In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul writes:

‘When God’s people meet in church, the women must not be allowed to speak….If there is something they need to know, they can ask their husbands when they get home.  It is disgraceful for women to speak in church’.

I am sure many husbands are cheering at these words and you may wonder what Paul might have thought about a woman preaching in Church! Or perhaps you don’t wonder!  

However on further investigation it would seem that Paul is not the misogynist many believe him to be. There are various views about why these verses are there, but most of the commentaries agree that they are not meant to be used universally. There were female prophets mentioned in Acts 21, and earlier in 1 Corinthians Paul permits women to pray and prophesy in public meetings.  I hope you agree therefore that I probably speak to you with Paul’s blessing!

So what do we know about Paul?  First of all he was a citizen of Tarsus which was an ancient city in the province of Cilicia in what is now Southern Turkey.  It was a great centre for trade and especially renowned for the manufacture of goats’ hair felt, out of which tent cloth, inter alia, was made.  It was famous for philosophy and it was very cosmopolitan.  As a University town one of its most famous exports was of scholars.  It was full of intellectuals and a thinking young man could not fail to be drawn into learned discussions.

Paul, whose Jewish name was Saul, was a Pharisee and proud to be a Jew.  Something he continued to be to the end of his life.  In 2 Corinthians 11:22 when talking about his sufferings for Christ he reminds the Christians at Corinth that he is a Hebrew, a Jew and from the family of Abraham.  In these claims Paul was making it clear that he was racially a Jew as well as worshipping as one.

The Jews hated other nations; they were God’s chosen people and they knew it.  Saul understood that too and he hated the Gentiles in a way that ‘good Jews’ did in New Testament times.  Then he came across a new Jewish sect that proclaimed Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah.  Along with other devout Jews Saul believed that Jesus was a blasphemer and had deserved to die a shameful death.  The followers of Jesus proclaimed that he had been raised from the dead and Saul joined those who were persecuting these Christians.  Was there no limit to their depravity?  Saul's view of Christianity was really quite simple - he wanted it, and everyone involved with it, destroyed.

Then God intervened in a dramatic way.  Saul was on his way to Damascus to persecute more Christians when he was struck down and made blind.  He couldn’t ignore this intervention by God which literally ‘floored him.’  He was left in no doubt just who had floored him – but what did he think when he saw Jesus and heard him say that it was him that he was persecuting?  Surely he was dead and buried, so how was Jesus able to strike Saul down and talk to him? Presumably this gave Saul serious food for thought, and he was able to think long and hard about this as he walked on to Damascus which took a further 3 days.  The men with Saul heard the voice, but unlike Saul, saw no one.  Still they were able to assure him that he hadn’t lost his mind, they had heard Jesus speak as well.

Ananias was the given the job of finding Saul and restoring his sight to him.  He was well aware how dangerous this mission could be and expressed his concerns to the Lord: “Lord, a lot of people have told me the terrible things this man has done to your followers in Jerusalem.”  The Lord didn’t respond to this directly but said: “Go! I have chosen him to tell foreigners, kings and the people of Israel about me.”  He also adds, possibly to make Ananias feel better: “I will show him how much he must suffer for worshipping in my name.”

So Saul was not going to have an easy time after his conversion.  However as soon as he regained his sight he was baptised, and took some food.  Then he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus and started his missionary work immediately.  What an impact that must have made.  The Contemporary English Version puts it like this: “Saul preached with such power that he completely confused the Jewish people in Damascus, as he tried to show them that Jesus is the Messiah.”

In Galatians Paul writes this – ‘But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles’.  He knew that he had been given this particular task by God.

At first sight St Paul was not an obvious candidate for preaching Christianity to the Gentiles.  But in fact he was very appropriate.  He had had a Greek education which enabled him to communicate with many different people in the eastern Roman Empire; it made him a skilled communicator as can be seen from his Letters. 

