Tintoretto’s Conversion of St Paul
25/1/26
Conversion of St Paul
Acts 9:1-22
Galatians 1:11-16
Matthew 19:27-30
I don’t know about you, but I love a good conversion story! For a few years I attended Holy Trinity Brompton in London, the home of the Alpha Course. It was my sending parish for ordination; I am deeply grateful for the time that I spent there. After an Alpha Course finished, Nicky Gumbel would interview people who’d just taken the course during a church service. I heard some fantastic and shocking stories about the lives of ordinary people being changed through encountering Jesus. Nicky would inevitably ask each person, ‘What difference has Jesus made to your life?’
At this point voices would begin to shake, eyes would well up, the insides of the mouth would be sucked in. Some of the most common answers were ‘I know that I am loved’, ‘I am a more peaceful person’, ‘My perspective on life has changed’.
Some of these stories were extreme: addictions being broken in an instant, physical healings were witnessed, relationships long thought broken were restored. Some people prayed the ‘God if you are real, show me’ prayer and immediately received confirmation that He is indeed real and very much present with them.
This included experiences from the most violent of men and women. People in the prison system encountering Jesus, having very dramatic encounters with the Holy Spirit and being totally changed and turned around. Many of whom have gone on to do amazing things with their lives only by the grace and power of God.
It is so reassuring to know that Jesus is not only for the quite ordinary ‘good people’ but also the violent offenders. Many of whom are so broken and damaged. It should give us hope!
Paul, then-known-as-Saul would fall into the latter category; he was not a good man. Saul’s religiousness did not make him good as he and his other religious friends were attempting to eliminate the newly established church. They did not manage that but had success in dispersing it. The dispersion meant that the gospel was spread far beyond Jerusalem. This is why Saul was travelling to Damascus that particular day. The Christian presence was growing in Damascus and Saul was going to make sure he stopped it.
Religion and faith are not the same thing! Sometimes it helps to clarify that in our thinking, certainly I need to. People can be very hostile to religion and in some cases, quite rightly so. When I talk to people about the Christian faith I try to focus on the relational aspect of it. The love of God and Jesus, His creation of us rather than the rules and facts. What I notice is that many people, including Christians, speak in a language of religion. ‘My religion believes this or that, these are the rules/expectations.’ Nothing about love or relationship or knowing God.
This is where I struggle with other religions; the lack of personal relationships. Worshipping something or someone that I do not know nor am even encouraged to understand, does not do much for me. Neither does following a set of rules or trying to live to some expectation without knowing who is behind it or what it leads to.
This is the kind of religion that Saul was living out. Following rules rather than relationships. Rules without relationships make us hard, unloving, unkind and inconsiderate. In the extremes it leads to violence and murder as in the case of Saul.
This might not have been Paul’s original intent; it is certainly not the intent of the Jewish faith. But left to human devices this is where it can end up. I think that God is horrified and deeply saddened by what has been done in his name. I know that I have contributed to that in my sin and shortcomings.
Saul did not like Jesus at the beginning; but he did not know Jesus! He had never met him…but he soon would. The most amazing, unbelievably confounding thing is that God still wants to know us and wants for us to know him. He loves us. Loves me, you, the most violent of offenders, the most ordinary of people.
‘Saul, why don’t you like me?’ What a haunting question! I have read the ‘Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?’ as read this morning many times. But ‘Saul, why don’t you like me?’ gives this a whole different feel.
Maybe it comes from my desire to be liked? Does anyone else like to be liked?
Think about a person that you don’t like for a moment. What is it about them that you don’t like? What if they came up to you and said ‘Helen, why don’t you like me?’ Could you answer them? Would you?
How can you avoid it? Love. If we can love people it should matter less if we like them or not because love is greater than liking. Liking someone certainly makes loving easier. But Christian love is not always easy. Paul knew this and expressed it so beautifully in 1 Corinthians 13.
Do you always like Jesus? Sometimes it is hard when we don’t understand why things happen the way they do. Saul’s active dislike for Jesus is about to be rectified!
As God so often does, he uses other people to help fulfil his purposes. Ananias was that person for Saul. Ananias was one of the growing number of Christians in Damascus who received a vision in which Saul is identified and located. Ananias is asked to take care of Saul.
What a difficult task that must have been!
Have you ever been an Ananias to someone?
There will be times in our Christian journeys when we will be asked to do difficult if not impossible things. We have a choice to make: we can say yes or no. I think that if we know Jesus then we are more likely to say yes. It is our obedience that is required not our ability to predict the future and risk assess.
We can trust and take courage that He will be with us. Right beside us, to lead and guide. What is asked might be difficult or beyond what we think we are capable of. That’s okay!
Saul went on to live an extraordinary life and became known as Paul. Paul demonstrated and experienced reconciliation, seeking and showing Christ’s light, keeping up courage, trusting and not being afraid, keeping up his strength, hospitality, transformation and giving and receiving generously throughout his ministry. These are a few of the ways that Jesus made a difference in his life.
What difference has Jesus made in your life? That is the question for today. Whether your conversion was big (like Saul to Paul) or a more low-key affair (like many of us), Jesus meets with us in the way we need him to – he is very good at getting our attention! Whether we know it or not. Jesus should make a difference! He did for Paul.
Think again about why you might not like Jesus. Do I really know him? The Christian journey is very much about learning to know and love God. To recognize Him in the people we meet and the circumstances we find ourselves in. He is there!
Sometimes we will be asked to do difficult things by God. He will be with us. Jesus was with Ananias as he went to find Saul and restore his vision despite knowing the awful things he had done to Christians. As we celebrate the conversion of Paul today, let’s celebrate our conversions too and the difference that Jesus makes.
