Readings: Galatians 1.11–20; Mark 1.9–13
Introduction
We continue our exploration of the life of St.
Paul and the work of the Holy Spirit in his life.
Last time Saul the violent religious
extremist met Jesus in a transforming experience on the Damascus Road.
Today we’re thinking about what happened
after that event. Paul describes it like
this:
“God in his grace chose me even before I
was born, and called me to serve him. And when he decided to reveal his Son to
me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the Gentiles, I did not
go to anyone for advice, nor did I go to Jerusalem to see those who were
apostles before me. Instead, I went at
once to Arabia, and then I returned to Damascus.”
Why Arabia? Some think it was a time of solitary
meditation, in preparation for the Gentile mission; others, that it was Paul’s
first attempt at Gentile evangelism. Where
was “Arabia,” anyway, at that time?
Most agree that the main point Paul is
making in the passage is that he did not go to Jerusalem. But the question of
Arabia is still a puzzle. Today we’re
going to look at what he was doing there.
Paul the Zealous Man
Paul indicates in 1:14 that he belonged,
before his conversion, to the tradition of “zeal for the law.” – that he was
something of a zealot. This zeal led him not just into zealous study and prayer
but into violent action.
Zeal of this sort was part of a long
tradition within Judaism – you just need to think of Phinehas in the book of
Numbers, the great prophet Elijah in 1 Kings and Mattathias the rebel leader
just before Jesus was born.
I guess Elijah is best known to us
all. Elijah, too, was clearly a man of
“zeal.” “I have been very zealous for the Lord” (1 Kgs 19:14). His zeal, of
course, had consisted precisely in slaying the prophets of Baal, as recounted
in the previous chapter.
But he had been stopped in his tracks,
confronted by Ahab and Jezebel with a threat to his life (19:1-2); and he had
run away “to Mount Sinai, the Holy mountain” (19:8), apparently to give up – to
resign from being a prophet.
There, in the famous story, he was met by
earthquake, wind, and fire, but the Lord was in none of them. Finally he heard
“a still small voice,” inquiring why he was there. His explanation, as we just
saw: great zeal, and now great disappointment. “I alone am left, and they seek
my life,” he complains miserably.
God listens to his complaints, then he
gives Elijah a new mission, he sends him back to Damascus to start again.
For Elijah going up that mountain was a
chance to cry out to God – but God used it as a time to change his mind.
It’s interesting to see that Paul follows
in the footsteps of Elijah – faced with a crisis in his faith, and struggling
with his calling – he goes to Arabia – to Mount Sinai, and cries out to God.
Maybe he was complaining that he is not up
to the work he had been assigned. Maybe he heard a still small voice of God
telling him about what God was doing through Jesus in the world.
His zeal was now redirected. God then sends
him back to Damascus with a new mission – as Apostle to Non-Jews - the herald
of the new king.
Paul needed to change
I think that must have been a real struggle for Paul. He was having to realise that his former life
of violence was wrong. He was realising that
God accepts not just Jewish people, but all people. He came to see that evil
isn’t defeated by killing other people, but by the death of Jesus Christ. Realising that the battle had already been
won – by Jesus.
Paul was in “Arabia” and then Damascus for
three years – it can't have been easy listening to God, wrestling with these
issues and thinking things through – but through it all Paul’s faith grew
stronger and he emerged a transformed man.
Later in his letter to the Roman Christians he said:
Do not conform yourselves to the standards
of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your
mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God---what is good and is
pleasing to him and is perfect.
The Holy Spirit had transformed his mind –
his thinking – and he was now ready to go out and work for God in a new way.
Conclusion
It isn’t easy to stop and think our faith
through – to allow the Holy Spirit to transform our minds. It isn’t easy to think about the issues
facing us today in our technological world, with fanaticism on one side and
atheism on the other, while we use and abuse our fragile environment without a
care for tomorrow.
We tend to like instant solutions rather
than work through things with the Holy Spirit.
We may be tempted to think that being a Christian is just about being
baptised when we were little. That we
just need to stop thinking and learning and growing, and just keep coming to
Church.
Well I'm impressed by the example of
St. Paul. He didn’t rush on with life,
thinking that was all God had for him.
Paul showed the mark of a true disciple –
he stopped, he took time to think, time to listen to God, and time to let the
Holy Spirit wrestle within him – working out his salvation – and what it means
to be a Christian.
It’s a process he continued throughout his
life – and it’s a pattern we should all follow too.
The truth is we’re never finished learning
and growing in our faith – as Paul said ‘I do not claim that I have already
succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for
which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself.’
I hope and pray that we will do the same
throughout our lives too. Amen.
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