So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”Acts 9:6

This week our church life group is studying the conversion of the apostle Paul.  I am sure that the discussion will be very spirited and more than likely, it will wander  off  on  rabbit trails – inspired of course by the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Since Lent begins this week, the subject of Paul’s conversion from persecutor to apostle is appropriate.

The story is written in Acts 9 and following. Paul’s dramatic, life changing,  divine  encounter with Jesus is told in  only six verses. How surprising that such a momentous event in Christian history is told  in six paragraphs.!  But such is the Word of God: direct, fearsome and needing no embellishments.  Saul the intelligent, fanatical, persecuting and brutal Jewish Pharisee has received permission to go to Damascus to apprehend  followers of the Way  and return them to Jerusalem for  punishment.  A sudden light surrounds him;  he falls to the ground blinded.  He hears Jesus identifying Himself as “the one whom you are persecuting.” Unable to see Saul is led by the hand to Damascus and into his new life as Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles.

I see Saul thundering towards Damascus seated  like a military general upon a  powerful stallion, both fierce for the blood of Christians. I see the blinding flash of light and then … Paul’s knocked  to  the ground.  Felled by God he staggers, blind, trembling and astonished.  The horse bolts away in terror.  Saul is literally  knocked “off his high horse.”

  Did the expression “high horse” originate in this Biblical encounter? Perhaps. Nevertheless throughout history men have gone to battle mounted on grand war horses  to symbolize their power and to intimidate their enemies. Our modern version might be the power brokers who sit behind massive desks while lesser men are humbled on smaller  chairs.  The expression refers to an arrogant person who claims moral superiority over another.  Saul certainly fits that description before  God  messed up his life and knocked him to the ground.

A modern  example of “high horse” is  a woke person  virtue signaling his “wokeness.”  Two years ago during the Covid craziness, I received a Christmas letter from once close Christian friends.  Included in the photos of family vacations and celebration were pictures of everyone with sleeves rolled up, being vaccinated.  It was a very sad and telling Christmas message devoid of Jesus. They couldn’t have shouted their moral  positioning  any louder.  I’ve not heard from them since.

As I return to the story of Paul, I wonder what “high horse”  shouts  my self righteous superiority?   Pride? Ambition? Education?  Justice without mercy? Love which tolerates sin?    I recall very clearly one time when the Spirit of God  revealed the high saddle I  sat upon.  I was driving home from a weekend retreat at the monastery in Cottonwood and came through Riggins. I was in a hurry to get home to my husband, wanting to share all that I’d learned. As I came through town a woman hobbled across the road, balancing on an old grocery cart. She was disheveled, old and walked at a snail’s pace. Mentally I hurried her along and chastised her for being herself.  The Lord spoke to my spirit. “That old woman has every right to live on this planet just as you do.”  I’ve never forgotten the woman or the admonition. We each have the right to live among one another because life is a gift from God and we are equally loved  by Him. I have no moral superiority over anyone else. Sometimes you need to get knocked off that high horse to see the gospel truth.

What  blinding encounter do we  need to humble ourselves before God? How deep will we wallow in he darkness before allowing Jesus to apprehend us as fully as Paul of Tarsus did? Without Jesus morality is a sham. . Without Jesus all  righteous  preening is …

…like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.  Isaiah 64:6

In contrast to the story of Paul riding a “high horse” to persecute the fledgling church, there is Jesus fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy.

Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9

The One whose power blinded Saul was Paul’s Messiah riding  into Jerusalem toward crucifixion. He  was seated not on a war horse, but on a lowly donkey’s colt.  His head was not raised high above the crowd. He never looked down at anyone, even his enemies.  Jesus was always on eye level with  those he’d come to save. As Jesus’ disciples, we are not called to personal greatness but to the humility of our Master,