THE CONVERSION OF ST PAUL

The Third Sunday after The Epiphany




WHY PERSECUTEST THOU ME?


It seems rather prescient that Paul Munton should choose to lead a discussion on civil disobedience this coming Tuesday. Civil disobedience is often the consequence of persecution, of subjugation, of the abrogation of human rights, of injustice. There are numerous examples of persecution: Spartacus, The Kett Rebellion, Anti-Slavery movement, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, CND, climate change protests, and the recent violent, deadly suppression of popular protests in Iran. Growing up and living in South Africa, I observed the persecution of black South Africans - the Soweto Riots, poor education opportunities, lack of political rights, poverty, segregation, diminution. Human beings being diminished, ostracised, scapegoated, often with Biblical and theological attempts to justify actions. Persecution persists. How do Greenlanders feel about Trumpian threats?


Henry David Thoreau in an 1849 pamphlet Civil Disobedience  expresses the opinion that ‘people could not be made agents of injustice if they were governed by their own consciences’. Thoreau was writing at a time when the Mexican-American War over territorial expansion was raging, and the debate about slavery in the United States was gaining momentum. Some lessons for us to learn about the circumstances that create persecution or a sense for others of being persecuted: ICE and migration: attitudes of leaders towards others (territory, allies, self-regard, MAGA). How do we stand up to all that? How do we protest when the odds seem to be so vastly ranged against us?


Saul was an active persecutor of ‘the Way’. This new religious community, followers of the Nazarene, Jesus. Saul attends persecutions. Denounces the followers of Jesus. Stands by at the martyrdom of St Stephen,  the first deacon. He seeks the authority of the High Priest and gains from him permission to seek out these ‘apostates’ of the faith and to condemn them. However, what he failed to recognise was that this new Way had a friend in powerful places. Jesus was not going to permit the persecution of his followers, and thus he appears to Saul, asking him: ‘Why persecutest thou me?’ Why does Jesus choose Saul? What does he see in him? Why does he rescue him from this path of destruction?


Perhaps he sees the zeal, the ardour in the man. Recognises the richness of his faith and his dedication to it. The commitment. A Pharisee, taught at the foot of one of the greats, Gamaliel. And perhaps Jesus wanted to harness that for the growth of his community, his ekklesia. Whatever the reason, the purpose, Saul is converted. He admits his error(s), he recognises the Messiah, and then seeks a time to commune, prayerfully, in the deserts of Arabia, before taking up his commission. Speaking to the apostles in Jerusalem and embarking upon his ministry to the gentiles.His epistles become  the manual of how to be a Christian. There are arguments that St Paul got things wrong. A debate for another time, perhaps. But he addressed how we are to live in the world. How to face resolutely the trials and tribulations (just as he did), always remembering to bear witness to the love of God, in and through Christ. Encouraged to stand up and be counted, despite the cost.


Today, our consciences, our Christian faith and practice, needs to guide us in what is often a rather dark world to do what Jesus commanded: Love God and your neighbour as yourself. If that were realised, just imagine our brave, new world!


Do join the discussion group if you want to discuss what our ‘religious mandate to civil disobedience’ might mean. See the Discussion group section later in this newsletter.

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