The Third Sunday of Epiphany
Acts 26:9-23 - The Conversion of St. Paul
Fr. Oliver Robinson
Acts 26:9-23 - The Conversion of St. Paul
Fr. Oliver Robinson
The story of Paul’s conversion is so important that Scripture tells it three times.
Festus, the Roman governor, has no real understanding of Jewish theology or the nature of the accusations against Paul, so he calls in the local client king, Agrippa. Agrippa is the king over Judea, ruling by agreement with the Romans in order to remain in power, and he is well versed in Jewish customs and beliefs.
Paul, as a Roman citizen, has the right to a fair trial and certain legal protections under Roman law. (including the right for his case to be judged by the emperor himself). Festus must now give an account of the case to Rome, but because the accusations are rooted in Jewish claims of heresy, he calls in King Agrippa, the local Jewish king of Judea, to help him understand the issues and frame the charges.
Paul stands before the Roman Governor, the Judean King and Queen, and all their entourage, officials, military commanders, and prominent men of the city. He stands and gives his legal defense, which includes his testimony of his conversion.
All three versions of the story in Acts have different emphases. In this reading, Paul is speaking as part of a Roman legal hearing, in front of the King of Judea and the Roman Governor, and he is exercising his right, as a Roman citizen, for his trial to be heard by the Emperor himself.
And in this rendition of his conversion story, there is a line which is only found in this telling:
He starts with the famous words of Christ, saying to him on the road:
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (v14)
But in this telling, he tells of a second line that Christ said to him:
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." (v14)
What does this mean?
Why is it here in this telling, and not the others?
What does it mean for us?
Occasionally, and an annoyed Ox might kick the goad with its foot, perhaps out of annoyance, but it doesn’t matter how much the Ox resists – the farmer will have his way.
It is pointless for the Ox to ‘kick against the goads’ because he cannot possibly resist the inevitable force and power of the farmer, no matter how hard he tries. Better to go along with the direction things are going, than to resist foolishly.
Now that doesn’t sound to me very noble, or heroic, or even American?
In fact, this phrase is not unique to scripture. It is found all over classical literature:
Aeschylus, [As-seek-klee-us] the ‘father of Greek tragedy’ uses it twice. The most prominent exam,ple in in his work Prometheus, the main character, Prometheus, gives fire to human beings, against the will of Zeus. His defiance of Zeus is described as ‘kicking against the goads’ because even if the action is noble and good it is foolish to resist the will of the gods. And Prometheus comes to ruin and eternal punishment. (almost eternal – Heracles comes and saves him later on).
Euripides uses it to describe a character Pentheus, who tries to suppress the cultic worship of the god Dionysius. He is warned not to ‘kick against the goads’ as it is extremely dangerous and foolish for a human to go up against divine power. Like an ox against the farmer. Whatever the farmer wants is going to happen, so why resist and be punished needlessly?
The Roman author, Terence, uses the proverb and shows it cultural reach, its spread from the Greeks to the Romans. to describe stubborn resistance to an authority or circumstance that cannot be changed—masters, laws, social conventions. The tone is ironic rather than tragic, but the logic remains intact: resistance only worsens one’s situation.
If you had to sum up the entirety of classical literature in a sentence, it would be:
Do not resist the will of the gods, or things will go terribly for you.
The British classical scholar Anthony A. Long points out that much of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy assumes the world has a rational order, and that human flourishing depends on aligning oneself with it. As Long puts it,
“the [Hellenistic] world is governed by a rational and providential order, and human happiness
depends on understanding this order and bringing one’s own will into harmony with it.”
(Long, A.A. ‘Hellenistic Philosophy’)
You are free to resist that order — but resistance does not change reality; it only damages the person resisting it. Wisdom, in the ancient world, is not about overthrowing fate, but about consenting to it.
The Reason Paul includes this phrase, and not in the other versions of this story, is that he is speaking to a well-educated audience who would recognize this reference immediately. The previous telling is to a crowd of angry Judeans trying to kill him, and they may not have been in the right frame of mind for a classical literature reference.
If the classics are not your thing then perhaps this will be: In the Disney movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, near the start the heroine Elizabeth Turner (played by Keira Knightley) is kidnapped by Ghostly Pirates.
She protests ‘ I don’t believe in Ghost stories!’
