Jesus' Intervention

In today’s first reading, Acts 9: 1-20,  Saul is on his way to Damascus to arrest men and women who are followers of Jesus. He has, in fact, been authorized by the high priest to bring people back to Jerusalem “in chains.”  On the way, Jesus confronts him:  “Saul, why are you persecuting me”?  Saul, startled, no doubt, asks the question: “Who are you, sir?” “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Imagine, in the middle of a conversation when you and I are attacking another person, speaking ill of someone, or even thinking evil of another, we suddenly, hear a voice saying: “Why are you persecuting me?”  Or, imagine a criminal in the act of critically harming or killing another person, or a parent arranging to kill the child in her womb, hearing a voice saying: “Why are you attacking me, arranging to kill me or planning evil against me?”  “What,” the person asks, “who are you?”  “I am Jesus, whom you are planning to kill, against whom you are enacting evil deeds and thoughts.  Get up and go to your parish or go home to your family  or see your spiritual director/mentor and you will be told what to do in my name. I have chosen you to right the wrongs you were contemplating and to become a staunch follower  and proclaimer of the Gospel, giving witness on a daily basis to my death and resurrection as the Son of God."