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"Saul's Story"
A Sermon Preached by Tully Fletcher at WPC
Let me tell you who I am. I am Saul, a Jew and a Pharisee. I am a man of great faith, like that of Joshua or Samson. And I am a very smart and powerful man. I don’t get my strength from my physical ability, but rather from my words, and my wisdom. I believe that we Hebrew people are God’s chosen ones, and we are the most special and important people. We are superior to everyone else, especially the gentiles.
Now I grew up in Tarsus. And I was always a very smart child. I learned to read when I was only 5 years old. My father was a hardworking man, a tent maker. He was strong in his faith but not as strong as me. It was hard to be a Jew in tarsus, with so many people of other religions around. Them and all their fake little god-statues. They prayed to them as if those wooden idols actually had power. But I knew the one True God. Yahweh, the almighty.
As I grew older, my learnings became very important to me. And I was so excited to go off to university in Jerusalem. In university I learned everything there is to know about God. How God created the world, how God sent his prophets to speak for Him. Everything. I knew it all. That was where I really grew so strong in my faith. I would recite the shema every morning.
My favorite part…
“You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God.”
I upheld the law in every sense. I did so well at my studies that I was quickly promoted and became a teacher myself, helping others to understand and follow the Law. I loved to read the law. I wish I could now.
Now I remember when I first started hearing about this Jesus guy. I never met Him personally, but many of my Pharisee brothers did. They said He was so disrespectful and so rude. They said He knew the scriptures very well, but His interpretations were all wrong. He had no respect for the law and the traditions. He was certainly causing a lot of trouble.
I also remember hearing that He had been put to death for His blasphemy. I mean right? He had the audacity to say that God was going to make a new covenant through Him. He even claimed to be God’s son. I mean, yeah, God made covenants with Abraham, and Noah. And God gave the law to Moses, but that was 2000 years ago. God doesn’t do that kind of thing now. We have the law, that is our salvation, that is ALL we need.
So I was glad when this man from Nazareth was killed. But of course then began the rumors that He wasn’t dead. That He had come back. I mean people don’t come back. It was preposterous.
That was when the real trouble began. These followers of Jesus started popping up all over the place. Their ways of thinking were threatening to corrupt everything. They had no respect for the law. They didn’t follow the traditions or give sacrifices. It was getting bad. So me and some of the others got together and decided to wipe them out.
We began harassing them, and breaking up their meetings. But it seemed the more we gave them trouble the more their numbers grew. So we decided to get serious. We had one of them stoned. What was his name? Stephen. We worked so hard to run them out of Jerusalem. It was hard. At first it seemed as if for every one we killed three more sprung up in his place. But eventually we ran them off.
The Holy City was safe. The temple was protected, and God was protected. But it wasn’t over. Many of them moved to Damascus. So I decided to go there myself and finish the job. I took some soldiers with me, and we left. I guess we were about half way there when it happened.
The light was so bright. And so beautiful, but it burned my eyes out. And the voice was so loud, it shook the ground, and I was pretty scared.
They tell me it has been two days since then, but it seems like much longer. I can’t really tell.
I can’t seem to get that voice outta my head. So loud and strong. A voice like that could only come from God. But it doesn’t make sense. I mean, yeah, God used to speak to people like that, like Moses and the burning bush, or to the prophets. But that was so long ago, God doesn’t speak like that anymore. It doesn’t make sense.
But the voice, it said “I am Jesus….” That makes even less sense. Jesus is dead. How could He be speaking to me, and how could He be speaking like God would. Unless Jesus really is God’s son.
It is all so confusing now. I mean could I be wrong about God? Do I really know everything there is to know?
All this time I thought it was we, Hebrews, who were special because God chose us. But I guess it is God who is special. God, who created all the world, and all life.
I thought that God wanted only to save us, His chosen people. But maybe God wants to save everybody. And who am I to get in God’s way. Maybe Jesus really did come with a new covenant. But that would mean that God is alive and at work in the world. That means that God is still creating. Wow, I mean isn’t that hard to believe. God is special, not me, not us.
EPILOGUE:
God is alive and at work in the world today.