As to My People, So to Me

Acts 9:1-6

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

Aaron Orendorff

Vv. 1 and 2 describe those whom Saul was persecuting as “the disciples of the Lord” and “any belonging to the Way, men or women.” Yet, when confronted by the living Christ, Jesus identifies the object of Saul’s persecution simply as “me”: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

The principle is this: What you do to the people of God—the followers of Jesus Christ—so you do to Jesus himself. While the immediate context is one of physical persecution from without, there is much to be gained by applying this principle to those on the inside, particularly to those in positions of church leadership. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in the book Life Together, writes, “A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men” (29). How we regard, treat and talk about those we meet on the journey of faith is a direct reflection of how we regard, treat and talk about Christ.