 |
| Conversion of Saul - Francesco Solimena |
The Apostle,
Part 1, Chapter 17, tells of Saul’s mission to Damascus. He was authorized to
go there and arrest the disciples of Yeshua who were spreading the good news to
the people of the area. In Saul’s mind they were blaspheming God and corrupting
the laws of the Torah and their activities had to be stopped. In this chapter
the author presents Saul as a man in anguish over what he has already done to
friends as well as strangers; spying on them, arresting them, having them
flogged. And the recipients of his wrath accepted his punishments without
animosity, with grace, at times “turning the other cheek” and offering prayers
for forgiveness Saul and his misguided actions. At the end of the chapter Saul
is smitten with a vision of Yeshua asking him, “Saul, Saul, why dost thou
persecute me?” Having been struck blind he proceeds to Damascus. Chananyah, one
of the leaders of the new sect of Yeshua meets with him and eventually through this
man, a man he was on a mission to arrest, he regains his sight, realizes his
wrong ways and is baptized.
What follows in Chapter 18 is the story of Saul’s struggle
to reconcile his years of training with this Messiah whose teachings present a
very different picture of the God of Israel. Saul’s struggle is not presented
as an intellectual battle but rather as a spiritual one that was attempting to
change his longstanding integration of faith and its call to action. He leaves
Damascus alone and goes to the pagan city of Petra.
From Chapter 18
“In the city of drunkenness, of unbridled and savage
appetites, of debased Hellenistic-Asiatic manners, Saul lived alone in the little
Jewish community, pursued his trade, and kept to himself the secret of his
vision. He lived apart, waiting for the restoration after the storm through which
he had passed. Slowly he began to emerge, and it seemed to him that he was
finding his way back to himself.
But when his recovery had reached a certain stage, he was
thrown, by his own recovered strength, into a new paroxysm of fear. For he was
able to again perceive his nakedness. He saw himself standing amid the ruins of
his own being. There was nothing left to him but the vision on the road to Damascus.
The rest was a wilderness, in which he wandered with the weight of his misdeeds
hanging about his neck.
…
Often, in the moments of his despair, he remembered the
practice of the learned, and he conjured up the image of his teacher, Rabban
Gameliel; and he recalled the words of warning which had been uttered at their
parting: “Saul, I fear for thee. I will pray God for thy soul. The road thou
has chosen is narrow and perilous.”
…
Was it not high time for him to put some order into his
soul? … he began to see that order in his soul would have to be preceded by
unification, and unification was as yet impossible, for the vision in Damascus
had brought a division into his life, and the two halves could not be joined
together. One of the two halves would have to be deleted and sacrificed. He
resolved that it was the first half which was to be destroyed; the only
salvation for him was his faith in the new and second life to which he had won
throughThe old life was one of mass sin. He had stained it with the
blood of innocent men and women whose spirits had been finer, lovelier, and
more god-fearing than his. In the old life he had sown pain and harvested
regret. The rivers of tears which he had caused to be shed, the pain he had
caused to be endured, the lives he had shattered, built up a leprous growth
over the whole of his first life; and there was only one cure, one salve, one
healing water: faith in the Messiah.
…
The new faith was the thread which would lead him out of confusion
and dissolution.
…
Had he not seen the face of the Lord? Had he not heard his
voice? Had he not seen that form which had been buried and had risen to again
to life? … To him, to Saul, who had persecuted the congregation, and had gone
to Damascus on a mission of destruction, to him, the sinner, the Lord had
appeared in a vision and chosen him as his instrument.” pp. 175-176
No comments:
Post a Comment