It’s another tough day for Saint Paul.
As it says in our first reading from the Book of Acts, “They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.”
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Imagine Paul barely breathing… covered in rubble… left for dead.
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All of a sudden, that pile of rubble covering him starts to shake. A dusty and bruised Paul emerges victoriously.
Though he was taken for dead, he’s alive again.
You might say that scene foreshadows the resurrection. Paul knows that the day will come when he really is dead.
But he also knows that – like today – he will rise again from the rubble. This is the Good News that he must share with the world. Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead – and so will we!
As Paul says, “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?”
This is why a determined Paul stands up, shakes the dust from his feet, and continues to preach the Good News to other towns until he draws his last. Death simply has no power over him.
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We may not find ourselves under a pile of rubble like Saint Paul, but we will all pay some cost for spreading our faith.
And like Saint Paul, we should never give up.
