St. Paul never lost the wonder of his conversion. And
it is a spectacular story. Saul, as he was called then,
had held the cloaks of those who stoned St. Stephen
to death for preaching about Jesus in Jerusalem. Saul
dragged Christians from their homes to imprison them.
“Still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of
the Lord” (Acts 9:1), Saul finagled a mandate from the high
priest to go to Damascus and bring
back in chains any Christians.
On the way there, Saul saw a
bright light and was knocked to the
ground. A voice said, “Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?” He
said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply
came, “I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting. Now get up and go into
the city and you will be told what
you must do” (see Acts 9:3-6).
In Damascus, the blinded Saul
spent three days praying. After the
disciple Ananias laid his hands on
Saul, “things like scales fell from his
eyes and he regained his sight. He
got up and was baptized, and when
he had eaten, he recovered his
strength” (Acts 9:18-19).
From that day forward, the new man of God followed The
Way of Jesus. Being knocked to the ground meant Saul
would continue to see the world from the bottom up. Being
blinded temporarily gave him new vision. So different was
he that he signed his Greek name, Paul, to all his letters.
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 Neither Jew Nor Greek
Paul saw Jesus as bringing about a
new world order, one where everyone
is offered the chance to be a
blessed child of God, an inheritor of
God’s promise to Abraham.
In this Letter to the Galatians,
Paul is furious with the people (most
of whom were gentile converts) for
having listened to those who said all
Christians must follow the Jewish
law, especially its emphasis on circumcision
and dietary laws.
He yells: “O stupid Galatians!
Who has bewitched you, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly
portrayed as crucified? I want to
learn only this from you: did you
receive the Spirit from works of the law, or from faith in what
you heard? Are you so stupid?” (3:1-3a).
Slaves were an integral part of the Roman Empire. Thirty
years into the peaceful reign of Caesar Augustus, fewer wars
meant fewer slaves. But there were still slaves who had sold
themselves to pay off family debts.
Slaves were the underclass of society.
When Paul said that that distinction
didn’t matter, unfortunately,
he was not intending to abolish slavery.
But he meant to emphasize that
followers of The Way had a new
master (Jesus) and that class distinctions
had been replaced by a
new relationship of love and justice.
The most radical part of Paul’s new
order is obliterating a distinction
between male and female. In Orthodox
Jewish tradition, women still
don’t even count toward a minyan (the quorum of 10 required for certain
religious activities).
Yes, St. Paul told women they had to cover their heads in
church and be still, but he also pushed women into ministerial
roles. He saw that women were empowered for ministry
in the Church as much as men were, since women also
had received the Holy Spirit. Some women today are pushing
for ordination at least to the diaconate on the strength
of Paul’s words.
Following Jesus does not change
a person’s cultural background, legal
status or gender, but Baptism gives
new meaning to all those distinctions.
Jesus offers radical equality.
Paul had faith in a new world
order where everything was turned
upside down. In this new religion,
what counts is recognizing that
believers are “all one in Christ Jesus.”
We are still coming to terms with
how radical and how demanding
this “new” religion is.
Barbara Beckwith is the managing editor of this
publication. |
