Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“[He] immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ All who heard him were amazed and said, ‘Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name?’”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, May 3, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
You can’t blame these listeners for their skepticism. Chances are at least some of them were on Saul’s list of people to haul away to Jerusalem. He’s definitely built a reputation for himself, and among the early Christians, it was not a good one. I don’t know about you, but if someone who I knew was diametrically opposed to my viewpoint on an issue suddenly came out strong in favor of it, I would have a hard time believing it. Likewise if they were strongly on my side and suddenly were diametrically opposed (which I’m sure many of the Jews in Damascus experienced.)
But at the end of this passage (see the full text) it says that Saul became increasingly powerful and “proved” that Jesus was the Messiah. Which means it didn’t take long for everyone to be utterly convinced that Saul’s transformation was genuine. Possibly it was because Saul wasn’t the only one who had it out for the followers of Jesus, and that by putting himself into that camp, he was taking a risk that someone who wasn’t fully convinced and committed wouldn’t take.
What would it take for us to be convinced that someone had fundamentally changed for the better? Are there people in our lives who perhaps deserve the benefit of the doubt? Are there others who claim to change repeatedly only to revert to previous behavior? What is God calling us to do in our relationships when it comes to conflicts of personality?
Ultimately, at some level we need to simply accept our differences without judgment. At another we need to accept others at their word. We can ask God to help us extend grace to those in our lives, and to help us set healthy boundaries where it’s called for.
What has been my experience with people in my life claiming to have changed in some fundamental way?
