The story of Saul’s conversion is told twice in the Acts of the Apostles in startlingly similar ways, especially where Saul, who became Paul, describes the actual voice of the Lord, asking him —
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
In bothstories, the Lord tells him to “get up and go into Damascus.”
But in the story from the earlier Chapter 9, Paul “gets up from the ground,” which leads most to think that this conversion experience actually knocked him to the ground. But the details that are absolutely the same are the words said to Paul and the blindness he experienced.
He was spiritually blind already, but now became physically blind. Then others came into play, like the disciple Ananias. The Lord led him to Paul, and he was instructed to lay hands upon him to restore his vision. Paul himself saw this in a vision, and then it came to pass. Now Paul could see both physically and spiritually, and he would spend the rest of his life seeing and hearing the Lord so clearly, and becoming a man of such faith that later in the story, Paul would utter the words —
“I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.”
Then, further instructed to become baptized, he began his ministry preaching, teaching, and welcoming countless souls into the faith.
The Gospel of Mark had some peculiarities.
In the text itself, in some Bibles, the eighth verse concludes Chapter 16, the last chapter of the book; it ends with the women who brought spices to the tomb and found the stone rolled back with a man in a white robe (presumably an angel) sitting there, who told her that their Jesus of Nazareth had “been raised” and was “not here.”
That, they observed. Then they were instructed to go tell his disciples and Peter.
“Then they went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
That was believed to be the ending of this Gospel, and is referred to as the “shorter ending.”
But then some manuscripts appeared over time that had a longer ending with an additional 12 verses. This longer version provoked some questions as to its later discovery; and because the actual text appeared to be different in its style of writing, suggesting different authorship.
But in classical Bible storytelling, both endings got rammed together, and they both remain as our text today.
No one seems to be bothered when there is discrepancy. And so the longer version ends with the Ascension of Jesus into heaven after Jesus instructs his disciples to go out “into the whole world” and to proclaim the Gospel and baptize and drive out demons and speak new languages. Then to pick up serpents with their hands and drink deadly poisons and not be harmed, and lay hands on the sick who would then recover.
One can certainly see why they would want to keep that longer ending, too, which is fantastical.
Now, to the point!
Both in Paul’s conversion experience and in the twelve’s absorption of the resurrection experience — or, actually an empty tomb and later appearances of the risen Jesus — they were all led to come to know and believe, and to spend the rest of their lives telling one and all of Christ.
And that’s where we come in.
We, after 2,000 years of Christ’s storytelling, are called to tell it also. The words arguably attributed to St. Frances remains amazingly true —
“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
Ah, what wisdom. In other words — live the Gospel!
In doing that, the greatest preaching takes place.
Preach the Gospel of love! Live the Gospel of love!
