Today’s reading brings us back once more to the question of the boundaries and limits of religion. It tells us of Saul’s conversion to Christ, after which he will enter the history of the Church under the name of the apostle Paul. There is no doubt that Saul was sincerely religious and utterly convinced in his religiosity: for the sake of his convictions he was ready...
Today’s reading brings us back once more to the question of the boundaries and limits of religion. It tells us of Saul’s conversion to Christ, after which he will enter the history of the Church under the name of the apostle Paul. There is no doubt that Saul was sincerely religious and utterly convinced in his religiosity: for the sake of his convictions he was ready both to die and to kill (vv. 1–2). He was utterly merciless, but religion that knows neither the Kingdom nor God’s love is always like that: it appeals to values that seem to it far more important than human life. Yet Saul’s merciless zeal was entirely sincere: from the outset he wanted only to do God’s will and was utterly convinced that, by persecuting Christians, he was doing it in the best possible way. Of course, it was quite impossible to persuade such a person otherwise. Conversion in the sense in which the word is often understood today was also impossible for him: for a person today, “conversion” most often means either adopting a religion or changing from one religion to another, and Saul would certainly not have agreed to that even under threat of death.
But it is precisely such servants that Christ needs: faithful to the end and ready for anything. And He makes Saul His servant—He does what no one else could have done, for no one else could have revealed the Kingdom in such fullness. He allows His future servant to experience and feel what the Kingdom is and who He Himself is (vv. 3–5). And then Saul is converted. It was not human words that convinced him, but the encounter with the Risen One and the experience of the Kingdom. Yet Christian conversion can only be like this: it is conversion to Christ and to the Kingdom, not the adoption of a new religion or a change from one religion to another.
Once converted, Saul remains the same active Saul: his first question to the Risen One is, what am I to do next (v. 6)? His sincere and energetic nature could not bear inactivity, and God makes use of these qualities in the new convert: very soon Saul begins to preach, bearing witness to Jesus’ messiahship and Resurrection (vv. 20–30). He gives no thought either to his former views or to what those who knew him in a quite different capacity will say about him. It is not that Saul was unaccustomed to reflection; it is simply that, evidently, the impression made by his encounter with the Risen One on the Damascus road was so great that he could not refrain from telling others and bearing witness. What was revealed to Saul was not merely a new truth; the Messiah was revealed to him, and it was impossible to remain silent about such a revelation. Religion had come to an end: the fullness of the Kingdom had opened before the future apostle Paul.
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