Irresistible Force vs Immovable Object 2: An Example

After posting the last blog, Irresistible Force vs Immovable Object, I thought it wise to give a scriptural example. Exhibit A is Paul aka Saul. As you probably remember, Paul was born “Saul” to Jewish parents in Tarsus, a city in modern Turkey, just north of the curve of the Mediterranean as it turns southward toward Egypt. No doubt his parents were strict Jews, as he was sent to Jerusalem to study under a world famous rabbi, named Gamaliel. A child prodigy, he was fast becoming the prize student, progressing, as he said, “beyond his peers.” As most of the rabbinical students could quote most or all of the Hebrew scriptures from memory, his excelling must have meant an exceptional talent for memory, debate and must have had a reputation for an exemplary life. He would have had to keep all 616 rabbinic laws relating to the dozens of Mosaic laws; Paul knew how to obey. Saul’s training was occurring just at the time of the beginning of the Christian era. He must have witnessed or at least heard of Jesus, Jon, peter and James. He had to have known something of the claims of Jesus’ miracles and the day of Pentecost. Somehow, with his nose in the book, he was not swayed. Rather, in fact, he became even more zealous for his traditions. It started with the death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. Saul watched over the coats of those slinging stones at Stephen. One can imagine a young man, unwilling to get his hands dirty—he was too much of a scholar, too much of a Pharisee to dirty his hands, literally or figuratively. As an aside, Saul was named for King Saul, first king of Israel, the people-selected king. This king came to no good end, but somehow, his tarnished reputation was overcome and Jewish boys were named for him, perhaps as a nostalgic glance over the shoulder at Israel’s glory days. Now Saul means “ditch, hole in the ground or grave. Not sure I’d like to be named “grave.” It doesn’t seem conducive for a stable life among one’s peers. So, a young man who was an extraordinary scholar, one who kept the law, whose name meant death, became a murderer by proxy. He was so zealous for his religion that he brought to Jewish justice those of “the Way” as Christians were known in his day. Having cleared Jerusalem, he sought and received permission to go to Damascus to begin the process of cleaning up the rats nest which had fled from Jerusalem into this ancient Syrian city. Later, he was to say, he was proceeding “breathing out wrath” and One can imagine this holy man, striding along the dusty road, using every word he can think of short of blasphemy, to describe what he is going to do to those unsuspecting refugees. His traveling companions must have kept their distance from him; few enjoy the company of a fanatic in full battle mode. Suddenly Saul is hurled to the ground-not by force, note, but by a blinding light. In the light, Saul sees one whom he has not met but knows. Now many a blasphemer has challenged God to strike them dead as proof that there is no God. One such, challenged God and was struck dumb, not by God, but by the comment of a passerby: “If your son asked you to do such, would you?” So, here is Saul, on his way to destroy fleeing remnants of the infant church. Instead of striking him dead, the Heavenly Vision calls his name: “Saul, Saul” “Death, Death.” Then makes a gentle comment: “It is hard to kick against the ox goad, isn’t it, Saul?” Nothing more; no condemnation, no coercion; just a simple statement indicating just how well the Interrogator knew him. Now Saul is undone: “What will You have me do?” he asks. Now it is not Saul, but the Heavenly Vision who is guiding and directing him. He is overwhelmed by the love in the face of Him Whom he has been persecuting. His life ends and he is reborn in an instant. The one who will later say “I was the worst of sinners,” is turned inside out and upside down. All else fades to nothingness in the face of the glory of Jesus Christ. A number of years later, Saul will change his name to Paul. It happens between verses during his first missionary journey. From that time on, he was known as “Paul” which means “Little.” From deadly Saul to little Paul. Now, in his own eyes, he is small-measuring his stature, his worth, against the infinite, not the finite rule-bound religion of his youth. Such, I believe, will be the experience of those, who in this era, this lifetime, do not have the chance because of circumstance of birth, of training, of location, of family to truly know the One who died for them. There are far more in this class than in the tiny group which makes up even the combined Catholic and Protestant world. How fair is it, how just, to permit billions upon billions to roast in hell or die forever, who never knew anything about the Lord Jesus? How fair that a child raised in physical or sexual abuse who grows to abuse the next generation should be so condemned? If this condemnation be true, I would challenge God to His face to demonstrate how One who claims to be love can be just, fair and loving. We would not so treat a fellow human, how can the Infinite, all-knowing, all loving One do so and make such claims? He cannot; He does not. Love will find a way. He must, He will or risk a just condemnation of His own. 11.26.12