Proper 19
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle C
The Church Year Theological Clue
Depending on the lectionary cycle followed and the calendar year the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost may be known and celebrated, in much of the Christian church as World-wide Communion Sunday. Most of the denominations of Christendom will be participating in the sacrament of holy communion on that Sunday, regardless of the other occasions on which the sacrament is observed. Actually, every Sunday is a worldwide communion Sunday; every Sunday calls for the celebration of the meal at which the risen Lord is present as the Host. Sunday was established as the primary day to remember the resurrection of the Lord early in the history of the church; it actually preceded the celebration of Easter and, of course, the great 50 days of Easter. One reason for this is that the Lord rose from the dead on the first day of the week, which became known as the Lord's Day; later, and according to the Roman system of naming the days of the week after their gods, it acquired the name of Sunday, replacing the Jewish system of numbering the first six days of the week and naming the seventh the Sabbath. Another reason for selecting Sunday as the occasion for worship and the eucharist was that the Lord's first appearances to the disciples were on Sundays, thus Sunday came to have special significance for the Christian community, in this regard. Sunday became a special day, the day of new creation, an eighth day (the Ogdoad), a day that differed from the Sabbath rather radically; the Sabbath was a day of rest, but Christians had to work on Sundays until the Edict of Constantine in the fourth century. No one became a martyr in an attempt to change Sunday into a day of rest; it evolved naturally as the day to tell the good news, the gospel of the Lord, and remember his death and resurrection - and presence - in the community that awaits his final return.
It may well be said, therefore, that setting this Sunday aside as Worldwide Communion Sunday does not give special significance to this Sunday, but rather that this Sunday is being observed as every Sunday ought to be, with the proclamation of the gospel and participation in the Eucharist. Every Sunday is more than a "worship occasion," as it is sometimes called; it is a special occasion for remembering the resurrection, giving thanks to God for Christ's victory over sin and death, and encountering the risen Lord at his table and in the meal he has prepared for his church. (For more on this, see Adrian Nocent's "The Lord's Day: A Theology of Sunday" in his The Liturgical Year, Volume 4.)
In some parishes, October 4th will be the occasion for a commemoration of St. Francis of Assisi; this is "his" day, highlighting his love, devotion, and care of all creatures and creation itself. Propers, including pericopes, are provided in most liturgical churches for this celebration of God's grace active in a devout and humble disciple of Jesus Christ.
The Prayer Of The Day
The classic (Gelasian) collect for this Sunday picks up the idea that the Christians, who worship in Sunday, must be given to "good works" every day of their lives, as was St. Francis of Assisi: "Lord, we pray thee, that thy grace may always go before and follow after us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen."
The petition in the Prayer of the Day in The Lutheran Book Of Worship emphasizes the eschatological dimension of the gospel: "O God, you show your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity. Grant us the fullness of your grace, that, pursuing what you have promised, we may share your heavenly glory; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 51:1-2, 10-11, 15, 17 (RC); 51:1-18 (E, L); (1-11) (E) - This is the classic description and prayer of repentance in the Old Testament and has always been interpreted Christologically in the New Testament Church. In many of the Ash Wednesday liturgies, it is the psalm of repentance that is sung at the very beginning of Lent; it is also used on several other occasions during the three-year cycle of the church year. It points to the longer gospel for the Day of the Roman Catholic ORDO, which includes "the Parable of the Prodigal Son," which Helmut Thielicke calls, "the Parable of the Loving Father" (see his volume of sermons, The Waiting Father). The wayward son of the "loving father" comes to his senses, assesses his situation, and in desperation returns home and shows genuine remorse and contrition for his sin. The words of the Psalmist found expression in his soul and might have inspired him to return to his father's house so that, in effect, he prayed:
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your loving kindness;
in your great compassion
blot out my offenses.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight.
The Psalmist, and those who pray this psalm, take their petitions to the very throne of God:
Purge me from my sin,
and I shall be pure;
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
Later, he adds,
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Deliver me from death, O God,
and my tongue shall sing
of your righteousness,
O God of my salvation.
