English Manuscript of the May 4 Sunday Sermon

Acts 9:1–9

Changing Direction

Summary

Saul was headed to persecute—but God stopped him with light and a call. His transformation wasn’t just personal—it challenged the church to accept the unthinkable. Following Jesus means turning where He leads, even when it’s uncomfortable.

1. The story of Paul when he was still Saul is well known to us. Today’s passage is the record of the event in which Saul finally becomes Paul.

2. While this is a personal conversion event for Saul, we must also think about a larger theme—acceptance—through the question: How did the believing community accept a man who had actively persecuted followers of Jesus?

3. Although I used the phrase “the large theme of acceptance,” in truth, Paul’s personal conversion is simply a personal experience. The community’s belief and acceptance are an entirely different matter.

4. The theme of accepting someone who had harmed the community is not just about tolerance—it requires sacrifice, understanding, and above all, the practice of great love that embraces pain and wounds. Accepting Saul as Paul, and even calling him Apostle Paul within the church community, must have been a major challenge.

5. In verse 2 of today’s passage, two images of Saul are condensed: threat and murder. It states that Saul is still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. The word “murderous intent” here is translated from the Greek word “thymos,” which can be understood as “rage.” This same “thymos” appeared in the shouts of the chief priests and crowds who cried out for Jesus to be crucified, and also in the words of the chief priests when Pontius Pilate hesitated to sentence Jesus to death.

6. Saul still carried that murderous rage from the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. He was extending his persecution from Jerusalem all the way to Damascus.

7. Saul’s anger expresses his inability to accept the disciples of Jesus. And this anger could also be the same emotion the disciples felt toward Saul. When anger clashes with anger, we can only imagine the terrible things that could occur.

8. The political conflicts we experience today remind me of this very clash—when anger meets anger. Different thoughts and directions always exist. No one can be exactly the same. Life is about experiencing difference and dreaming of unity despite it.

9. The church also speaks of dreaming of unity. But we must remember that this doesn’t mean everyone shares the same thoughts and feelings. Rather, it means we recognize each other’s differences while dreaming of unity in one direction.

10. When anger clashes with anger, it can lead to war. In such situations, objective judgment becomes impossible, and only emotional confrontation remains. For us, living in what is considered the most rational age, such situations can feel confusing. We live in a time that emphasizes cold, rational judgment, yet we see a system that fails to grow because of the most emotional kinds of consumption.

11. We can experience similar things in everyday life. In a marriage, the life of a couple is about recognizing each other’s differences and pursuing unity—not demanding the other conform to oneself. If one insists on such conformity, the relationship cannot be sustained.

12.  Saul was known as one of the greatest intellectuals of his time. He thought so of himsef, and others who viewed Saul likely thought the same. A Pharisee among Pharisees, a Roman citizen, the youngest member of the Sanhedrin—Saul, who was the most promising among religious leaders of his time, was charging forward into the world with intense, emotional anger.

13. In verse 2, Saul receives authorization to go to Damascus and capture “those who belong to the Way” and bring them back to Jerusalem.

14. Damascus, known today as the capital of Syria, was a Gentile land. Jews rarely traveled there, and it may have been a refuge for Jesus’ followers fleeing persecution. The passage doesn’t refer to them simply as “disciples” or “followers of Jesus” but as “those who belong to the Way.”

15. The phrase “those who belong to the Way” is translated in English Bibles as “The Way.” In the Greek original, the word is “akoloutheo,” meaning “those who walk in the same manner.” From Saul’s perspective, Jesus’ disciples were seen as “those who walk in the same manner.” This phrase came to refer to early Christians. Later, they came to be called “Christians,” meaning “those who live like Jesus and walk with Him.”

16.   The distance from Jerusalem to Damascus is about 240 kilometers, or roughly 140 miles—the distance from Orinda to around Merced or Madera. At the time, this would have been considered a long journey, and Saul embarked on this extended journey.

17. In verse 3, just as he was approaching Damascus, a bright light suddenly surrounded Saul.

18. The event of being surrounded by light appears elsewhere in the Bible, such as in the Transfiguration of Jesus and the appearance of the resurrected Christ in Revelation. Thus, this phrase alone suggests we are witnessing the moment of Saul’s transformation.

19. Immediately in verse 4, a voice speaks to Saul: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Hearing a divine voice marks pivotal moments in the Bible—when God called Abraham out of Ur, when Moses encountered the burning bush at Mount Sinai, and when Jesus was baptized.

20. The Bible portrays transformative moments through “hearing a voice from heaven.” These moments often reflect a calling—an experience of divine summons.

21. I wish I had heard such a voice when I was called to seminary, but I do not recall any. However, at a special gathering—if I remember correctly, it was a youth retreat—I felt God’s heart enter into mine, though it wasn’t a voice.

22. I imagine many of you have had similar experiences. To exaggerate a little: just as Saul was surrounded by light, I believe we are now surrounded by God’s heart in this very moment. We can call this a moment of “transformation.”

23. I remember how the community responded to my transformation. Some said congratulations, others asked, “Why all of a sudden?” A friend who had invited me to church said, “I never expected that from you,” expressing how strange the event felt.

