Saul on the Road to Damascus: A Light from Heaven

Saul of Tarsus — Roman citizen, Pharisee, student of the rabbi Gamaliel, zealous persecutor of the new movement following Jesus — breathes threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He goes to the high priest and requests letters of authority to travel to Damascus and bring back any followers of the Way, men and women, bound to Jerusalem.

He is nearing Damascus when suddenly a light from heaven flashes around him. He falls to the ground and hears a voice: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? He asks: who are you, Lord? The answer: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Get up, go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. The men traveling with him are speechless — they heard the sound but saw nothing. Saul gets up from the ground, opens his eyes, and sees nothing. He is blind. They lead him by the hand into Damascus. Three days he neither eats nor drinks.

In Damascus there is a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord speaks to him in a vision: go to the street called Straight, to the house of Judas, ask for a man named Saul. He is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come and lay hands on him to restore his sight. Ananias objects: he has heard about this man, how much evil he has done. The Lord answers: Go, for he is an instrument I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.

Ananias goes. He lays his hands on Saul: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately something like scales falls from Saul's eyes, and he can see again. He is baptized. He eats and regains his strength.

The persecutor becomes the proclaimer. Paul's conversion is the hinge moment of the New Testament's second half and, arguably, of Western history. His letters — written before the Gospels were composed — are the earliest documents of Christianity.