The Conversion of St Paul 		January 25
The apostle Paul began his life as Saul, the son of a free-born Jewish father who was also a Roman citizen. His city of origin was Tarsus of Cilicia, but he grew up in Jerusalem and was educated under the famous rabbi Gamaliel. His early years saw him thoroughly trained in the Law of Judaism according to the strictest sect of the Jews, the Pharisees. In this adherence to the tradition of the Pharisees, he displayed outstanding zeal. He knew God’s promise, “I will come and dwell in your midst. . . . Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst” (Zechariah 2:11). What that required of Israel was total commitment to the Law and the covenant with God faithfully honoured in purity and holiness. This led Saul to the conviction that he should do everything possible to persecute the followers of Jesus as deviants from the call of Israel. Within Jerusalem, he was diligent in having many Christians imprisoned, and at times cast his vote for the death sentence, as in the case of Stephen.
Saul’s intensity of opposition to the followers of Jesus took him beyond Jerusalem, in a relentless search for Christians in the synagogues of the Dispersion. It was on the occasion of one of these forays that his conversion took place. He had letters of authority from the high priest in Jerusalem to carry out a search and arrest mission in the synagogues of Damascus. As he and his support party were nearing Damascus, Saul was brought up short by a blinding light, and a voice asking him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Saul was ordered to continue into Damascus, where he would be told further what to do. But he was also told that his calling now was to be a witness for Jesus and an apostle to the Gentiles.
In Damascus, Saul was befriended by Ananias, a devout believer and leader in the Jewish community. Ananias ministered to him in his immediate need and began the process of introducing him to the Christian way. From the moment his eyesight returned, which he had lost in the experience on the road to Damascus, Saul began to preach openly in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God, the long-awaited Christ, the one in whom God had visited Israel and brought in the Gentiles.
Later, Saul changed his name to Paul and became the outstanding missionary, apostle, writer-teacher, and theologian of the early Christian church. It was a complete and thorough-going conversion. Several factors had prepared him for that moment of life-changing encounter with Christ. There must have remained with him the memory of Stephen. The inexplicable fearlessness of the Christians he captured would also have challenged him. Above all, he saw that God’s grace was far broader than he had ever imagined. God had visited Israel for redemption, not in a demand for ritual purity, but in grace and love that fulfilled the Law. Through faith, Jew and Gentile alike had access to what God in Christ had done. He had been prepared for this moment. The zealous Pharisee had become the passionate apostle.
Although there is evidence of the Conversion of St Paul being observed in some places as early as the sixth century, the feast was not strictly observed until the twelfth century.
For Liturgical Use
The conversion of Saul, the zealous Jewish Pharisee of Tarsus, into Paul, the passionate apostle to the Gentiles, occurred on the road to Damascus. Saul was on an expedition to hunt out and arrest all those he could find in the synagogues who believed in Jesus. A blinding light and a voice from heaven stopped him in his tracks and convinced him that the message of the good news of Jesus Christ was indeed from God, and that henceforth he must proclaim Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Sentence, Prayers and Readings as in A New Zealand Prayer Book - He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa, page 643-644