“‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 

 So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.“

Acts 26:15b–23 

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JUNE 18, 2025

As a writer and editor, I often joke that I wish Paul had edited his letters just a bit. He can use a run-on sentence like nobody’s business! Sometimes he goes down such a passion-fueled tangent that it’s hard to keep track of his main point.  

But these are his letters, correspondence between friends he could not have imagined would be held as sacred texts two thousand years later. Imagine what a mess our text messages and emails would be, if someone tried to make sense of them in the year 4016?  

In our verses for today, Paul provides the opposite: a very concise summary of the gospel, the good news of Jesus and the work of the Spirit as he understands them in his own life and community.  

Let’s look at the action verbs Paul chooses. In just a breath or two, we learn that God: 

  • Appears to us 
  • Appoints 
  • Rescues 
  • Sends 
  • Opens our eyes 
  • Turns us from darkness to light 
  • Positions us to receive forgiveness and a place among the sanctified  

 That really is amazingly good news! And in the next breath, we learn that God expects a few things from us in response:  

  • Repent 
  • Turn to God 
  • Demonstrate repentance through our deed 

Of course, this comes full circle, for we too are then sent to preach and teach that God is the one opening eyes, inviting us to turn from darkness to light, inviting us to repent and turn to God, to demonstrate this change through our works.  

Without a doubt, this is a better cycle to be caught up in than the search for power through violence that the men around Paul are caught up in.  

Questions for reflection and discussion:  

  • Looking back at the verbs Paul uses, what has God done in your life?  
  • Looking back at the verbs Paul uses, how have you responded to God? What has changed as you moved from darkness to light? With what deeds do you demonstrate repentance? In what ways have you been appointed and sent?  

Church Reading Plan: Deuteronomy 23; Psalm 112-113