“Meanwhile 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 who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” (Acts 9:1-9)

Saul lies in the dust on the road to Damascus. Stopped in his angry tracks by a light from heaven that flashes around him, he hears a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Saul now knows that everything he once knew with certainty was an illusion. He thought he was fighting the heretics on behalf of a vengeful God. His self-righteous quest was designed to both appease an angry God and propel him into the religious elite. His rigid religiosity left him blinded to the grace of God found in Jesus. 

Then God speaks to Ananias in a vision to send him to Saul. When Ananias lays hands on him, Saul has something like scales fall from his eyes. Saul awakens from the nightmare, to see the world anew.

In a carefully crafted passage in his Letter to the Philippians, the one-time persecutor of those on The Way writes, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is writing about metanoia, which literally means to have an “after mind” or your mind after being reconfigured in a metamorphosis like the one he experienced on the road to Damascus. We describe this type of transformation as a change of heart and mind. Translators like to opt for the most economical way of conveying a concept with a single word standing in for another single word. So that the word repent stood in for a change in how someone sees the world and their place in it. Jesus began his public ministry with the brief proclamation: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

When we read the word “repent” in scripture, it helps to recall this is metanoia in the original Greek and while it encompasses repentance, the word is more full of meaning than the English translation reveals. The aftermind or converted or transformed mind refers to seeing everything in a completely new way. This is more like waking from a nightmare to see the world rightly. This change of heart was perhaps best captured in a Neil Diamond song made into a hit by The Monkees. It became a hit again thanks to the greatest movie credits of all time at the end of Shrek.

I thought love was only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else, but not for me
Love was out to get me
That’s the way it seemed
Disappointment haunted all my dreams

This is a description of the Before Mind. Our thinking pattern before the metamorphosis. Then a moment in time causes the singer to have their perceptions of the world changed forever. This After Mind is described in this unforgettable chorus:

Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I’m in love
I’m a believer, I couldn’t leave her if I tried

This same transformation happens to Saul when he encounters Jesus, comes to know him for who he is, and falls in love. This change of heart and mind is what happens to Andrew, Simon Peter, James, and John that has them walk away from their nets. This moment of recognition of the truth of the Good News of Jesus changes the heart of Mary Magdalene, who becomes the apostle to the apostles after Jesus’ resurrection. This change in seeing the world causes the first followers of Jesus to face persecution and even death for the love of God they had found in their savior. Down through the centuries, we see saints in every age in whose lives we find a metanoia, a revolution, that takes over their hearts and minds after which life is never, ever the same.

The first followers of Jesus came to know that love is not only true in fairy tales when the risen Jesus appeared to them demonstrating that nothing, not even death, can stop God’s love. The message of Eastertide is that while everything that needs to be done has already been done by Jesus, we can respond more fully to what the Holy Trinity has done through our Savior. The metamorphosis is not simply a onetime experience, but ongoing Holy Spirit work. You can’t earn it. You can’t deserve it, but you can continually receive more. We see this expectation of more to come in the early Christian Church tradition of teaching mystagogy not about a one-time revelation of something that had been hidden, but as an important turning point in an ever-deepening understanding of something we know in part. This metanoia is meant to be ongoing as we conform our lives closer to Christ. And while one can certainly become more like Jesus on one’s own, the life of faith is best lived in community. 

We hope that reflecting on the sacraments, the resurrection appearances in scripture, quotations from important witnesses to this season of the Church Year, and our reflections on how we have encountered Jesus has indeed prompted you to look for the ways, both mundane and surprising, that you have experienced the risen Jesus. Our hope has been that you will be encouraged to see how the Holy Spirit has been with you in the past which gives you added trust that God will continue to be with you in the future, from this life to the life eternal.