Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God: Difference between revisions
→Friday, Nov 8: Saint Paul & the Living Christ
| Line 33: | Line 33: | ||
So much to discuss in Paul, and so many directions and diversions. | So much to discuss in Paul, and so many directions and diversions. | ||
Instead, let's focus on "why Paul?" | Instead, let's focus on "why Paul?" | ||
In [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1timothy/1?12 1Tim 1:12-16], Paul himself tells us why he was chosen by the Lord:<blockquote> | |||
I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry. | |||
I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. | |||
Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. | |||
This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. </blockquote>So he's an example of God's mercy, with the qualification being that he was the "foremost" sinner. But he does not tell us about his qualifications | |||
He's talking for Israel there, and for all of us. | |||
Paul is the perfect Apostle for the mission Christ embarks him upon, to spread the Good News to the Gentiles: | Paul is the perfect Apostle for the mission Christ embarks him upon, to spread the Good News to the Gentiles: | ||
| Line 45: | Line 58: | ||
Thus, Paul was the perfect vehicle for Christ! | Thus, Paul was the perfect vehicle for Christ! | ||
I have an additional question, though: did Paul see or even meet Jesus before the Crucifixion? We know he knew about him, as the Disciples on the Road to Emmaus tell the stranger they meet, | Of course he didn't brag here -- that he does in 1 Cor 11 (bragging that he doesn't brag...), | ||
----I have an additional question, though: did Paul see or even meet Jesus before the Crucifixion? We know he knew about him, as the Disciples on the Road to Emmaus tell the stranger they meet,<blockquote>“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?”([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/24?18 Lk 24:18]) </blockquote>This site says he did: I like to think that Paul not only saw Jesus, but was one of the "scribes and Pharisees" who brought the adulteress to Jesus for stoning ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/8?1 Jn 8:1]) -- of course there's no evidence for it, but it'd be consistent with Paul's attitude. Imagine were he the last of the group to walk away!" If so, it might also give us a clue as to what Jesus wrote on the ground ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/8?8 Jn 8:8]) I always thought he was playing tic-tac-toe, with the final "scratch" as they walked away in shame, but maybe it was a note to Paul, "''See you on the road to Damascus!''" :) | |||
Here for websites on this question: | Here for websites on this question: | ||