High Horse

Encountering Christ and changing our lives

01/25/2018

Acts of the Apostles 22:3-16 Paul addressed the people in these words: "On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' I replied, 'Who are you, sir?' And he said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.' My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me. I asked, 'What shall I do, sir?' The Lord answered me, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.'  Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus. "A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and stood there and said, 'Saul, my brother, regain your sight.' And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him. Then he said, 'The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice; for you will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard. Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name."

              One of the most dramatic depictions of the conversion of St. Paul was painted by Caravaggio, the great Italian Baroque artist in 1601. It hangs in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. I hope someday you will get to see it and study it, but mostly that you’ll get to pray in its presence. Caravaggio has profound lessons to teach us not only about what happened to St. Paul on the road to Damascus but what happens to us on our own road of life.

             Let me highlight just three striking features of this masterpiece. First, the background is completely dark – even though St. Paul said the event occurred when the sun was at its zenith, at noon. This black background is called “tenebroso” which in Italian means “dark, gloomy, mysterious.” But the darkness also means a lack of landscape, and therefore a loss of orientation – no sky or earth, up or down, east or west: a sort of “suspended animation,” a stepping out of the rhythm of time. Second, St. Paul has fallen off his horse - he got knocked off his high horse - and he has hit the ground and he’s on his back, but his arms are straight up and his knees are bent. It looks like he’s still falling even though he’s clearly hit the ground, an odd combination. Again, St. Paul is experiencing a disjointedness with his surroundings. And third – this is humorous – the largest figure in the painting is a horse, and it’s the horse’s rear end that dominates the scene. And the groom – the one who takes care of the horse – pays more attention to the frightened animal than the future apostle.

             Did you ever watch that old Batman television series with Adam West? Whenever it was a scene with bad guys, the camera angle was tilted. The director was using his artistic medium of video to convey that something is wrong here. This is not normal. The world is awry with the presence of evil. That’s the point of Caravaggio’s painting of the Conversion of St. Paul – not all is right in Paul’s world, his world is awry with his sins when the light of Jesus bursts in.

             There are actually three separate accounts of the conversion story of St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, in chapters nine, twenty-two and twenty-six. But in each account the story is dramatic and decisive in Paul’s life. Three things result from this miraculous moment, this personal encounter with Christ. First Paul, needs the help of others. Because he is blinded by the light, he must be led by the hand to Ananias, a spiritual guide, who gives Paul a new orientation. Second, he must be baptized and have his sins washed away. And third, he must share his story with the world. In other words, when Jesus breaks into Paul’s life, it’s not just a great, joyful experience, after which he can go back to business as usual. Rather, Jesus takes Paul out of the “tenebroso,” the dark, gloomy, and mysterious, the lack of landscape because of his sinfulness, and places Paul in a new landscape, the landscape of love. Paul’s world is no longer awry, it’s not tilted and off center; he’s not on the road to Damascus to persecute the Church, but on the road to his true destiny to proclaim the Church.

              What road do you find yourself on these days? Does your world feel “tenebroso” – dark, gloomy and mysterious? Is there a lack of landscape, where you feel disoriented and can’t tell what’s up and down, which way is east and west? Do you sometimes feel like a horse’s rear end? We all feel that way at one time or another and we need a profound encounter with Christ; we need Jesus to knock us off our high horse. Just like there are multiple accounts of Paul’s conversion in Acts, so we usually need multiple experiences of conversion to Christ before we’re fully changed from frightened animals to fearless apostles. When that encounter happens, follow Paul’s example and do what he did: seek a spiritual guide, have your sins washed away, and share your story with the world. Then, maybe you won’t feel so much like a horse’s rear end.

Praised be Jesus Christ!