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Acts 9:26-27
‘When [Saul] had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles , and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.’
Saul’s conversion means he has to do something, and he starts straight away. He begins teaching, convincingly, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. The apostles (the original eleven disciples of Jesus, plus Matthias who had been chosen to replace Judas) and other followers of Jesus are understandably a little nervous about what is going on. Saul spent a lot of time and effort persecuting followers of Jesus, and now he is spending a lot of time and effort trying to convince others to become followers of Jesus.
Saul finds himself between a rock and a hard place: the disciples are nervous of him, the Jewish authorities would like to see him dead in much the same way that he used to want to see followers of Jesus dead. Some of the disciples are on Saul’s side, and they help him escape Jerusalem by lowering him outside of the walls in a basket.
One of the disciples who knows Saul and his conversion experience is Barnabas. He clearly thinks that this is a bit of a ludicrous state of affairs, and decides that the apostles should meet Saul. Why? Paul has met the Risen Lord in a dramatic vision which has changed his whole life. Why does he need to meet the traditional twelve apostles in Jerusalem, does he need some kind of validation from them? Why doesn't he just press on with what he is doing, celebrate the results that he is seeing, and keep an eye out for those Jewish authorities who are trying to kill him. Let the apostles in Jerusalem do their own thing...
The bottom line is that the twelve recognised the importance of tradition, of making sure that the teachings of Jesus were passed on and lived out with authenticity, and in the power of the Spirit. And Saul seems to recognise the importance of that tradition given that he agrees to go and meet the apostles rather than just going off to do his own thing.
A gut reaction might be to think that if Jesus had called Saul then he did not need a load of men to tell him he was doing the right thing. But Jesus had also called those men. The Holy Spirit does have a role to play in authority, and maybe, although this might be stretching it too far for some of us, the Holy Spirit has a role to play in institutions. If we think that is not true is that for the right reasons, or because we are products of an individualistic society which mistrusts authority and places a high emphasis on personal emotions and experience? For Luke, who recounts this story, it appears both experience and tradition are important. There is a synergy between them, and both are necessary.
I have seen traditional churches that function without the Holy Spirit and which refuse to share in the life-giving experience that the Spirit brings to local church communities around the world. I have also seen Spirit-filled churches which self-confidently declare in their worship and proclamation that their experience, which is discontinuous to two thousand years of church tradition, is the one true expression of Christ's church on earth. I am not sure which is worse...