Psalm prayer (51 - LB W) - "Almighty and merciful Father, you freely forgive those who, as David of old, acknowledge and confess their sins. Create in us pure hearts, and wash away all our sins in the blood of your dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Readings
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 (RC); 32:1, 7-14 (E); 32:7-14 (L) - Here is one of the better known stories of the Old Testament, stemming from the wilderness experience of God's "exodus people;" they made a golden calf while Moses was on the mountain in dialogue with God. Moses had stayed on Mt. Sinai for too long a time, and the people of Israel fearing that he would not be back, persuaded Aaron to fashion the "molten calf." Aaron was a willing participant in the disobedience of the people, whom God had commanded not to make or worship any graven images. The result of this action was that God planned to punish Aaron and all of the people for their sinful actions, but was talked out of it by Moses. Moses saved the people from a terrible fate by intervening with God on their behalf. He was the mediator, who prefigured the Christ who spoke on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Albeit, he was not nailed to a tree when he asked God to forgive the people of Israel.) And God did as Moses asked; he forgave the people who had made the golden calf and allowed them to continue their 40-year journey to the land he had promised to them through their fathers.
Hosea 4:1-3; 5:15--6:6 (C) - The beginning of this reading has a thoroughly contemporary ring to it; the people of Israel are out of control, committing every sin in the books, totally ignoring the law and commandments of God as they do what they please. Their rulers are also unworthy sinners, and their priests act as though they were emissaries of Satan rather than servants of the Lord God of Israel. But they all continue to go through the motions, offering the sacrifices that should make them acceptable to God. God will not receive their sacrifices because their lives reflect their love of self and the world. And so, the prophet gives that familiar maxim to the people, as he speaks in the name of God, "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings." All of this had to culminate in the supreme sacrifice - Jesus' death on the cross - which made all other sacrifices unnecessary and invalid, because this, the perfect sacrifice, was acceptable to God; it evokes the "steadfast love," of which Hosea spoke, in the hearts of the faithful. God accepts the sacrifices of broken and loving hearts.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 (RC, E, L, C) - Paul could write and preach about the mercy and grace of God that "overflowed for me," because he had experienced it first-hand in his encounter with the risen Lord. He recognized that his persecution of the Christians made him the "chief of sinners," totally unworthy of claiming the love of Christ for himself, but he also was aware of the real nature of the God who loves people, forgives their most heinous sins, and claims them for himself once again in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Because he had experienced the "perfect patience" of Jesus Christ and had come to love him as Lord, Paul was ready and able to give the "immortal, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever and ever."
Luke 15:1-10 (E, L, C - RC, short form); 15:1-32 (RC, long form) - The longer form of this Gospel for the Day (15: 1-3, 11-32) was assigned to the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year/Cycle C, and comments and a sermon suggestion may be located in the materials for that Sunday. The "short form," which contains the so-called "twin-parables" of the lost sheep and the lost coin stops short of the parable of the prodigal son (or the "loving and forgiving father), but it illustrates how much God loves his people and how far he will go to save them from sin and death. Here is another form of John's "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" to seek and to save the lost. The cross is the eternal symbol of God's seeking/saving action on the part of God; everywhere it is seen, it tells people how much God loves them and what he has done, and is doing, to find them and deliver them from death and the devil. This is part of the message that Jesus wanted to convey to the Pharisees, who "watched him," apparently at a dinner where he was a guest. The parable of the father and his two sons, when seen in this context, highlights the joy of the heavenly Father over the return of penitent sinners to the fold through his continuing mercy and grace in Christ.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
Luke 15:1-10 (RC, E, L, C); 15:1-3, 11-32 (RC - long form) - "A Shepherd's Crook - The Savior's Cross." - As I was working through this incident, in which Jesus reacts to the hostility of the Pharisees by telling three - possibly four (some scholars think that the parable of the prodigal son was two parables originally) - parables, I happened to look at the water-color that a former student, now pastor, Ron Bock, gave to me; it is of a shepherd surrounded by his sheep, who is gazing at a bright star in the night sky. It is a Christmas scene, of course, but what struck me is how the shepherd towers over the sheep, and how prominent his shepherd's crook is in the painting; he seems almost to be reaching for that star, as though to capture it for himself. He prefigures the One who came to be known as the Good Shepherd, who doesn't have to be wrested from heaven and the right hand of God, but came as a human being to seek and to save the lost. The size of that shepherd reminded me that many of the olive wood carvings of the Good Shepherd, with a sheep draped around his shoulders, are often larger than the other wood figures in many of the nativity creches made and sold in Israel.
