25 January 2018 - blinded by the light

Today's Readings (Audio)

On that journey as I drew near to Damascus,
about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.

We don't all got knocked to our feet during an amazing conversion experience. But we all encounter Jesus. We are meant to be changed just as surely as Paul. We may not have been as opposed to Christianity as Paul was.

I persecuted this Way to death,
binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.

But we are meant to become as zealous for it as he became.

The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will,
to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice;
for you will be his witness before all
to what you have seen and heard.

We are meant to know God in the same intense, real, and life-changing way that Paul knew him. Even if we don't see a blinding light and get knocked to our feet we are nevertheless meant to hear the voice of Jesus speaking to us. Can we hear it? Jesus is saying to us what he says to all of his disciples.

Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.

But do we hear it? We won't do it if it is a mere thought, concept, or object of knowledge. But if we listen for his voice and hear Jesus speaking this word to us we will find ourselves filled with the same strength as zeal as Paul.

But Saul grew all the stronger
and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus,
proving that this is the Christ.

When the voice of Jesus is our starting place our lives become filled with the miracles that are the inevitable consequence of faith.

These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.

If the LORD does prevent us from seeing things the way we used to see them, if he knocks us to our feet and stops us in our tracks, let us not respond in frustration by closing our hearts. Let us instead do what Paul did.

I replied, 'Who are you, sir?'

Let us get our bearings. Let's realize that it is Jesus doing a new work in us. Let us then listen to his will for us. The LORD will guide us one step at a time into the mission he has for us.

I asked, 'What shall I do, sir?'
The Lord answered me, 'Get up and go into Damascus,
and there you will be told about everything
appointed for you to do.

So let us go with Paul into the world, proclaiming the Good News to all the nations!