Paul's Penance

Imagine being called before a judge to explain why you are doing something you know is right, but that the judge believes is wrong.

With this in mind, I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads." I asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The Lord answered, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." - Acts 26:12-18

What Paul was doing, proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah, was considered blasphemy to the Jews, but Paul had a vision of Jesus that converted his belief, so here he is trying to explain that what he is doing is right, and what everyone else believes is wrong.

We would call that a No Win Situation. 

There is no way Paul will convince Agrippa that the law the Jews have been living by is wrong, that the appearance of Jesus was foretold, and that even Gentiles can be saved.

No way.

If you think about it, this is Paul's penance.  He must stand up and defend what he fought against when he was younger.  And he must do it over and over again.

But it is not penance for one's sin once the person is changed, and Paul has been changed.  He has taken on the mission.  He is committed.  He would not see it as payback, but as a ministry.

This is how we need to see our mission in life. 

When we truly believe what we are doing, we no longer find it tiresome or burdensome.  It becomes who we are.

It is what keep us going.  Like Paul, we are charged up and ready to do battle.

We may not all have a vision of Jesus, but we do have a mission to fulfill.  It is to be the light of the world, and that comes in many forms.

So, shine the light and be fully committed to it.  That may feel like penance at first, but it will change you.

More to come...