for our sins, as Scripture says; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures; that he appeared
to Cephas and then to the Twelve. Afterward, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters together; most
of them are still alive, although some have already gone to rest. Then he appeared to James, and after that, to all the apostles. And last
of all, he appeared to the most despicable of them, this is, to me. For I am the last of the apostles, and I do not even deserve to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. Nevertheless, by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not
been without fruit. Far from it, I have toiled more than all of them, although, not I,rather the grace of God, in me. Now, whether it was I or they,
this, we preach, and this, you have believed.

Reflection:

Revelation is always a twinrevelation: who God is and who we
are. Before the vision of the immense grandeur and holiness of God, Isaiah
can only become self-conscious of his own sinfulness. Before the miraculous
catch of fish that Jesus worked, Peter can only murmur: “Leave me, Lord,
for I am a sinful man.” And Paul knows very well that he was so despicable
that he neither merited a visitation from God nor the title apostle.
This self-awareness is invariably a consciousness of the vast gulf
existing between God’s goodness and holiness, and our creatureliness
and sinfulness. Thankfully, within this gulf plays God’s Grace that
transforms us into whom God desires us to be—as it happened with Isaiah,
Paul, and Peter. So, perhaps I should correct myself: Revelation is always
three-pronged: Who God is, who we are, and who we can be, by God’s
Grace.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2022