And the Pirate captain steps forward into the moonlight on the ship, which reveals his ghastly, skeletal, true form and says
‘You’d best start believing in Ghost stories…You’re in one!’
So, for Paul, on the road to Damascus, Christ, by saying ‘It is hard for you to kick against the goads’ is saying to him: ‘Wake up and look at whats going on around you an in you. It’s foolish for you to keep on resisting me. If you don’t change your ways, I won’t leave you alone. It’s time now for you to accept the plan and the mission I have for you.’
‘It is hard for you to kick against the goads’
I wonder where that phrase applies to us:
So where in your life are you ‘kicking against the goads?’
Where are you resisting God’s will for you?
What are you holding back from Him?
What does He want to give you, that you refuse to accept?
In fact, I am sure most of you here are aware of your own sins and failings.
You have heard the phrase ‘ The church is not a club for saints, but a hospital for sinners’
‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23)
However here is a way you may not have considered.
Carl Jung, a Swiss psychologist and fascinating figure, spent most of his life writing about Christianity and the Western Psyche (or psychological state of being). There is much that he wrote which I take great issue with, and would likely horrify you. However, there is a comment he made on this text which I find very interesting:
Jung argues that the phrase “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” suggests that Paul, on the road to Damascus, may already have been experiencing unconscious inner turmoil about his persecution of Christians. Particularly after witnessing the death of Stephen and “holding the coats” of those who killed him (Acts 7:58). Jung proposes that the INTENSITY of Saul’s reaction to the early church indicates that his core identity, his Jewish faith, was being unsettled within him. That something deeply precious to him, that was previously solid and unquestionable, was now beginning to feel unstable.
Biblical scholars push back against this reading, noting (quite rightly) that the text itself gives no explicit indication of doubt or hesitation in Saul’s mind before his conversion. That objection is fair. And yet, it is often the things we cling to most fiercely (the convictions we defend with the greatest anger) that mask a deeper insecurity. The very intensity of our resistance can signal that something important to us is being threatened. The text is clear that Saul responded very angrily against something that was, ultimately, the TRUTH. We are not immune to this same reaction ourselves.
In this reading, the image of “kicking against the goads” points to an inner resistance in Saul that has already become painful for him. Christ’s words highlight a work already taking place within Paul, and they function as an invitation: “stop resisting. Deep down, you already know the truth that is pressing in on you.”
So pause for a moment and ask yourself—what produces this reaction, the reaction Saul had towards the Christians, in you? What makes you angry when it is questioned? What do you hold onto fiercely, tightly against your chest, and refuse to let go of?
Anger? Pain? Grief? Forgiveness?
Are there people who you are still holding anger towards after all this time?
It’s time to release your grip on that anger, so God can give you the power to forgive.
Are there pains or wounds in your life that have become so familiar that you are hesitant to hand it over to Him? Perhaps you don’t know who you are or what your life would look like without it?
It’s time to trust that by letting Him have it, He will make you whole.
Is there a sinful pattern in your life that you want God’s help with, but if you’re honest, you don’t really want to give up?
It’s time to trust in His promises that His ‘yoke is easy and [His] burden is light’ and that He has come
that we might have ‘life to the full.’ (Mt 11:30 and Jn 10:10)
Do you not really believe that God has forgiven you for what you’ve done? After all He has gone through on the cross, and all that He has said and done to reassure you?
It’s time to accept this gift from Him with an open heart.
Perhaps you are listening, and you are really not convinced about all this ‘Jesus stuff.’ You don’t like Christianity and don’t believe in God.
It may be worth asking yourself: what has brought you here today? Why are you in this room, hearing these words, at this particular moment in your life? And is it possible that there is more going on than you think. He is calling you home and calling you to Him.
Christ’s words for Paul are true for all of us:
‘It is hard for you to kick against the goads’
CS Lewis in Mere Christianity writes this:
“The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says 'Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit.
I will give you a new self instead.
In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.”
In the old hymn ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’ there is a line that captures this so simply:
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
(all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!)
As we take these next few moments in silence before God,
Let us bring to Him our whole hearts.
And offer Him all those things within us, which are hard to let go of.
- First, in Acts 9. Luke tells us the church is under intense persecution, and Paul is at the centre of it—actively hunting down Christians. He is on the road to Damascus, full of zeal, convinced he is serving God, when Christ appears to him.
