​Testimony again. Scripture, reflection and prayer.

Acts 26:9-16
​
"I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.  And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.

“On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[a] ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

“Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me."

Reflection. Repentance means a complete turn around, a change of direction. St Paul the persecutor in the extreme becomes St Paul the preacher of the gospel.  Sharing the Good News of Jesus has now led to another trial in front of the authorities. Paul takes the opportunity to share his testimony of meeting the Risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. There is a pattern with Paul: tell people about Jesus. After speaking of his conversion moment, St Paul goes on to share what God is currently doing in his life. The pattern: conversion testimony, then testimony of living with Jesus in his life.  What's the pattern for us, I wonder?


Prayer. Lord Jesus, help me to be confident in sharing you with others, even to Find One, for your glory. Amen.