Saul was a man who genuinely believed he was right, and we all know someone like that, don't we?
He wasn't persecuting Christians because he thought he was doing something wrong. He believed they were following a false gospel, a false Messiah, and a dangerous way, so he went after them. He dragged men and women from their homes, imprisoned them, and did everything he could to stop those who followed Jesus, the people of “the Way.”
And then Jesus met him on his way.
It wasn't because Saul was searching for Him. Jesus met Saul while he was on his way to hurt His people.
A light from heaven surrounded him, and Saul fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice:
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
Jesus didn't say, “Why are you persecuting My followers?”
He said, “Why are you persecuting Me?”
Saul thought he was attacking people who were wrong. Jesus showed him that when he was hurting His people, he was actually coming against Him.
And suddenly, the man who thought he could see everything was blinded.
For three days Saul couldn't see, eat, or drink. This man who had been so confident in what he knew now had to sit and wait, completely dependent upon someone else coming to him with a word from God.
And when Ananias came, he laid his hands on Saul and called him brother.
Think about that.
Ananias knew exactly who Saul was. He knew what he had done, and he even questioned the Lord about going to him because he had heard what this man had done to God's people. Yet Jesus sent him anyway.
When the scales fell from Saul's eyes, he could see again, but something far greater than his physical sight had changed.
He could finally see Jesus.
The man determined to silence the followers of Jesus became one of the very men proclaiming Him. The persecutor became the preacher. The man who had dragged believers into prison became the man encouraging believers not to lose heart when persecution came.
That is the part of Saul's story that gets me every time.
Because if Jesus could reach Saul, who are we to decide that someone else is too far gone?
We see the anger and hatred toward Christians. We see persecution happening in Nigeria and in other places where followers of the Way are still being hurt and killed because they follow Jesus. We hear people speak about Christ with hatred and about Paul with such disdain. I have listened to anti-missionaries explain why they believe Paul was dangerous, and I recently heard one in Israel say that “Christians sharing the message of Jesus is a dangerous thing.”
I remember thinking, Dangerous?
Our Lord came in the flesh and willingly entered our world, knowing exactly what it would cost Him, because He loved us. The message He gave us is a message that transforms people. It takes someone who once wanted to harm others and gives them a new heart that learns to love.
Saul is proof of that.
The person who once hated can learn to love. The person who once destroyed can become someone who builds. The person who once persecuted Jesus can give his entire life to proclaiming Him.
That is not a dangerous message. That is the gospel.
And when I hear people speak this way, I don't want to simply become angry with them. I find myself praying for them. I pray that their eyes would be opened just as Saul's eyes were opened, that they would be given ears to hear and hearts willing to receive what they have rejected.
Because Saul probably looked like there was no way too.
Jesus had not just heard what Saul was doing.
He saw it.
He is the God who sees all things, and when Saul attacked the disciples, Jesus made it clear that their suffering mattered personally to Him: “Why are you persecuting Me?”
That brings me back to Jesus' prayer in John 17, when He prayed that His people would be one, just as He and the Father are one. What happens to His people matters to Jesus.
It's like if someone attacked me today, my husband wouldn't look at it as though someone had simply attacked a random person he happened to know. He would take it personally because he loves me and because we belong to one another.
Jesus knew exactly where Saul was going, what was in his heart, and what he intended to do with his life.
And Jesus didn't simply change Saul's behavior.
He changed his direction.
He took the passion Saul had once used against Christ and redirected that same passion toward proclaiming Christ.
And that gives me so much hope, because the same God who met Saul on the road, opened his eyes, and gave him new direction is the same God who met me on my way and gave me new direction, new purpose, and new life.
That new direction didn't mean Saul's life would be easy. It included suffering.
And suffering wasn't something new for the people of the Way. From the earliest believers to those persecuted throughout the centuries, God's people have endured things we can hardly imagine.
Jesus Himself warned us that the enemy would rage against God's people:
“Woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great fury, because he knows that his time is short!”
And yet the gospel continues.
The Way continues.
Jesus continues building His Church.
Maybe you're reading this and you were once terrible to other people because your own heart was hard. Maybe you lived in anger, selfishness, pride, rebellion, or simply didn't care about the things of God. And then one day, the Spirit of God moved you to hear and believe the gospel of Jesus, and your life was radically changed.
The same Lord who opened Saul's eyes opened yours.
And He is still able to open eyes today.
So maybe there is someone you've already written off.
Maybe there is someone who has hurt you, mocked your faith, rejected Christ, or even hurt His people. I don't know what God will do with that person.
But I know this:
Saul was on his way to persecute Jesus' people when Jesus stopped him.
If Jesus could stop Saul, maybe we should stop deciding who is beyond His reach.
Instead, let's watch and pray as God continues to work. We don't know what Jesus may be doing on someone else's road, what He may be saying to a heart we have already judged as unreachable, or what direction He may be preparing to change.
If you walk away with anything from this post, I hope it will be remembering these words of Jesus:
“A new command I give you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
If you love Him, you will keep His command.
We don't have to know what God is going to do with someone before we choose to love them. We don't have to approve of what someone believes or what they have done in order to pray for them. And we don't have to call someone unreachable when Jesus has already shown us what He can do with a Saul.
Our job is not to decide who is worthy of His mercy.
Our job is to love as He loved us, to pray, to watch, and to trust the One who is still able to open blind eyes and change hardened hearts.
Nothing is impossible with God.
Not even a Saul.
🖤