The Conversion of St Paul 2015

Transcription

1 The Conversion of St Paul 2015 This morning we are celebrating the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul the Apostle. Christmas was precisely one month ago, and in St Paul s conversion and subsequent ministry we celebrate the proclamation of the Christmas mystery to all people, that in Jesus of Nazareth, God is with us. In him, as we say daily at morning and evening prayer during these weeks after Epiphany, the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord. Paul s missionary journeys are at the heart of the Church s growth in its early decades; but just as importantly, so too is the story of his conversion. Indeed, his conversion on the road to Damascus has in many ways become the model for conversions throughout history, for Paul is converted by a light that makes evident his blindness of heart, a light that eventually makes it possible for him to see the world clearly not from his own perspective, but from the perspective of the Risen Lord. St Augustine s conversion, Dante s glimpse of light in the dark woods of his life, Martin Luther s protest all will agree that to be converted is to see the Light, a light (as we have read) above the brightness of the sun. The pattern is summed up in the famous 19 th C hymn: Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. There is so much that might be said today about Paul and his conversion, but this morning I would simply like to consider one question: Where does Paul s conversion begin? What is the seed of his turning? I want to consider this question in order to suggest that it is does not begin where our lesson from the Book of Acts begins today that is, it does not begin on the road to 1

2 Damascus. Rather, Paul s conversion begins much earlier, in a moment in Paul s life that sheds enormous light on what might be the story of our own conversions and the ongoing turning of our hearts... We first meet Paul early on in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. He is a young and zealous persecutor of the Church. When we meet him, he is with a crowd that has gathered to hear the preaching of Stephen the Deacon and subsequently to stone him for blasphemy. And so we read: STEPHEN, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man s feet, whose name was Saul. And [Stephen] kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. I want to suggest that this is where Paul s conversion actually begins. It is not in that moment on the road to Damascus that Paul first encounters the Lord, but here, in St Stephen s prayer on his behalf: Lay not this sin, prays Stephen, as those who kill him lay their cloaks at Paul s feet. Paul s conversion begins in the prayer of Stephen, for it is there that he first encounters the Gospel that is, that he first sees embodied before him the pattern of a Kingdom in which people pray for those who persecute them, bless those who condemn them, and willingly choose to suffer for their enemies rather than to sin [Is this the 2

3 word you wanted here?]. Lay not this sin. Paul s conversion begins there and so reminds us that our conversion begins, not in anything we do, but in the prayers of another for us This is true in the story of Dante s conversion in his great poem; his conversion, his way out of darkness into light, is the fruit of his beloved Beatrice s prayer on his behalf. This is true of St Augustine, whose mother St Monica intercedes on his behalf with tears. The story of the light dawning in our hearts whatever light we have is always the story of another s prayer in us, another known or unknown. Paul will eventually describe this dynamic as a spiritual fact when he writes in his letter to the Romans, For as we have many members in one body so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. And as if recalling St Stephen s prayer at the moment of his death, Paul goes on in the same passage to say, Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Recompense to no man evil for evil. if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. The seed of Paul s conversion was the prayer of St Stephen: Lay not this sin against them. And the seed of our neighbours turning is the same our love for them even when persecuted by them. The fruit of Paul s conversion in his life was eminently practical. He was turned, by Stephen s prayer and his encounter with Jesus, from a life in which he was determined to make others suffer for his sake, to voluntarily suffering in Christ s name for others sake. In the lesson this morning Paul is on his way to round up the Christians in Damascus and send them to prison; 3

4 but in the wake of his encounter with the living Christ he will discover a life in which, rather than seeking to do harm, he willingly suffers harm, if only to bring life to others. Just consider the extraordinary sufferings he endured in his missionary journeys. Paul recounts them all, and I quote: "Five times I have received...the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; in danger from rivers...robbers...; in toil and hardship, in hunger and thirst, in cold and exposure" (2 Corinthians 11:24-27 NEB). (Also see Beuchner, Peculiar Treasures.) These hardships would culminate three miles outside the walls of Rome, where he was martyred by the Roman Army. I have said this morning very little about the road to Damascus, wanting instead to argue that the seed of Paul s conversion is elsewhere, just as the seed of our conversion is in someone else s loving us rather than in anything we do. But I would like to say one thing about the Damascus road in conclusion, and it is just this: that Paul discovers on the road to Damascus that his Saviour suffered in those whom Paul afflicted. To put it another way, Jesus was seeking him in precisely the people Paul condemned. It leaves a difficult question for us, I think. For if this was true for Paul, then surely it is true for us. The Lord speaks to us in the faces of those afflicted by our negligence or willfulness. He appears there, and every time we walk down the road of assaulting or harming or mistreating another, we are on the road to Damascus. Our anger or pride can lead us out like Paul to round up our enemies. In these moments our hope is not in ourselves. It is in the promise that another prays for us. In the first instance the other is Christ. But in the second it is our neighbour, our parish family, our friends. We carry each 4

5 other to Jesus by our prayers. Paul s conversion begins in another s prayer for him. So too does ours. And it continues inasmuch as we pray for one another, Lord, lay not their sins to their charge. AMEN. 5