Extraordinary Occurrence in Damascus!
Miracle on the Road!
Damascus, 36AD
Exclusive from our correspondent in Damascus
The town here is abuzz with the arrival of one of the rising stars in the Sanhedrin, and the remarkable events that led up to it. Saul of Tarsus, a student of Gamaliel and one of the most promising intellects to have appeared on the scene in Jerusalem, was in a group traveling on orders of the Sanhedrin when Saul was struck down from Heaven! Your correspondent managed to speak with one of his fellow travelers, one Simon son of Zuriel from Bethel, who related their story in this exclusive interview.
“We had been given papers by the Sanhedrin a few days ago, and told to travel post-haste to Damascus. Saul was eager to continue putting down the terrible heresy called ‘The Way’, and the papers contained letters to the leaders of the synagogues here in Damascus and around the region, as well as instructions to follow Saul’s lead. They also contained passes to allow us through the tax-collectors’ gates without paying; and thus we traveled as quickly as we were able along the high-road North from Jerusalem, and made good time to the Golan Heights. We ate a hurried meal there and were well onto the last leg of our journey to Damascus – with only about 3 miles to go – when all of a sudden there was an incredible light from the heavens. You could light a thousand lanterns and cruses in the same room and not match the brightness. It was as if the sun itself had flared and hit Saul. He was bathed in it. I will never forget that sight!”
I asked Simon if he heard or saw anything else.
Saul Blinded!
“As for seeing anything else, that was almost impossible for a while – it was maybe a minute or two before we were seeing things properly. We were lucky – that light merely dazzled us for a while. Poor Saul – it blinded him. I don’t know if he’ll ever see again! But we could hear. And what we heard more than made up for it. There was a voice – I think it came from above, but Nimri swears it came from all around us. (Of course, Nimri is from the Negeb, so you have to take anything he says with a grain of salt.) It was – I don’t know – a HUGE voice. It was everywhere. It was powerful. But it was also crystal clear.”
I admit I was rather skeptical. “A voice? Out of the blue? How is that possible? You must have been dreaming!”
Simon got rather indignant. “Oh, sure – you’d know, wouldn’t you! Every one of us. We all had exactly the same dream. I tell you, there was no one there – in fact, no one within a mile of us!”
I asked him, “What did the voice say?”
Simon replied, “It spoke to Saul. It asked why he was persecuting it. Saul asked who the voice was, and it replied that it was Jesus.”
I said, “Wait a minute. Jesus? Who’s Jesus?”
Simon hesitated. “Well, that’s the strange thing. The leader of this heretical sect – The Way – his name was Jesus. But that’s ridiculous. He was crucified, and let me tell you – you don’t leave the cross alive! Nimri actually saw the crucifixion, and I don’t think even numpty Nimri could get that confused, so that’s quite clear – this couldn’t have been that person – he’s dead. But there you are. I mean, it’s not like that person is the only one called Jesus – it’s a fairly common name as you know – but none of us can think who else it could be. And of course, it came from the sky (or maybe all around, if you want to believe ‘Negeb’ Nimri), and it said it was the one that Saul was persecuting.”
I asked, “Where was Saul standing?”
“Standing? Ha! That’s a good one! He wasn’t anywhere close to standing, let me tell you! He had collapsed onto the ground.”
Saul on the Road to Damascus
“Then what?”
Simon continued, “The voice told him to get up and go into the city, where he would be told what to do.”
“So what happened next?”
Simon told me: “Well, That’s when we discovered that Saul was stone blind. It was a shock, I can tell you! What were we supposed to do with him? He was the leader, but you can’t lead if you’re blind – even Nimri understands that. So we had to decide what to do. Nimri decided that ‘the city’ must mean Jerusalem, and that we should take Saul back there (he gets terribly confused by your northern customs, so he’ll do anything to go back). But it was obvious to Saul and me that we should finish the journey to Damascus, and so I took charge and gave orders to the servants that we should continue. To keep Nimri-the-slightly-challenged from thinking too much, I gave him the job of leading Saul. And so we walked the remaining few miles to the city and put Saul up at the house of a fellow called Judas who lives on Straight Street. We were there for three days and then suddenly, Saul was gone!”
My story seemed to end at this point, until I chanced to meet one of the members of The Way, who filled in some of the other details. Because of the persecutions, his name will not be published here. Here is the rest of this incredible story, just as he related it to me:
“One of our members – one Ananias by name – saw the Lord in a vision, and God told him to go to find Saul of Tarsus. The Lord added that Saul had had his own vision and had seen Ananias heal him. The problem was that we had heard of Saul, and the persecution against The Way that he was pressing, so ‘Nias was understandably reluctant to go there – I mean, think about it. Ananias says, ‘Here, Saul, have your sight back.’ And Saul says, ‘Thanks, Ananias. Have a prison sentence.’ But in the end, Ananias went. He healed Saul, and instead of Saul putting Ananias into prison, Ananias put Saul into water and baptized him! It was incredible! A complete turn-around! God be praised!”
The man then proceeded to tell me much more about this Jesus, who apparently was born only about 70 miles away in Nazareth.
This reporter has heard that Saul has left Damascus, headed not for Jerusalem as one might expect, or even home to Tarsus, but East to Arabia.
– from our correspondant, Stephanus.
(in other news, Emperor Tiberius dies, and Prefect Pontius Pilate leaves for Rome – see scroll 4 for more details.)
