"ST. PAUL'S VINEGAR METHOD"

Reading: Acts 9:1-20

St. Paul when he was known as Saul was a good Jew. But he seems to have been of the school that believed vinegar catches more flies than honey. We’re told in the Acts of the Apostles that Saul went around breathing murderous threats against the Christians. He was very active as a leader in the movement to round them up and throw them into jail. In fact he seems to have enjoyed it so much that he got himself assigned to go to Damascus and arrest the Christians there, and then bring them back to Jerusalem for trial.

I’m afraid he not only believed incorrectly that vinegar catches more flies than honey, he also doesn’t seem to have realized that what goes around comes around. As far as we know, Saul convinced not even one Christian to return to the Jewish faith. And after Saul himself became Christian and was called Paul, he got himself hunted down and thrown into prison many times.

He was in jail and in court so often that they should have named a wing after him. What was happening to Paul was what he had made happen to others when he was known as Saul.

Saul taught us what not to do by his actions. Paul taught us what to do by his actions. What are you and I teaching others by our actions?

It is good to be tough inside, to maybe being even violent with ourselves when it comes to keeping the faith. But on the outside, in our dealing with others, violence is usually, if not always, uncalled for. Cutting words, threats, and certainly physical force are out of place when it comes to drawing others to God and truth.

Saul thought he could shake some sense into people by putting the fear of God in them - he used the vinegar method to catch flies. Paul thought he could open the minds and hearts of people by showing in action God’s love for them - we might call it the honey method. Vinegar Saul, Honey Paul. Which do you suppose attracted more flies and saved more souls?