The Conversion of St. Paul (January 24, 2021)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.’”

Introduction

Today we celebrate the Conversion of St. Paul instead of the Third Sunday after Epiphany. We transfer this feast to Sunday because St. Paul is the patron saint of our parish. (Fun fact: On this day one year ago, we dedicated the new shed behind the church, if you can believe that). St. Paul is responsible for more of the New Testament than any other human author. In St. Paul’s word, there was a hard and fast barrier between those who were Jews and those who were not (Gentiles). St. Paul played a unique role as the Apostle to the Gentiles because he brought the Gospel to those who would have been considered by the Jewish people to be “outsiders,” even to the extent that there was some conflict between his mission and the Apostle Peter, as we’re told in Galatians 2.

It’s fair to characterize St. Paul’s Gospel as simple on the one hand: the redemption wrought by Christ on the cross is for all people, regardless of their sex, race, class, or any other external factor. At the same time, his preaching can often be characterized as complex and cerebral. St. Peter provides a warning for those who would encounter Paul, saying “So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures” (2 Pet 3:15-16). The problem Peter identified with Paul’s letters being difficult to understand is even connected to what we now call the Reformation which marked the division of the Church along the lines of Catholic and Protestants. Many of the debates which precipitated this division can be summarized by the question, “What do we do with Paul?”

The Apostle Paul remains an important figure for us today because of the role he played in communicating the saving acts of God in Christ. That’s why we celebrate St. Paul’s conversion during Epiphanytide, the season where we consider the light of the Gospel being revealed to all people. The connection is made clear in today’s collect when we prayed, “O God, who through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world.” Paul helped pave the way to ensure that Gentiles could be included as full members of the Church, fulfilling the promises made to Abraham that all nations of the world would be blessed through him, a promise that finds its culmination in Christ. But beyond the Jew/Gentile dynamic (though not in a way unconnected to it), St. Paul still speaks to us today by answer the question of how a sinful person can be in union with a holy and righteous God. The answer, to Paul, is through the Crucifixion of the Incarnate Christ.

The Conversion of St. Paul

For us to accept the invitation to eternal life extended by our Lord, we must “pick up our cross and follow him.” We must participate in his death. This is why Baptism is the way we enter the Church (because in baptism we are crucified with him). And it’s why the Holy Eucharist is the pinnacle of our worship (because we receive Christ’s sacrifice for us while we offer ourselves on the altar as a sacrifice to him in response). In this morning’s reading from Acts 9, during the conversion of Paul, we see a similar identification going on where, in being converted, St. Paul identifies with the crucified Christ.

No in the first part of the reading, we focused on the Damascus Road encounter. Paul is on his way Damascus to round up Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem where they will be persecuted. But all the sudden, a bright light appears and Christ speaks to Paul, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting; but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” Paul’s persecution didn’t merely affect the few individuals he rounded up. Rather, Paul was persecuting the Church which is the Body of Christ. This says something quite profound about the nature of the Church in that we are all organically linked, sharing a common life in Christ. So Paul, in persecuting the Church, does violence to Christ himself.

The light which accompanies this event blinded Paul. When he opened his eyes, he couldn’t see. He then goes without food or drink for three days. The light, in some sense “kills” him. At this point, the narrative shifts away from Paul to a figure named Ananias who is called by God to minister to Paul and preach the Gospel to him despite his initial reluctance given his fear and suspicion of Paul. “So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17). In ministering to Paul, Ananias implants the Gospel into Paul’s heart. Further, St. Paul’s eyesight is restored but the eyes of his heart are opened as well. And as a result, he gets up, is baptized, and eats.

From there, Paul goes to spend time with the Christians in the city of Damascus, the same ones he was initially going to round up to persecute. And almost immediately, he proclaims the Gospel about Jesus as the “Son of God,” even in the synagogues where he confounds Jewish audience. By joining the Church, Paul joins the Church as a result of his encounter on the Damascus Road. By joining the Church, he is becoming identified with Christ. His three day stint of temporary blindness resembles the three days Christ was in the grave. And he proclaims Christ to the Jews in a way that confounds them, a word often used to describe Jesus’ verbal sparring matches with the Pharisees. The point is not just that Paul converts but what he converts to: a life centered around Christ and based on the cross.

Application

In the Collect of the day, we admit that Paul’s Doctrine is worth emulating. Emulation requires more than just belief; it requires full participation. What do we learn about his doctrine from our readings today?

We learn that the Gospel is inclusive. It breaks down distinctions that divide people because it confronts us with the fact that we are in need. 1 Timothy 1:15 is one of the verses we say in the Comfortable Words after confession at every Mass (or at least I try to say them…sometimes I get them mixed up in my head). But the 1 Timothy one is my favorite: “This is a true saying and worthy of all men to be received: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” and the part we leave off: of whom I am the worst. This is why self-righteousness is deadly; in it we fail to see our own need for grace and in so doing pass a judgment against others that posits them as excluded or unable to receive God’s grace. May it not be so!

We also see that Paul’s doctrine is participatory. God’s saving grace enlivens us when we could not enliven ourselves. It doesn’t make us just passive receptacles but active participants with God. “If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” Our lives are taken up into Christ where we participate with God and therefore, are constantly in a state of transformation. By being brought into Christ, we become transfigured by sustained engagement with the divine which makes us who we ought to be.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.