- Second, in Acts 22. Paul has just been beaten by a rioting crowd in Jerusalem and rescued by Roman soldiers. Standing on the steps of the barracks, bruised and bloodied, he turns back to his fellow Jews and tells them the story of his conversion.
- The third time is in our reading from Acts 26 today.
Festus, the Roman governor, has no real understanding of Jewish theology or the nature of the accusations against Paul, so he calls in the local client king, Agrippa. Agrippa is the king over Judea, ruling by agreement with the Romans in order to remain in power, and he is well versed in Jewish customs and beliefs.
Paul, as a Roman citizen, has the right to a fair trial and certain legal protections under Roman law. (including the right for his case to be judged by the emperor himself). Festus must now give an account of the case to Rome, but because the accusations are rooted in Jewish claims of heresy, he calls in King Agrippa, the local Jewish king of Judea, to help him understand the issues and frame the charges.
Paul stands before the Roman Governor, the Judean King and Queen, and all their entourage, officials, military commanders, and prominent men of the city. He stands and gives his legal defense, which includes his testimony of his conversion.
All three versions of the story in Acts have different emphases. In this reading, Paul is speaking as part of a Roman legal hearing, in front of the King of Judea and the Roman Governor, and he is exercising his right, as a Roman citizen, for his trial to be heard by the Emperor himself.
And in this rendition of his conversion story, there is a line which is only found in this telling:
He starts with the famous words of Christ, saying to him on the road:
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (v14)
But in this telling, he tells of a second line that Christ said to him:
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." (v14)
What does this mean?
Why is it here in this telling, and not the others?
What does it mean for us?
- What does this mean?
Occasionally, and an annoyed Ox might kick the goad with its foot, perhaps out of annoyance, but it doesn’t matter how much the Ox resists – the farmer will have his way.
It is pointless for the Ox to ‘kick against the goads’ because he cannot possibly resist the inevitable force and power of the farmer, no matter how hard he tries. Better to go along with the direction things are going, than to resist foolishly.
Now that doesn’t sound to me very noble, or heroic, or even American?
In fact, this phrase is not unique to scripture. It is found all over classical literature:
Aeschylus, [As-seek-klee-us] the ‘father of Greek tragedy’ uses it twice. The most prominent exam,ple in in his work Prometheus, the main character, Prometheus, gives fire to human beings, against the will of Zeus. His defiance of Zeus is described as ‘kicking against the goads’ because even if the action is noble and good it is foolish to resist the will of the gods. And Prometheus comes to ruin and eternal punishment. (almost eternal – Heracles comes and saves him later on).
Euripides uses it to describe a character Pentheus, who tries to suppress the cultic worship of the god Dionysius. He is warned not to ‘kick against the goads’ as it is extremely dangerous and foolish for a human to go up against divine power. Like an ox against the farmer. Whatever the farmer wants is going to happen, so why resist and be punished needlessly?
The Roman author, Terence, uses the proverb and shows it cultural reach, its spread from the Greeks to the Romans. to describe stubborn resistance to an authority or circumstance that cannot be changed—masters, laws, social conventions. The tone is ironic rather than tragic, but the logic remains intact: resistance only worsens one’s situation.
If you had to sum up the entirety of classical literature in a sentence, it would be:
Do not resist the will of the gods, or things will go terribly for you.
The British classical scholar Anthony A. Long points out that much of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy assumes the world has a rational order, and that human flourishing depends on aligning oneself with it. As Long puts it,
“the [Hellenistic] world is governed by a rational and providential order, and human happiness
depends on understanding this order and bringing one’s own will into harmony with it.”
(Long, A.A. ‘Hellenistic Philosophy’)
You are free to resist that order — but resistance does not change reality; it only damages the person resisting it. Wisdom, in the ancient world, is not about overthrowing fate, but about consenting to it.
The Reason Paul includes this phrase, and not in the other versions of this story, is that he is speaking to a well-educated audience who would recognize this reference immediately. The previous telling is to a crowd of angry Judeans trying to kill him, and they may not have been in the right frame of mind for a classical literature reference.
If the classics are not your thing then perhaps this will be: In the Disney movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, near the start the heroine Elizabeth Turner (played by Keira Knightley) is kidnapped by Ghostly Pirates.
