Saul of Tarsus goes off in rage to root out the followers of the upstart Jesus and encounters the sacred in unexpected ways. It may have been Caputo who said that falling off a horse can sometimes be a mark of progress, this is certainly the case with Saul. What's interesting to me is that his encounter initially results in darkness not light. For three days he sits in complete blindness(his rage had already blinded him anyway, so in some sense it is an outward symbolism of the internal), not eating or drinking, suddenly changed from the fire-breathing persecutor to a man who must be led by the hand. It's his darkness, his false desire and drive have brought him face to face with what he wants but he cannot see it and must live with his own blackness before the scales can be lifted. The three days often get linked to the three days between the cross and resurrection, but I think it is bigger than that--that it is about coming to the real, the substantial, the essential if you will.
After all this saul gets a new name-Paul-which means small or humble-the big man has become the small man, but now he can see and he moves in the same direction but with renewed purpose, not to extinguish this fire but to fan its flames. He also lives in weakness the rest of his days, thereby providing philosophers and theologians with a hook to hang weak theology upon
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