Devotional

Dining with St. Paul - A lovely salad plate to go with your Spode.

I have mentioned before, three years ago, in fact, that I am working on a devotional book called “Characters of God.” This Lent I led our Adult Forum class (sounds vaguely naughty when I write that out) at our church through several of these chapters. This past Sunday was Paul and I don’t believe that I have ever shared it on this site. Keep in mind this was originally written to be read aloud at a silent retreat (oxymoronic, I know, but if you have ever been on one you know the drill, leader reads a meditation, you go off and meditate). There is much that I would rewrite today, but I thought I would simply post it as is. I hope it is useful during the Lenten season.

Acts 7.54 When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen.  55 But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”  57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him.  58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.  59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.  1 And Saul approved of their killing him.

That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.  2 Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.  3 But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.

Acts 22.3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today.  4 I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison,  5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me.”

Gal. 1.13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it.  14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.  15 But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles….

Rom. 10.1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.  2 I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened.

 

We do not know very much about Paul before he was confronted by Christ on the road to Damascus. What we do know is contained in these few passages.[1] As “Saul” he was a man devoted to “the traditions of my ancestors” and he used all his power in order to stamp out heresy and to keep heterodox views of Judaism from spreading. This included jailing people and perhaps even having them put to death. (Note the phrase “I persecuted this Way up to the point of death” [Acts 22.4], which might suggest that he did not actually seek their execution, but that may simply be a reflection of the fact that the Jews did not have the authority to execute anyone during Roman times.)

Saul’s zeal took him to great extremes and the consequences were dire for those whom he opposed. We can all think of various moments in history, sadly including present day situations, where an individual’s or group’s commitment to their ideology and theology led them to commit atrocities. And it is easy for us to condemn such actions. We hear frequently within our own church about those who are encouraging hatred of others under the guise of defending orthodoxy and our minds swirl with images of Galileo and Cranmer. But is zeal always bad? That is a much harder question to ask.

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