1. The good news of the gospel is that, in Jesus, God reveals that he loves his sinful people so much that he actively seeks them in Jesus Christ. He really loves those who get lost through their willfulness and sin. Although we are sinners, each of us is really worth something to God. (As the lost coin is to the woman in the second parable.)
2. But we truly are "lost sheep" - "All we, like sheep, have gone astray." We can't get back into God's fold by ourselves; there is no chance of that happening. Left to our own destiny, we are doomed to death and the. domain of the devil, because we are constantly trying to get away from God. Don't we even resist being found by God? Don't we always - too much of the time, at least - seem to be running away from Christ?
3. A cross replaces the crook of the shepherd as the sign of God's love and his continuing effort to seek and bring the lost "sheep" to himself. That cross always reminds us of the depth of God's love for the world, as his love is revealed and made active in Jesus Christ. That cross tells us how much God wants us for himself. It is our invitation to turn to Jesus and receive his loving embrace.
4. All we can do is allow ourselves to be found by Jesus Christ our Lord and to respond to the good news that he loves us, died for us, and as the living Lord is still the Good Shepherd, who will seek his sheep until the end of the age.
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 (RC); 32:1, 7-14 (E); 32:7-14 (L) - "The Golden Calf And The Bloody Cross"
1. Whenever people attempt to live without paying attention to the Word of God, they get into trouble and sin against God.
2. Human beings really do deserve whatever they receive as sinners; we are responsible for our actions, for the "golden calves" we make and worship in our world.
3. But there is one who, like Moses, went up and came down from the mountain, climbed a little hill - Calvary - and died on a bloody cross. He - Jesus - rose up from the grave to intercede for us with his heavenly Father.
4. So, we put our trust in Christ and the bloody cross. He can always be trusted to deliver us from God's wrath and his punishment. He finds us and welcomes us home, so that we can live by his love, grace, and mercy.
Hosea 4:1-3; 5:15--6:6 (C) - "A Call To Sinners."
1. Hosea paints a word-picture of how people live in much of the world today: "There is no faithfulness or kindness, and no knowledge of God in the land, there is swearing, lying, killing, and committing adultery, they break all bonds and murder follows murder." The media paints a similar picture every hour of every day.
2. The judgment of God always hangs over our heads, over contemporary culture and society, but the mercy of God is everlasting, too - the cross of Jesus Christ reminds us of that!
3. And so, as Hosea suggests, God patiently waits for his people to repent and say, "Come, let us return to the Lord ..." He will receive us and "revive us" so that we might live with him forever."
4. He even comes to meet us, not simply as "the spring rains that water the earth," but in the saving grace of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross to cleanse the entire world of its sin and make it - us - pure again.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 (RC, E, L, C) - "The Transformation."
1. People who knew Paul must have thought he had lost his mind when he gave up the persecution of the Christians and became one himself. That leaves us out, doesn't it? We never persecuted the church of Christ, have we?
2. Actually, Paul lost his heart and soul, not his mind, to Christ, who came to him in a vision and claimed him for himself. That's why there was the transformation from the "foremost of sinners" to prominent disciple of the lord.
3. We may be more difficult for God to deal with and reach than Paul was, because we tend to be lukewarm, even ambivalent, to Christ and his church. The result is that we don't really engage in the work of Christ as we should.
4. But God doesn't give up on us, any more than he gave up on Paul. And he continues to call us to Christ so that he can make us his own people again and transform us into loving and profitable servants and witnesses to the gospel.
