Lord, do not hold this sin against them…

25Jan
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.


“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into Jerusalem, and you will be told what you must do.”

Acting on a dream, Ananias went to the house where Saul was and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. ” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
-Acts 9:1-6, 17-19


I find it impossible to ponder Paul’s conversion without rooting it in the context of Acts 7:54-60, ‘The Stoning of Stephen’. The Apostle Stephen was killed by stoning for calling the Sanhedrin ‘intellectually uncircumcised d…..’. Let's just say he called them ugly names and murders of the Messiah. 


Then, facing the Sanhedrin, Stephen “looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.”


Now, in the dust of the Damascus Road, Saul is writhing in pain and confusion, dust and animal dung caked on his drool. He is disoriented and completely vulnerable. In the abject darkness of his blindness, surely the eyes of Saul’s mind search for some form of light to reassure himself that he is not as utterly lonely and adrift as he feels. As Jesus speaks to Saul in that moment, I imagine the voice of Jesus calling from the same heavenly light that formed the final vision of Stephen, over whose stoning Saul presided, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God,” cried Stephen.


Later, in Jerusalem, Ananias lays hands on Saul, calling him “Brother”. As Ananias delivers Jesus’ gifts of forgiveness, new sight, the Holy Spirit; do you imagine Paul hears the voice of Stephen echoing from the stone pit, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Forgive them.


Musical Reflection - The Deer's Cry - Arvo Pärt


Lord Jesus, as we strive daily to seek justice, remind us, when we are recipients of injustice, to pray, as did Stephen, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them. I forgive them from this moment on...” Amen.

FaithAuthorityHealing

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