Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God: Difference between revisions
→Friday, Nov 8: Saint Paul & the Living Christ
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Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. | 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 | 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 other qualifications for the job. | ||
Using the notion of "contingency," which means in this sense "alternatives" or "options", we can see how 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: | |||
* Pharisee, learned under Gamaliel | * Pharisee, learned under Gamaliel | ||
* Persecuted Christians | * Persecuted Christians | ||
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* Speaks Greek and Hebrew | * Speaks Greek and Hebrew | ||
* Roman citizen | * Roman citizen | ||
Thus, Paul was the perfect vehicle for Christ -- all those characteristics of Paul were essential to his mission. | |||
* | |||
But he needed a few more qualifications, things about his character: | |||
*First of all, he was very, very smart. | |||
**see [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2peter/3?15 2 Pt 3:15-16] on how Paul is "hard to understand" | |||
* He was enormously patient: | |||
** [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/colossians/3:12 Col 3:12] he calls for "patience" from believers | |||
** his letters are full of admonitions, but with patience and encouragement | |||
** see [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2corinthians/2:4 2 Cor 2:4]: | |||
<blockquote>"For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you might be pained but that you might know the abundant love I have for you."</blockquote> | |||
* Finally, he he had very high pain tolerance! | |||
** see [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2corinthians/11:30 2 Cor 11:30-33] for Paul's "boasts" and "labors" (listed [[Saint Paul#2 Cor 11: Paul’s Boast: His Labors|here in our page on Saint Paul]]) | |||
----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!''" :) | ----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!''" :) | ||