did everything in his power to destroy the name of the Lord Jesus. Yet, God reached down and took this man from where he was and used him to change the world. God used him in such a great manner that Paul's ministry is still reaping fruit today.

When we look at Paul, we may be tempted to think that he was some kind super saint. We may feel that there is no possible way that the Lord could use us like He did Paul, or that God could even use us at all. Some of you may have asked the question, "Can God really use my life?" The answer is YES.

And he wants to use you in your world, your place of work, your neighbouhood, your family, and according to your skills. He will not remove you from your world; he will send you to your world. Did you notice that Paul still went to Damascus? That Paul stood among the people he was going to imprison and arrest and kill? He went to the same people, not to imprison and arrest or kill them, but to proclaim to them good news. Yes, he still went there, but he went there a different man, with a different message, and different mandate.

You too can proclaim good news to the same people you have known until now, people like you spouse, your children, your neighbours, your colleagues at work. If you have held some resentment against any of these people until now, you can change and hold, not resentment anymore but love and forgiveness. You can change from being a carrier of bad news to carrier of good news. You can and should still go to your Damascus; but take there not hurt but heart; not hate but love.

Let us be another Paul inwhere we happen to be. The First Reading says, "And all who heard him were amazed and said, ‘Is not the very man who harassed and overthrew and destroyed in Jerusalem those who called upon this Name? And he has come here for the express purpose of arresting them and bringing them in chains before the chief priests?’ 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and continued to confound and put to confusion the Jews who lived in Damascus; Paul turned around from hate to love. So can we.