Common English Bible (CEB)
9 Meanwhile, Saul was still spewing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest, 2 seeking letters to the synagogues in Damascus. If he found persons who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, these letters would authorize him to take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 During the journey, as he approached Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven encircled him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice asking him, “Saul, Saul, why are you harassing me?” 5 Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” “I am Jesus, whom you are harassing,” came the reply. 6 “Now get up and enter the city. You will be told what you must do.” 7 Those traveling with him stood there speechless; they heard the voice but saw no one.
8 After they picked Saul up from the ground, he opened his eyes but he couldn’t see. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind and neither ate nor drank anything. 10 In Damascus there was a certain disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” He answered, “Yes, Lord.” 11 The Lord instructed him, “Go to Judas’ house on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias enter and put his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 Ananias countered, “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man. People say he has done horrible things to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 He’s here with authority from the chief priests to arrest everyone who calls on your name.” 15 The Lord replied, “Go! This man is the agent I have chosen to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
17 Ananias went to the house. He placed his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord sent me—Jesus, who appeared to you on the way as you were coming here. He sent me so that you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Instantly, flakes fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. 19 After eating, he regained his strength. He stayed with the disciples in Damascus for several days. 20 Right away, he began to preach about Jesus in the synagogues. “He is God’s Son,” he declared. 21 Everyone who heard him was baffled. They questioned each other, “Isn’t he the one who was wreaking havoc among those in Jerusalem who called on this name? Hadn’t he come here to take those same people as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 But Saul grew stronger and stronger. He confused the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
*********************
*********************
18 months ago, I went to the doctor
with a terrible infection. I had a fever
of 104 and thought that this was, perhaps, a bad thing. So I wandered into the office and told them
about my day. Then, they told me that it
was pretty tough luck that I had gotten sick, and they wished me well. Right?
Of course not. That’s not how the doctor’s work. When you go to the doctor, you expect them to
cure you, right? If they know how to
relieve you of your disease, they’ll do everything possible. In my case, I received a strong dose of
antibiotics and a steroid shot to bring the fever down. By the next morning, I was better.
We expect the doctor to do
everything in their power to bring us back to health, right? If they have the ability to restore health,
they will.
The same is true of a car mechanic,
right? If your car is broken down you
have it towed to the mechanic. If your
mechanic can figure out what is wrong with it and is able to fix it, they
will. It may be astronomically
expensive, but we expect them to fix the car.
Sometimes, this may require replacing the engine or doing something
similarly dramatic, but if they have the power and know what is wrong, we
expect them to fix it.
So why would we expect anything
less from God? If we believe that our
mechanics and our doctors will do everything possible to restore a car or a
human to full health, then won’t God do the same for his beloved creations, the
ones he made in his own image?
In today’s Scripture, we dive into
the story of Saul. Saul was not a fan of
the early Christian church. In Acts 8:3,
we find Saul ravaging the church, entering houses and dragging off men and
women to prison for their worship of Jesus Christ. Saul was a leader in the Jewish church, and
he believed this new development of faith was a terrible thing, errant thinking
that was destroying the Jewish tradition, and he was willing to fight to save
Jewish purity. Who knows how many
Christians died whom Saul was responsible for?
Saul was sick. He would never have admitted it, but his mind
was not healthy, for he refused to believe the truth about Jesus Christ and, as
a result, he was actively persecuting the church. He was a thorn in the side of the church, and
if he was successful the consequences could have been catastrophic for the
church.
If there was ever someone that God
should have smote, it was Saul. Saul was
approving of the killing of Christians.
Saul was committed to destroying the very church God was hoping to
build. Saul was trying to banish the
legacy of Jesus Christ from the earth.
The church could have been much more successful without Saul around.
But God didn’t smite Saul. God didn’t have Saul killed. God saw Saul as in need of redemption. Saul, the foremost enemy of the Christian
church, was going to be redeemed. God
was going to intervene in a dynamic way, and Saul’s life would be
transformed. Rather than just tell Saul
that he had chosen wrongly, God heals Saul and begins to use his life to
further the cause he once actively resisted.
In the beginning of chapter 9, we
find Saul breathing threats and murder against the church, and he is on his way
to Damascus to have the Christians there arrested. Instead, on the way there a bright light
shone from heaven and God himself asked Saul why Saul was persecuting God. From this, we can learn that the violence
done to the church is violence done to God himself.
Saul, once the master of his fate,
the one proud to go and persecute, is then put in a humbling position. His sight is taken from him, and for 3 days
he has to be led by others. 3 days. Sound like a familiar length of time? For 3 days, Saul was dead. When his sight was restored, he, too, would
be raised to new life in Christ. The old
has died. The new life has begun.
Friends, Saul’s encounter with God
forever changes his life. God reaches
out to Saul, despite the fact that Saul has given no indication that he would
react positively to this, and Saul is transformed by Christ. He sets down his old ways and begins to be a
passionate advocate for the church, spreading the Good News about Jesus Christ
around the known world.
But Saul couldn’t have done this
without the faithful love of a community.
God reached out to someone else, someone who would have every right to
be nervous about what God was asking him to do.
God appeared in a dream to Ananias and asked him to go visit Saul. Ananias
is understandably nervous about this, because Ananias knows what kind of man
Saul is. Ananias knows that Saul is
there to punish, to arrest, to persecute, and Ananias isn’t excited about the
thought of becoming the next target of Saul.
But Ananias trusts God, and so he
follows. And with Ananias’s help, Saul’s
vision is restored. Then Ananias
baptizes Saul. Saul then begins to
proclaim the glory of Jesus Christ in the synagogues, and while the Jewish
community is shocked, the Christian community is thrilled. Their greatest enemy has now become an asset,
and he will use his knowledge and passion to proclaim the Gospel. Saul needs help, though, for the Jewish
leaders are plotting to kill him, and the Christians help Saul escape using a
basket. Saul can’t do this on his own—he
needs a community.
And so, friends, we gather around
this text today. We wonder at the
amazing thing God did in the life of Saul.
We wish we could have such a dramatic story to share, for we feel that
our own stories pale in drama to the story of Saul. But this is good news—it means you are not
off persecuting the church. Your
heavenly Father does not want you to wander this far from the path, but the
amazing part of the story is that God is willing to restore you to life if you
do wander.
Friends, God is the seeker of the
lost, the one willing to do whatever it takes to restore you to the Christian
community. Saul was not too far
gone. You are not too far from the grace
of God. God could heal Saul. God can heal you. God wants to transform your life, reaching in
by the power of the Holy Spirit to change the way you think, speak and
live. He will sometimes go to dramatic
lengths to do so.
But it also takes a community. When we have been blinded, it takes a friend,
even a nervous friend, to help us see once more. When we are in danger, it takes a community
to help us take the next step. When we
are alone, we need the strength of friends.
So do not be afraid to lean on the
community with which God surrounds you.
It may come from uncertain places, as this story tells us. Also, perhaps you are called to be Ananias to
someone else. Who needs to hear about
the grace of God? Whose eyes can you
help open? Who can you bring into the
Christian community?
May we go with courage, trusting in
the God who can restore and redeem.
Let us pray
No comments:
Post a Comment