Depending on the lectionary cycle followed and the calendar year the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost may be known and celebrated, in much of the Christian church as World-wide Communion Sunday. Most of the denominations of Christendom will be participating in the sacrament of holy communion on that Sunday, regardless of the other occasions on which the sacrament is observed. Actually, every Sunday is a worldwide communion Sunday; every Sunday calls for the celebration of the meal at which the risen Lord is present as the Host. Sunday was established as the primary day to remember the resurrection of the Lord early in the history of the church; it actually preceded the celebration of Easter and, of course, the great 50 days of Easter. One reason for this is that the Lord rose from the dead on the first day of the week, which became known as the Lord's Day; later, and according to the Roman system of naming the days of the week after their gods, it acquired the name of Sunday, replacing the Jewish system of numbering the first six days of the week and naming the seventh the Sabbath. Another reason for selecting Sunday as the occasion for worship and the eucharist was that the Lord's first appearances to the disciples were on Sundays, thus Sunday came to have special significance for the Christian community, in this regard. Sunday became a special day, the day of new creation, an eighth day (the Ogdoad), a day that differed from the Sabbath rather radically; the Sabbath was a day of rest, but Christians had to work on Sundays until the Edict of Constantine in the fourth century. No one became a martyr in an attempt to change Sunday into a day of rest; it evolved naturally as the day to tell the good news, the gospel of the Lord, and remember his death and resurrection - and presence - in the community that awaits his final return.
It may well be said, therefore, that setting this Sunday aside as Worldwide Communion Sunday does not give special significance to this Sunday, but rather that this Sunday is being observed as every Sunday ought to be, with the proclamation of the gospel and participation in the Eucharist. Every Sunday is more than a "worship occasion," as it is sometimes called; it is a special occasion for remembering the resurrection, giving thanks to God for Christ's victory over sin and death, and encountering the risen Lord at his table and in the meal he has prepared for his church. (For more on this, see Adrian Nocent's "The Lord's Day: A Theology of Sunday" in his The Liturgical Year, Volume 4.)
In some parishes, October 4th will be the occasion for a commemoration of St. Francis of Assisi; this is "his" day, highlighting his love, devotion, and care of all creatures and creation itself. Propers, including pericopes, are provided in most liturgical churches for this celebration of God's grace active in a devout and humble disciple of Jesus Christ.
The Prayer Of The Day
The classic (Gelasian) collect for this Sunday picks up the idea that the Christians, who worship in Sunday, must be given to "good works" every day of their lives, as was St. Francis of Assisi: "Lord, we pray thee, that thy grace may always go before and follow after us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen."
The petition in the Prayer of the Day in The Lutheran Book Of Worship emphasizes the eschatological dimension of the gospel: "O God, you show your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity. Grant us the fullness of your grace, that, pursuing what you have promised, we may share your heavenly glory; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 51:1-2, 10-11, 15, 17 (RC); 51:1-18 (E, L); (1-11) (E) - This is the classic description and prayer of repentance in the Old Testament and has always been interpreted Christologically in the New Testament Church. In many of the Ash Wednesday liturgies, it is the psalm of repentance that is sung at the very beginning of Lent; it is also used on several other occasions during the three-year cycle of the church year. It points to the longer gospel for the Day of the Roman Catholic ORDO, which includes "the Parable of the Prodigal Son," which Helmut Thielicke calls, "the Parable of the Loving Father" (see his volume of sermons, The Waiting Father). The wayward son of the "loving father" comes to his senses, assesses his situation, and in desperation returns home and shows genuine remorse and contrition for his sin. The words of the Psalmist found expression in his soul and might have inspired him to return to his father's house so that, in effect, he prayed:
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your loving kindness;
in your great compassion
blot out my offenses.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight.
The Psalmist, and those who pray this psalm, take their petitions to the very throne of God:
Purge me from my sin,
and I shall be pure;
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
Later, he adds,
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Deliver me from death, O God,
and my tongue shall sing
of your righteousness,
O God of my salvation.