24. 24.  In verse 5, Saul asks, “Lord, who are you?” The word “Lord” used here is “Iesous,” derived from the Hebrew word for “Jesus.” Saul must have instinctively recognized the voice as Jesus’.

25. This raises a question: Why did Saul, who came to capture followers of Jesus with threats and rage, instinctively identify the voice from this sudden mystical event as Jesus?

26. I mentioned earlier Saul’s status, but here’s something more—he was a young man so promising that he was expected to become the next high priest. Today we’d call him a “Bible scholar” or “law expert,” but he was also deeply religious and sincerely sought to work for God.

27.   Saul was experiencing something he had never encountered before in all his efforts to work for God. When people face unfamiliar events, they often respond with fear and confusion.

28. A young women person from church once came to me in tears. Every Sunday I’d pick her up early so she could play piano for the first service—she was diligent and admirable. But she told me she had been feeling down and depressed lately, and while walking down the street, someone from a cult approached him saying, “Do you know the Way?” She followed them and was told he needed to perform a ritual to remove misfortune. They demanded an amount of money too much for a student, but she withdrew it from an ATM and paid. Once she realized what had happened, she felt ashamed and came to me in tears.

29. In such indescribable moments, we sometimes search for answers from entirely wrong directions. I wonder if Saul experienced something similar.

30. Saul then receives a direct answer: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Interestingly, the word “Jesus” here is rendered as “Adam”—a Hebrew word. It can be understood as “the person you are persecuting.”

31. Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” and the answer came: “I am the one you are persecuting.”

32. This play on language makes it clear whom Saul was confronting, and toward whom his threats and rage were directed.

33. This scene is remembered and retold through Saul’s confession and continues to be repeated in the life of the church today. Saul was not simply threatening the followers of Jesus; he was persecuting Jesus Himself. This means the followers of Jesus are Jesus Himself. It also means we, gathered here today, are followers who can be said to represent Jesus.

34. This play on language ultimately confesses that disciples who believe in and follow Jesus are like Jesus.

35. In the following verses, Saul is struck blind. For three days, he could neither see, eat, nor drink.

36. The early church remembered Saul, before he became Paul, as a persecutor of Jesus. He was one with the chief priests who cried out for Jesus’ crucifixion. And as we know, when his eyes were opened and he became Paul, he transformed from persecutor to proclaimer of the Way.

37. This is not a simple story of repentance or conversion. People must have doubted Saul’s transformation. Some likely believed he was pretending in order to infiltrate the Christian community. It would not have been easy for the church to accept Saul as Paul.

38. Through today’s passage, what we must wrestle with more deeply is this: how did the church receive such a man as Saul? This is the essential question for us.

39. As mentioned earlier, we experience conflict over political preferences or favorite sports teams. Put differently, we also experience conflict over race or nationality. But the leading of Jesus Christ calls us to consider whether it is possible to “fully accept” beyond all such boundaries.

40. Ultimately, the Christian church accepted Saul as Paul. It recognized him as an apostle. This process must have been difficult, but it shows us the true power and direction of the church that believes in Jesus.

41. There is an old Korean movie titled “The Atomic Bomb of Love.” During the Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion, a pastor named Rev. Sohn Yang-won lost his two sons. A man named Ahn Jae-seon shot and killed them, accusing them of being Christian and pro-American. Rev. Sohn overcame his sorrow and actively petitioned for Ahn’s release, eventually adopting him as his son. I’ve summarized the story briefly, but this unbelievable event actually happened. I’ll introduce more about Rev. Sohn and the leprosy hospital he served (Aeyangwon) another time. This story raises the question for me: “Is such acceptance truly possible?” and “What was the result of that acceptance?”

42. The result of this acceptance? Ahn Jae-seon’s son became a pastor. And we remember this story through the film titled “The Atomic Bomb of Love.”

43. Saul’s story may be evaluated in a similar way.

44. New Testament scholar Willie James Jennings says that Saul’s encounter was a shift from “a life striving to please God through one’s own efforts” to “a life responding to the calling through which God is pleased.” In other words, Saul, who thought he knew what pleased God, now realizes that living as God leads is what truly pleases Him.

45. The large theme of acceptance is not just about the transformation of one person—Saul—but it is the church community’s testimony to what it means to live as God leads.

46. Through Saul’s conversion to Paul, I hope that we, too, in the face of division and conflict that we repeatedly encounter in our lives, can turn in a new direction. May we live out the holy act of acceptance—not insisting on doing God’s work our way, but surrendering to how God leads us, whether we like it or not. That is what the community of Jesus followers is called to do.

47. we will truly be like Jesus and live a life of walking with the Lord on the path He leads

48. And through that journey, I believe we will experience the grace that allows us to embrace our daily mission not as a burden, but with joy.

49. Last Monday, we received an email from the Annual Conference saying our church will be awarded a $50,000 fund to support our English ministry. I have two feelings—worry and expectation. This, too, must be accepted not as a project we do for God according to our wishes, but as work God has given us. May we strive to bear good fruit through that faithful acceptance.