Acts 9: the Damascus road conversion - stereotype or archetype?
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
Acts 9:1-9
Then Ananias went to the house 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 9:17-19
Saul's (better known by the Greek version of his name 'Paul') conversion is probably the most famous described. It gives us a picture of conversion that has become so stereotypical that we have to point out to people that not all stories of coming to faith are like this - some are dramatic, when it is possible to observe the exact moment when somebody stops in their tracks, turns around and follows Jesus. But others are more subtle. God knows there is a turning point - a point when each person truly turns to him for the first time - but to the observer and even the believer itself, the journey is a gradual one and it is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment. Nonetheless, it is like passing from death to life, dark to light, night to day. Saul's experience gives us a visual and dramatic version of what happens to every believer.
Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
We start off rejecting Jesus. It is always noteworthy that Jesus says to Saul why do you persecute ME, not why do you persecute my people?. It echoes his words during the Parable of the sheep and the goats: For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ (Matthew 25:42-43).
Jesus is here - he is one with his people. He is not some far off God to whom we will eventually have to reckon with, but that we can ignore until that day. But it is not about the supposed 'good works' that can be manifestations of our love, but that love itself. For Jesus also says: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23).
It is not about how much good work we are willing to do - in whoever's name - but whether we are willing to know Jesus. However good our intentions for the world around us, we cannot know Jesus if we think we know best, if we want to be gods.
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?”...Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing.
Suddenly, God breaks in to Saul's life - the life where the thought of Jesus makes him angry and he will do anything to preserve the purity of his beliefs and traditions. What is so striking is the contrasts we see - a light from heaven, and yet blindness. The two are not unconnected - a flash of extreme light in the eyes would blind a person - temporarily if not permanently, and in this real life metaphor we are given a picture of the incompatibility of sin with God. In the Old Testament there are frequent references to the idea that no one can see God and live - these seem alien to us because our culture has reduced God's goodness and glory. In the face of God, we would be like a bacterium under a squirt of hand sanitiser.
But it is more than simply incompatibility. Saul's blindness is also representative of what coming before God makes us realise about ourselves. Jesus could have even been talking about this very occurence when he earlier said: “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” (John 9:39). When we see the light of Jesus, we see that we ourselves are blind, along with lost, unclean, inadequate and a whole of host of other things. Meeting Jesus isn't a pat on the back - it's a turning inside out.
“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.
It is only when we realise the depths of our sin that we then also realise the love of Jesus. The realisation of our sinfulness is not the end of the story. In Saul's story he sees again, but this time it is having been filled with the Holy Spirit. Referring back to the verse from John 9, Saul has gone from being those who see will become blind to the blind will see. Being cognisant on his sin, Jesus now gives him new sight - new assurance, hope and direction. That new life is a life with a mission - to bring the gospel to the non-Jewish world, but it is more than that - it is a life where he can know ('see') God - in part during his life on earth, and in full when he goes to glory to live with him forever.
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