Psalm prayer (51 - LB W) - "Almighty and merciful Father, you freely forgive those who, as David of old, acknowledge and confess their sins. Create in us pure hearts, and wash away all our sins in the blood of your dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Readings
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 (RC); 32:1, 7-14 (E); 32:7-14 (L) - Here is one of the better known stories of the Old Testament, stemming from the wilderness experience of God's "exodus people;" they made a golden calf while Moses was on the mountain in dialogue with God. Moses had stayed on Mt. Sinai for too long a time, and the people of Israel fearing that he would not be back, persuaded Aaron to fashion the "molten calf." Aaron was a willing participant in the disobedience of the people, whom God had commanded not to make or worship any graven images. The result of this action was that God planned to punish Aaron and all of the people for their sinful actions, but was talked out of it by Moses. Moses saved the people from a terrible fate by intervening with God on their behalf. He was the mediator, who prefigured the Christ who spoke on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Albeit, he was not nailed to a tree when he asked God to forgive the people of Israel.) And God did as Moses asked; he forgave the people who had made the golden calf and allowed them to continue their 40-year journey to the land he had promised to them through their fathers.
Hosea 4:1-3; 5:15--6:6 (C) - The beginning of this reading has a thoroughly contemporary ring to it; the people of Israel are out of control, committing every sin in the books, totally ignoring the law and commandments of God as they do what they please. Their rulers are also unworthy sinners, and their priests act as though they were emissaries of Satan rather than servants of the Lord God of Israel. But they all continue to go through the motions, offering the sacrifices that should make them acceptable to God. God will not receive their sacrifices because their lives reflect their love of self and the world. And so, the prophet gives that familiar maxim to the people, as he speaks in the name of God, "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings." All of this had to culminate in the supreme sacrifice - Jesus' death on the cross - which made all other sacrifices unnecessary and invalid, because this, the perfect sacrifice, was acceptable to God; it evokes the "steadfast love," of which Hosea spoke, in the hearts of the faithful. God accepts the sacrifices of broken and loving hearts.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 (RC, E, L, C) - Paul could write and preach about the mercy and grace of God that "overflowed for me," because he had experienced it first-hand in his encounter with the risen Lord. He recognized that his persecution of the Christians made him the "chief of sinners," totally unworthy of claiming the love of Christ for himself, but he also was aware of the real nature of the God who loves people, forgives their most heinous sins, and claims them for himself once again in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Because he had experienced the "perfect patience" of Jesus Christ and had come to love him as Lord, Paul was ready and able to give the "immortal, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever and ever."
Luke 15:1-10 (E, L, C - RC, short form); 15:1-32 (RC, long form) - The longer form of this Gospel for the Day (15: 1-3, 11-32) was assigned to the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year/Cycle C, and comments and a sermon suggestion may be located in the materials for that Sunday. The "short form," which contains the so-called "twin-parables" of the lost sheep and the lost coin stops short of the parable of the prodigal son (or the "loving and forgiving father), but it illustrates how much God loves his people and how far he will go to save them from sin and death. Here is another form of John's "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" to seek and to save the lost. The cross is the eternal symbol of God's seeking/saving action on the part of God; everywhere it is seen, it tells people how much God loves them and what he has done, and is doing, to find them and deliver them from death and the devil. This is part of the message that Jesus wanted to convey to the Pharisees, who "watched him," apparently at a dinner where he was a guest. The parable of the father and his two sons, when seen in this context, highlights the joy of the heavenly Father over the return of penitent sinners to the fold through his continuing mercy and grace in Christ.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
Luke 15:1-10 (RC, E, L, C); 15:1-3, 11-32 (RC - long form) - "A Shepherd's Crook - The Savior's Cross." - As I was working through this incident, in which Jesus reacts to the hostility of the Pharisees by telling three - possibly four (some scholars think that the parable of the prodigal son was two parables originally) - parables, I happened to look at the water-color that a former student, now pastor, Ron Bock, gave to me; it is of a shepherd surrounded by his sheep, who is gazing at a bright star in the night sky. It is a Christmas scene, of course, but what struck me is how the shepherd towers over the sheep, and how prominent his shepherd's crook is in the painting; he seems almost to be reaching for that star, as though to capture it for himself. He prefigures the One who came to be known as the Good Shepherd, who doesn't have to be wrested from heaven and the right hand of God, but came as a human being to seek and to save the lost. The size of that shepherd reminded me that many of the olive wood carvings of the Good Shepherd, with a sheep draped around his shoulders, are often larger than the other wood figures in many of the nativity creches made and sold in Israel.
