SAUL, THE PHARISEE RECEIVES GOD’S GRACE January 19, 2025

January 25th is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. The New Testament saint has such an enormous influence on the Christian Church. The basic facts are quite well known. Saul, a young and fanatical pharisee, was a rising star in the Jewish world.  He was a Jew of the “diaspora”, one of the many Jewish families that had lived for generations in cities of the Greco-Roman world beyond the Holy Land. He came from Tarsus, a city near the Mediterranean coast in modern Turkey, and was born with the distinction of being a Roman citizen, a great privilege with many advantages, which few Jews enjoyed. He had also benefited from a very good education under the famous Rabbi Gamaliel.

     It was Gamaliel who had famously argued before the Sanhedrin that it was foolish to fight against the Christians because if they were not of divine origin they would die out naturally; but if, on the other hand, they were of divine origin, then not only could no earthly power defeat them, but the Jewish authorities might even find themselves fighting against God Himself. (v. Acts 5:34-42)

     Yet this was what Saul, Gamaliel’s star pupil, tried to do. He poured his considerable energy and zeal into organising the persecution of the followers of Christ, treating them as heretics from the purest form of Jewish religion. In after days, when he had become Paul the Apostle, he would describe very powerfully his former zeal as a pharisee, and his hatred for Our Lord. The rest of his life he saw as a wonderful opportunity given by God, and totally undeserved, to make amends for all the harm he had done, by being a follower and preacher of Christ, and offering all his sufferings and trials for love of Our Lord, and the success of His Church on earth.

     But this is too ahead! Having assisted in the stoning of St. Stephen the Deacon and first martyr (v. Acts 7:57-60), Saul “worked for the total destruction of the Church; he went from house to house arresting both men and women and sending them to prison”. (Acts 8:3).

     It was outside the gates of Damascus that his famous conversion occurred. He was blinded and heard the voice of One who said to him: “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4). Saul asked, “who are you, Lord?” recognising the voice as One of great authority. The voice replied: “I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me”.   This extraordinary experience convinced Saul that Jesus was not only truly alive and reigning in glorious power and light, but that He identified Himself with His persecuted followers: “why are you persecuting me? - not persecuting my followers.

     From this announcement Paul was to develop his entire understanding of the Church as the Body of Christ, united in Him, the Head, as His members. After this, the blinded Saul was taken into the city, helpless and there met Ananias, a Christian who was told in a vision to baptize Saul. Once baptized, Saul regained his sight, so showing that Baptism is the sacrament of enlightenment, by which we see the truth of God’s teaching. For faith is just that—the gift of spiritual sight and light. Out of the darkness of sin and unbelief, Saul the Pharisee became Paul, the great Apostle and teacher of the gentile nations.                             ~ FR. PAUL DOBSON