Thursday, April 21, 2005
Acts 9:3-6 As Saul journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" And the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
PERSONALLY SELECTED
Dramatically, unexpectedly, through the intervention of the risen Christ Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle, Jesus' own gift to the young community of believers, His Church. A gift He personally selected.
Paul saw Ananias in a vision. Ananias saw Jesus in a vision. But when Saul saw Jesus on the Damascus road it was not a vision, not something in His mind's eye, not a divine hologram. It was an appearance of the risen Christ. Just like His earlier resurrection appearances -- to the Twelve, to the two walking to Emmaus, to the seven fishing on Galilee. It was Jesus, truly, physically returned from the dead -- not an apparition, but a living breathing human body -- glorified.
In speaking to Saul, Ananias plainly said " ... the Lord Jesus, ... appeared to you on the road as you came."
And years later Paul himself would write:
"For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also" (1 Cor 15:3-7).
The best gifts are thoughtfully selected by the giver. Paul was a gift personally selected by the risen Christ. As Jesus Himself told Ananias. "He is a chosen vessel of Mine."