1. The good news of the gospel is that, in Jesus, God reveals that he loves his sinful people so much that he actively seeks them in Jesus Christ. He really loves those who get lost through their willfulness and sin. Although we are sinners, each of us is really worth something to God. (As the lost coin is to the woman in the second parable.)
2. But we truly are "lost sheep" - "All we, like sheep, have gone astray." We can't get back into God's fold by ourselves; there is no chance of that happening. Left to our own destiny, we are doomed to death and the. domain of the devil, because we are constantly trying to get away from God. Don't we even resist being found by God? Don't we always - too much of the time, at least - seem to be running away from Christ?
3. A cross replaces the crook of the shepherd as the sign of God's love and his continuing effort to seek and bring the lost "sheep" to himself. That cross always reminds us of the depth of God's love for the world, as his love is revealed and made active in Jesus Christ. That cross tells us how much God wants us for himself. It is our invitation to turn to Jesus and receive his loving embrace.
4. All we can do is allow ourselves to be found by Jesus Christ our Lord and to respond to the good news that he loves us, died for us, and as the living Lord is still the Good Shepherd, who will seek his sheep until the end of the age.
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 (RC); 32:1, 7-14 (E); 32:7-14 (L) - "The Golden Calf And The Bloody Cross"
1. Whenever people attempt to live without paying attention to the Word of God, they get into trouble and sin against God.
2. Human beings really do deserve whatever they receive as sinners; we are responsible for our actions, for the "golden calves" we make and worship in our world.
3. But there is one who, like Moses, went up and came down from the mountain, climbed a little hill - Calvary - and died on a bloody cross. He - Jesus - rose up from the grave to intercede for us with his heavenly Father.
4. So, we put our trust in Christ and the bloody cross. He can always be trusted to deliver us from God's wrath and his punishment. He finds us and welcomes us home, so that we can live by his love, grace, and mercy.
Hosea 4:1-3; 5:15--6:6 (C) - "A Call To Sinners."
1. Hosea paints a word-picture of how people live in much of the world today: "There is no faithfulness or kindness, and no knowledge of God in the land, there is swearing, lying, killing, and committing adultery, they break all bonds and murder follows murder." The media paints a similar picture every hour of every day.
2. The judgment of God always hangs over our heads, over contemporary culture and society, but the mercy of God is everlasting, too - the cross of Jesus Christ reminds us of that!
3. And so, as Hosea suggests, God patiently waits for his people to repent and say, "Come, let us return to the Lord ..." He will receive us and "revive us" so that we might live with him forever."
4. He even comes to meet us, not simply as "the spring rains that water the earth," but in the saving grace of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross to cleanse the entire world of its sin and make it - us - pure again.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 (RC, E, L, C) - "The Transformation."
1. People who knew Paul must have thought he had lost his mind when he gave up the persecution of the Christians and became one himself. That leaves us out, doesn't it? We never persecuted the church of Christ, have we?
2. Actually, Paul lost his heart and soul, not his mind, to Christ, who came to him in a vision and claimed him for himself. That's why there was the transformation from the "foremost of sinners" to prominent disciple of the lord.
3. We may be more difficult for God to deal with and reach than Paul was, because we tend to be lukewarm, even ambivalent, to Christ and his church. The result is that we don't really engage in the work of Christ as we should.
4. But God doesn't give up on us, any more than he gave up on Paul. And he continues to call us to Christ so that he can make us his own people again and transform us into loving and profitable servants and witnesses to the gospel.
