In the synagogue

"Saul stayed a few days with the disciples who were in Damascus and immediately began to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All who heard him were stunned and said : Is not this the man who persecuted in Jerusalem those who called on that name and did not come here to arrest them and lead them before the chief priests ?" (Acts 9: 19-21). Saul was on the road to Damascus to bind those who believed in the Lord. But he met the Lord en route and the Lord spoke to him. As the light appeared, he fell on his face and became blind.

The men who traveled with him guided him by the hand and led him to Damascus. He remained there three days without seeing, eating, or drinking. The Lord sent Ananias to lay his hands on him, and Paul regained his sight, got up and was baptized. After he had eaten, he was strengthened.

A few days later, he went directly to the synagogues to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God and to testify to others. It was obviously difficult for him to do this because he persecuted the disciples of the Lord. He may have been a member of the Sanhedrin. The Jewish Sanhedrin consisted of 71 people and he was perhaps one of them. He had a sealed letter from the high priest and was on the way to bind those who believed in the Lord and to lead them to the high priest.

What should he do now that he believed in the Lord ? Initially, he made bind those who believed in the Lord. Now he himself was in danger of being bound. Humanly speaking, he should have run away or hid. But instead, he went, not in one synagogue, but in many, to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. This shows us that the first thing a person should do after receiving the Lord is to testify about him. After Paul recovered his sight, he took the first opportunity to testify that Jesus is the Son of God. All believers should do the same thing.

Jeremy Sourdril