Why are you persecuting me

First, God did not tell him directly to stop his persecution, but asked him a question: why are you persecuting me? The question is a challenge to Saul, not a command, but a request for thoughtfulness. Now, all of these reflections are grounded in the real encounter of Saul with the risen Lord, but I think we can draw out examples for our own way of living and encountering Jesus in our day-to-day lives and in our theological expressions.

Jesus questions Saul, he does not demand of him that he stop his persecution, but he asks him, why? What is your purpose? What is your aim? What is your goal? In this question, however, are profound answers for Saul and for us as readers.

If Saul is persecuting Christians because he thinks God wants this, this spiritual encounter with Christ, mystical as it is, points to the presence of God in Jesus, the last thing he would expect.

Saul felt God had already spoken to him. Saul responds to the question, though, he listens and does as Jesus tells him, which indicates a genuine change in Saul. As the Apostle Paul, Saul will live this truth out.

The Apostle is no less passionate than the Persecutor in his love of God and in his desire to make God known, but in this experience, he learns that God does not demand our obedience; he questions us and thereby challenges us with the truth. Violence is never the method by which truth is made known. Saul will go from the passionate man who by violence will attempt to convert others, to the passionate man who will accept and suffer violence in his desire to bring the truth to others.

He transforms from the one who causes others to suffer, to the man who will suffer on behalf of others. Saul also learns in this encounter that Jesus is genuinely present amongst the brothers and sisters of the early Church.

The flip side of this, of course, is that God is with us, and we must see God present amongst the people, especially those we wish to persecute. People are never just representatives of "bad" decisions or positions with which we disagree, but the represent God in our midst.

Saul, by listening to the words of Jesus, grants Jesus authority. Now, there are two things I want to say about that voice that he hears. You will discover that it occurs less than twenty times in the whole scope of redemptive history. And if you would examine each of the occurrences that are recorded for us, you would see something emerge very clearly. I know you intimately, and I love you. But why are you persecuting Me? It is the bride of Christ. And anyone who attacks His bride is attacking Him.

Anyone who assaults His body is assailing Him. Saul fell to the ground. Why are you doing things against me? But on his journey, as he neared Damascus, a light from Heaven suddenly blazed around him, and he fell to the ground.

He set off. When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light. He fell to the ground. Why are you opposing me? And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

He fell on the ground and heard a voice speaking to him. The Lord: Saul, Saul, why are you attacking Me? Previous Acts Top. All rights reserved.