She protests ‘ I don’t believe in Ghost stories!’
And the Pirate captain steps forward into the moonlight on the ship, which reveals his ghastly, skeletal, true form and says
‘You’d best start believing in Ghost stories…You’re in one!’
So, for Paul, on the road to Damascus, Christ, by saying ‘It is hard for you to kick against the goads’ is saying to him: ‘Wake up and look at whats going on around you an in you. It’s foolish for you to keep on resisting me. If you don’t change your ways, I won’t leave you alone. It’s time now for you to accept the plan and the mission I have for you.’
‘It is hard for you to kick against the goads’
I wonder where that phrase applies to us:
So where in your life are you ‘kicking against the goads?’
Where are you resisting God’s will for you?
What are you holding back from Him?
What does He want to give you, that you refuse to accept?
- Where do we resist God’s will
In fact, I am sure most of you here are aware of your own sins and failings.
You have heard the phrase ‘ The church is not a club for saints, but a hospital for sinners’
‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23)
However here is a way you may not have considered.
Carl Jung, a Swiss psychologist and fascinating figure, spent most of his life writing about Christianity and the Western Psyche (or psychological state of being). There is much that he wrote which I take great issue with, and would likely horrify you. However, there is a comment he made on this text which I find very interesting:
Jung argues that the phrase “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” suggests that Paul, on the road to Damascus, may already have been experiencing unconscious inner turmoil about his persecution of Christians. Particularly after witnessing the death of Stephen and “holding the coats” of those who killed him (Acts 7:58). Jung proposes that the INTENSITY of Saul’s reaction to the early church indicates that his core identity, his Jewish faith, was being unsettled within him. That something deeply precious to him, that was previously solid and unquestionable, was now beginning to feel unstable.
Biblical scholars push back against this reading, noting (quite rightly) that the text itself gives no explicit indication of doubt or hesitation in Saul’s mind before his conversion. That objection is fair. And yet, it is often the things we cling to most fiercely (the convictions we defend with the greatest anger) that mask a deeper insecurity. The very intensity of our resistance can signal that something important to us is being threatened. The text is clear that Saul responded very angrily against something that was, ultimately, the TRUTH. We are not immune to this same reaction ourselves.
In this reading, the image of “kicking against the goads” points to an inner resistance in Saul that has already become painful for him. Christ’s words highlight a work already taking place within Paul, and they function as an invitation: “stop resisting. Deep down, you already know the truth that is pressing in on you.”
So pause for a moment and ask yourself—what produces this reaction, the reaction Saul had towards the Christians, in you? What makes you angry when it is questioned? What do you hold onto fiercely, tightly against your chest, and refuse to let go of?
Anger? Pain? Grief? Forgiveness?
Are there people who you are still holding anger towards after all this time?
It’s time to release your grip on that anger, so God can give you the power to forgive.
Are there pains or wounds in your life that have become so familiar that you are hesitant to hand it over to Him? Perhaps you don’t know who you are or what your life would look like without it?
It’s time to trust that by letting Him have it, He will make you whole.
Is there a sinful pattern in your life that you want God’s help with, but if you’re honest, you don’t really want to give up?
It’s time to trust in His promises that His ‘yoke is easy and [His] burden is light’ and that He has come
that we might have ‘life to the full.’ (Mt 11:30 and Jn 10:10)
Do you not really believe that God has forgiven you for what you’ve done? After all He has gone through on the cross, and all that He has said and done to reassure you?
It’s time to accept this gift from Him with an open heart.
Perhaps you are listening, and you are really not convinced about all this ‘Jesus stuff.’ You don’t like Christianity and don’t believe in God.
It may be worth asking yourself: what has brought you here today? Why are you in this room, hearing these words, at this particular moment in your life? And is it possible that there is more going on than you think. He is calling you home and calling you to Him.
Christ’s words for Paul are true for all of us:
‘It is hard for you to kick against the goads’
CS Lewis in Mere Christianity writes this:
“The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says 'Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit.
I will give you a new self instead.
In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.”
In the old hymn ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’ there is a line that captures this so simply:
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
(all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!)
As we take these next few moments in silence before God,
Let us bring to Him our whole hearts.
And offer Him all those things within us, which are hard to let go of.
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