Paul is the best disciple of Gamaliel who was one of the greatest teachers in Israel. Born at Tarsus, land of famous rhetoricians, Paul had a very good human formation , as his letters will testify. “As to the observance of the law, he was blameless” (Philippians 3:6), and he was persecuting the Christians “out of zeal.” He wanted to exterminate them because they were against the law and the tradition of the fathers.
In the encounter with Jesus on the way to Damascus, Paul sees that all his religiosity is nothing but rubbish if compared with the sublime knowledge of Jesus, his “Lord” (Philippians 3:1-14.8). He discovers the “precious stone”: salvation doesn’t come from the observance of the law, but from accepting God’s love for us. This difficult conversion from the law to the Gospel remains always like a “building site” for every believer of every age. Otherwise, in the name of God’s law, we kill the Human Being who is His Son. This matter is, of course, always – not only during Inquisition times.
The Cross of the Son who loves us with the very same Father’s love, discloses the great secret: God is Father/Mother of all. In Jesus, Abraham’s descent, the blessing promised to all peoples (Genesis 12:3b) is fulfilled. Abraham himself is the pattern of whoever has trust in God’s love, the beginning and the end of all. True injustice, origin of every evil, is not to believe in God’s love. Abraham is father of the just, because “he believed the Lord; and God reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
Christianity is not a religion: it doesn’t try to conquer God by keeping laws and rites. The law divides good from bad people and supposes a “power of man over man” in order to control, reward and punish. The Gospel, instead, is conscience of being beloved children of God. Hence our freedom to love God and all His children. Love, the “only God’s power,” knocks down every separation and creates communion, in mutual forgiveness and affection. “But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20).
On the Cross, the Son made Himself a curse and sin, in order to reconcile with God every accursed sinner (Galatians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Whoever forgets this will never understand why Jesus told us to love our enemies (Luke 6:27). This is His law, the law of freedom (Galatians 2:12), ripen fruit of love which is law unto itself. Love, in fact, does good to everybody and doesn’t do evil to anybody: it is “the full realization of the law (Romans 13:10).
Jesus’ words: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?,” reveal to Paul who is his Lord: He is the Crucified and Risen One who identifies with the people persecuted by Paul because of their impiety. On the Cross, God has revealed Himself: He is all and only love, love which overcomes death and give its life to all.
Paul is the model apostle: he will take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. His vocation is narrated thrice by Luke in the Acts (9:1-19a; 22:5-16; 26:9-18) and many times remembered by Paul himself (Galatians 1:12-17; Philippians 3:4b-14; 1 Corinthians 15:8; 2 Corinthians 12:2ff). These repetitions make us revisit, in different circumstances, the meaning of Paul’s call to reveal God’s mystery hidden from eternity. In Paul, the truth of the Gospel shines in all its clarity: we are all children of God and brothers and sisters amongst ourselves. His letter to the Galatians is the great hymn to love’s freedom . It is the Christian identity in specific continuity with Israel.
Saul’s conversion is the fruit of Stephen’s martyrdom. The adventure of the persecutor Saul will continue in Paul who is now persecuted because of the One he was persecuting (Cf. Acts 9:23.29). The account of his encounter with the Risen Christ helps to authenticate the throwing open of the Kingdom’s doors to all: God wants to save every human being (1 Timothy 2:4). Even today! In fact, the conversion of the pagan Cornelius will follow, or better Peter’s conversion to the pagans. Only after this conversion can we call ourselves “Christians” (Cf. Acts 11:26). © Popoli – www.popoli.info