He had another very valuable attribute as an Apostle to the Gentiles – he was a Roman citizen.  This had very clear advantages: when Paul and Silas were thrown into gaol in Philippi and scourged without trial: the local magistrate was forced to apologise because Paul was a Roman citizen who could not, according to the law be scourged.  In Jerusalem when the Roman military commander arrested Paul to avoid a riot and was about to bind him and subject him to the lash, he was forced to retract this because of Paul’s Roman citizenship.  When he was a prisoner in Caesarea and believed a fair trial to be impossible he was able to appeal to Caesar.  Wherever a man claimed Roman citizenship the might and majesty of Rome was behind him.  So it helped to protect Paul when other men may have been killed.  He was proud of his citizenship because he was proud of the Roman Empire and all that it had achieved; this was rather at odds with other Jews but it probably helped him to understand that Jesus had not come to overthrow the Romans but to set up a very different Kingdom. 

But perhaps, ironically, the fact that Paul was a Jew was the most important part of his armoury as a Missionary to the Gentiles.  His Jewish faith shaped his beliefs and attitudes and continued to influence him after his conversion.  But his encounter with the living Christ made him rethink his many assumptions.  He was able to interpret Christianity in the light of his profound understanding of Judaism.  Christianity is rooted in Judaism, Jesus was a Jew and so were the twelve disciples.  If we learn about Judaism it enriches our Christianity.  A friend of mine found this out after going through 18 months of training in Judaism to enable her to marry a Jewish man in synagogue.  She remained a practicing Jew for couple of years before reverting back to the Church of England.  She found that her understanding of the New Testament had greatly improved as a result of her studies, and this helped her very much in all aspects of her Christian life.  Her Jewish husband has subsequently also become a Christian, seeing it as the fruition of his childhood faith.

Think about the Eucharist.  This is based on a Passover meal which is still celebrated and serves as a commemoration for Jews that God rescued them from their oppressors in Egypt centuries before.  The bread eaten at this meal is unleavened, reminding the Jews that they had to leave Egypt quickly, under God’s protection.  Jesus broke the bread and distributed it amongst the disciples declaring: “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Wine accompanies the meal because it is a celebration of what God has done.  At the end of the meal a fourth cup is poured out for Elijah who is expected to return when God’s Kingdom comes to fruition.  It was this cup that Jesus raised saying: “This is my blood, shed for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.” Christ, mysteriously incarnate as both the Son of God and a faithful Jewish man chose the Passover Meal to institute the Lord’s Supper, a new 'meal' of salvation and redemption.  This is something so much better understood when one looks at the Jewish roots of the celebration.  Paul steeped in Judaism could see that, understand it and share it with others, even Gentiles.

What does all this have to say to us?  Each of us is unique; we have exclusive experiences and gifts which mould us.  Every one of us has a role in furthering God’s Kingdom and there is no one else who can do it just like us.  God gives us gifts with a purpose.  This is what the Faith and Skills Audit is about – acknowledging that God has done this and encouraging us to seek where He wants these skills used in His service.  I doubt if any of us have had such a dramatic call to faith as Paul did, but no doubt some of us can remember situations where we felt God calling us to do something different.  This can be both frightening and exhilarating.

At a time of change within the Anglican Church, when the ‘priesthood of all believers’ is increasingly being recognized and treasured, we can learn from Paul.  He was able to answer God’s call, listen to Him and use his knowledge, gifts, experiences and his love for God in a new and exciting way.  Today’s gospel reading tells us that everyone who ‘has left everything and followed Jesus’ will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. We just have to take that first step of seeking, just like Paul did, to serve the God who loves us so much.

When I felt I was being called to Reader ministry these words from Psalms 4 and 5 set to music by Samuel Wesley became very important to me:

Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness;

make thy way plain before my face.

For it is thou, Lord, thou, Lord only,

that makest me dwell in safety.

If we follow God’s calling He will keep us safe as we step into new and thrilling situations.

Amen