Hear the words of the Collect for the conversion of Saint Paul:

O God, who, through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world; grant, we beseech Thee, that we, having his wonderful conversion in remembrance, may show forth our thankfulness unto Thee for the same, by following the holy doctrine which he taught.

May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be alway acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. We pray in the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Ghost. Amen.

This observation of the Conversion of Saint Paul should be a celebration for all of us who are sinners. I think that takes in all of us here today. The reason for this is that here was a man who was guilty of murder, torture, false imprisonment, and threats to do more of the same to anyone who professed ‘the way’ that Jesus had preached. This is the man who was converted into one of the greatest evangelists the world has ever experienced. That in itself is good news for all of us here today.

The reason that this is such good news to us is that we, who have sins of a much smaller magnitude, can be used by God to be as useful as Saul was. It is not the fact that our sins are of a smaller character than Saul’s were, for one sin by itself puts us under the condemnation of the entire law as James 2:10 tells us:

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

So why are we not used as Saul was? I believe that it is because of the block that exists in our own minds.  We think that because we are not perfect or that we  are too great a sinner for God to use us. I have news for us all on this point.

The only perfect person that has ever walked the face of this earth was nailed to a Cross and died for our sins. So perfection is not the problem as Saul learned on the road to Damascus. He learned that he was in fact in grievous error in the persecution of the followers of Jesus. Yet, God loved him and wanted to use him anyway. That is just the lesson we are to take to heart every day.

On of the great lines in Holy Writ, for me, is in the Epistle for today, Acts 9:5:

And he said, “Who art thou, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”

It is not great because it contains one of the great truths of God, although it is certainly true. It is not great because it contains one of the great sayings of Jesus, for it is. It is great because it applies so directly to me. Why is my walk with Christ so hard? It is because I kick against the ‘pricks.’

Now this word can have several meanings, but the one used here is the idea of a troubled conscience. The image is that of an ox being driven on in his work. When they slow down they are ‘pricked’ by a cattle prod. Of course when they are ‘pricked’ they kick back, and in so doing get another ‘prick’ on the behind.

I seem to do things like that too often in my walk with Christ. Here I go along thinking up some new trouble I can get into, and there is The Holy Ghost, walking along behind me, ‘pricking’ my conscience and telling me don’t do that. So what do I do, like the ox, I kick back and get ‘pricked’ again. Does any of this sound familiar to you?

This verse is one of the ones that speaks to me particularly after trying to recover from some stupidity I have committed. A sore conscience is hard to abide because we know that we are the only ones responsible for it. We can’t blame others because they had nothing to do with it. We ‘thunk’ it up all by ourselves.

Now before we get too down on ourselves and hold a pity party, we must read the rest of the Epistle for today until we get to the part where the use of this correction is shown. Acts 9:20 to 22 tell us the rest of the story:

And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

This change of heart and the resultant life of service to that cause which Saul had been so much against, should encourage each and every one of us to do the same. Will we succeed in the same way that Saul did? How will we know unless we try?

I know that Saul, so soon to become Saint Paul, had no idea that he would write most of the Epistles in what would become the New Testament. He had no idea that he would found Churches across the known world. He had no idea that he would be instrumental in extending the covenant of God to the Gentiles and become their Apostle. He did not know he would do these things, but we know he did them. History tells us he did them. So what then are we going to do?

Saul only did what God put in front of him to do. He did not worry about results, changed lives, or founded congregations. He knew that God was in charge of that department. He had learned his lesson and only went where God pointed him. There was no more need for his conscience to be ‘pricked’ because Saul did the work willingly, and in so doing became Saint Paul. So what do we do?

There is one further lesson that we must learn and that is from the Gospel lesson for today. When we turn to follow Christ in our daily lives, we have a fear in the back of our minds that we will be losing out on something that we ‘know’ we are supposed to get. I mean by following Christ we will not be able to take illegal drugs, or have abortions, or illicit sex, or murder people, or steal from others, or cheat on our income taxes any more. Do any of us really want to do those things?

We will not miss out on anything that is good in this life when we decide to follow Jesus Christ. We will in fact be given much more than we could ever even ask for. All we have to do is to seek to avoid being ‘pricked’ as Saint Paul was, and follow Jesus Christ in all we do.

It is my prayer that as we go back into the world, that we seek to do as Paul did, to seek to change the world, just as he did, one person, one heart, and one soul at a time. Let us do the work that God puts before us to do and follow willingly the directions that Jesus Christ has laid out for us and that The Holy Ghost shows to us. Let us like Paul change the world one soul at a time beginning with our own.

Amen,

The Rev. Canon John Jacobs