Acts - Week 13 / Thursday

Reading for today: Acts 26:12-23

Paul continues his Faith Story by sharing his conversion experience in which he encountered Jesus Christ. On his way to Damascus to cleanse the synagogues there of any Christ-followers, he experienced a bright light and a voice speaking to him. Luke includes a new detail in Paul's conversation. Paul states that Jesus spoke to him in Aramaic.

But, what does "It is hard for you to kick against the goads," mean? It comes from the farming picture of someone using a sharply pointed stick to correct the antics of the oxen. This was a common phrase used to express opposition to God. In using this phrase, Paul identifies the voice from heaven as divine. Jesus gives Paul very clear instructions pertaining to the purpose Jesus has for Paul's life.

Paul states that he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision given to him. "Vision" here does not infer dream-like, but implies an actual vision or sighting of Jesus. Paul then sums up the ministry he carried out over the past 18 or 19 years, beginning in Damascus, then Jerusalem, then to the Gentiles and regions beyond.

The message he proclaimed was clear: Repent and turn to God and prove your repentance by your deeds. And it was because of this message that the Jews seized him and intended to kill him, because this message of repentance and forgiveness was for Jew and Gentile alike, and included blessings for the Gentiles, which the Jews did not appreciate.

Paul then bears witness to God's faithfulness in protecting him. He finishes by stating that all he has said is nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen: That the Christ would suffer; Christ would be the first to raise from the dead; Christ would proclaim light to his own people (Jew) and the Gentiles.

Paul's Faith Story is not long, but it covers the needed bases and would have been quite clear to his listeners. That's all anyone's Faith Story needs to be effective.

Tomorrow: Paul pulls no punches with the king