“One day on my way to Damascus, armed as always with papers from the high priests authorizing my action, right in the middle of the day a blaze of light, light outshining the sun, poured out of the sky on me and my companions. Oh, King, it was so bright! We fell flat on our faces. Then I heard a voice in Hebrew: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me? Why do you insist on going against the grain?’

15-16 “I said, ‘Who are you, Master?’

“The voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down like an animal. But now, up on your feet—I have a job for you. I’ve handpicked you to be a servant and witness to what’s happened today, and to what I am going to show you.

17-18 “‘I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.’ (The Message)

How surreal must it have been for Saul of Tarsus to be having a conversation with the very Jesus he had been persecuting in going after His people. (He has described himself in verse 11 as ”a one-man terror obsessed with obliterating these people.”) Yet, the One who would now be his ”Master” had a special assignment for him. But before getting up on his feet to fulfil his calling, he first found himself flat on his face. This is where authentic Christian service begins, metaphorically if not literally. (It is also in this same spirit that it continues): with our lives laid down at the feet of the Master, Jesus. Everything else that is good in our varied ministries, whatever they may be, flows from this posture.

I notice that the Lord Jesus spoke with Saul in a language he could understand. This is a basic principle of effective evangelism. We have to communicate, not just talk. As someone said, there exists between the church and the world a ‘stained-glass barrier’, and we have to crash through that barrier and get our message across.