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Context No. 1789 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 9:22-30: in context

22But Saul increased more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ. 23When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him, 24but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him, 25but his disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket. 26When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. 28He was with them entering into Jerusalem, 29preaching boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus. He spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him. 30When the brothers knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Newly converted, Saul grows stronger and confounds the skeptics at Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ, until a plot to kill him forces his disciples to lower him over the wall in a basket by night. He comes to Jerusalem and tries to join the disciples there, but they are all afraid of him, not believing he is truly a disciple; the memory of Saul the persecutor is too fresh. Only when Barnabas vouches for him is he received; and soon he is again preaching boldly, and again his life is in danger.

There is a poignant difficulty in Saul's early days that is easy to miss: the disciples were afraid of him and would not believe he had really changed. Saul's conversion was genuine; he was preaching Christ boldly, at risk to his life. And still, when he came to Jerusalem and tried to join the believers, they kept their distance, wary, unconvinced, unable to see past the man who had hunted them. His past clung to him; the reputation of Saul the persecutor made the disciples slow to trust Saul the disciple, however real the change. This is a hard experience that many who have changed know well: to be genuinely transformed, and yet still distrusted, still defined by others according to the person one used to be. It can be discouraging to have really changed and to find that others cannot see it, that the past follows us and colors how we are received. Saul's story offers two things here. To the one who has changed and is not yet believed: change may need time and evidence to be recognized; Saul kept preaching and living the new life, and in time, with Barnabas's help, was received. The reality of a changed life eventually shows itself, though it may not be trusted at once; patience and steady faithfulness are the way through the distrust. And to the rest of us, it offers a caution: not to define others forever by their past. The disciples were slow to believe Saul had changed, and they were wrong to be so slow; God had transformed the persecutor into an apostle. We can be like those wary disciples, unable to see past who someone used to be, holding people to a past God has moved beyond. Grace changes people; and part of grace is being willing to believe that it has, to receive the changed person rather than forever defining them by who they were.

If I have genuinely changed and am still distrusted, defined by others according to who I used to be, can I patiently keep living the new life until its reality shows, as Saul did; and toward others, am I willing to believe that grace has changed them, rather than defining them forever by their past as the disciples were slow to believe Saul had changed?

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