The
reading
Acts
9:1-19
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and
murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked
him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who
belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3
Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from
heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to
him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 5 He asked, "Who are
you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6
But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." 7
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the
voice but saw no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were
open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into
Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 10
Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a
vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." 11 The
Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the
house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is
praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his
hands on him so that he might regain his sight." 13 But Ananias answered,
"Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to
your saints in Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests
to bind all who invoke your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go,
for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and
kings and before the people of Israel; 16 I myself will show him how much he
must suffer for the sake of my name." 17 So Ananias went and entered the
house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus,
who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your
sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 And immediately something
like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and
was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
The
message
Since
September, we have completed about 15 Sundays with the Old Testament. We looked
at significant events like the creation, the story of Joseph, and call of
people like Samuel, Saul and King David.
We also heard news of correction, hope and God’s great promises spoken
through the prophet to people in fear and doubt. Over those months, we saw
God’s first communications with the world, witnessed signs of great power, were
introduced to the law and covenant and heard promises of restoration and
relationship.
After
that we spent another 15 Sundays with the Gospel of John. There we saw the
promises of the prophets, first fulfilled at Christmas when Jesus the Word of
God made flesh and dwelling amongst us entered the world. We understood what
happened and saw those promises completely fulfilled at Easter with the death
and resurrection of Jesus. John was written to bring people to faith in Jesus
Christ,. We heard reports of Jesus
changing water into wine, healing the sick, raising the dead, welcoming the
outsider, forgiving the sinner and confronting religious and secular
authorities with God’s authority. Each
person we meet, witness we hear from, word recorded and event we learn about in
John is carefully selected and placed to bring people to faith in Jesus. Throughout the book, Jesus most committed
followers and biggest critics all misunderstand what is happening. Only at Easter, when people see the empty
tomb and encounter a once dead but now alive Jesus, only then do things finally
make sense.
Today
we start the third major part of our church year, what people did about it.
Through the book of Acts and Paul’s letters we will see how the first believers
formed the church, argued, made decisions, prayed, worshipped, cared for the
community, encouraged one another and invited others to come and see. Today, we get our first glimpse of what kind of community they are, a place for everyone, where each person has work to do, gifts, resources and ideas to share, grace to live in and forgiveness that is necessary to make things great. We jump
right in with the conversion of Saul, one of the most significant events in the
history of the world, of the church but also of all human life, empire and
community. Saul’s change from being a very
respected and militant Pharisee and persecutor of the church to becoming a
Baptized Christian is a major event, it changes everything. It is made
permanent with with a new name, Saul is now Paul and Paul will become history’s
greatest missionary, literally spreading the Gospel around the world,
faithfully engaging in debates, supporting the church and welcoming all people.
Paul also has a profound impact on the
theological understanding of Jesus death and resurrection, much of our church’s
beliefs on central things like justification by grace through faith, God’s free
gift of salvation, find their origins in Paul’s inspired, Spirit driven words.
This
reading is a call story, God reaching out to someone in faith and love,
inviting or asking them to a specific job, work or change, Each of us has one. In
this case Saul is being called to turn his back on his whole life’s work, to preach
a new Gospel he distrusts to Gentiles he is religiously and culturally disconnected
from. This is not an easy step, mentally
or physically. Soon after Paul is struck
blind and then restored, he starts learning, preaching Christ as the son of
God, who rose from the dead for the forgiveness of our sins and is baptized.
Then he must flee Damascus as the religious authorities quickly plot to kill
him (for one of their own, a highly known and educated religious authority like
Saul, to convert was seriously good press for the Christians, as we say today,
this was going to go viral). Paul narrowly escapes to Jerusalem, only to be
unwelcomed with fear and great suspicion by the Christian leaders there. Barnabas, one of the believers who knew about
Paul’s call, conversion, Baptism and Preaching explains all these things and
Paul is accepted into the community.
This
reading today is not all about Paul. There is another, less famous person, called by
God to do something difficult. That is
the believer Ananias. (There are 3 different people in the bible with that name,
the High Priest who condemns Jesus, a man who is stuck dead for withholding his
resources and lying to the church in Acts 4 and the one we meet today). Over
the years I have seen the statement “Good thing Jesus loves you because
everyone else hates you” all over the place. There are lots of different versions of it,
most of which are not appropriate to say in a sermon. I’ve seen this questionable declaration of
faith on hats, t-shirts, comedies, and bumper stickers. That is exactly how Annaias must feel about
Saul, about being called to heal, restore, teach and care for an ambitious
murderer and vicious persecutor of Christians.
Ananias
feared and hated Saul. He had many good reasons to stay away, to do nothing
to help a man who days ago was breathing threats and murder against the
disciple Helping that guy see was
dangerous. News that Saul was struck
blind was probably received as good news to the Christians. He would be way
less harmful. Helping him was a
dangerous thing to do, preach Jesus to a man sent with authority to search out,
uncover and destroy the church. What if Saul, once healed, says “thanks” but
you made me blind to begin with, and must be punished, What if Annaias friends and fellow Christians
find out he rescued and restored a blinded and weakened Saul For Ananias, Jesus loves you is enough, he
listens to God, despite all the good reasons not to. Annaias goes and sees Saul, brining news, "Brother
Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that
you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” all the while probably thinking “Great, I have
been called by God and given the power to restore sight and share the Holy
Spirit and I have to use it on this guy”.
I
wanted to share a lot more about this Annaias, about his life, what else he
did, his celebrated accomplishments. I wanted to bring this often overlooked saint
to our attention, but there is nothing to be found. This one moment of obedience
is all we know about this person who heals probably teaches and perhaps even
baptizes Paul. Like Paul, Annias’ bold
leap of faith shapes history. This one small thing, bringing a message of joy
and relief to a suffering man in your town, sits at the heart of this story.
This reminds us that God calls each and every person to something, which we
might not always understand or see the big picture but we are asked to have faith
and boldly do it anyway.
Call
stories can be very different. It’s a
process that candidates for ministry are asked to trust (but most don’t). In some churches, you are lifted up from the
membership, after exhibiting Spiritual Gifts, in others, you apply get
interviewed, evaluated, tested, pushed, sent to school and approved. Some
churches focus on moral strengths, others look at theological knowledge or
practical skills. I have talked to
people called to ministry from rock bottom, in prison or sick with addiction,
people who become pastors after experiencing miracles or visions, people who
have started or even completed other careers first, going through with that
nagging “I should be doing something else” feeling. My own story is not so
exciting, being a pastor or priest is what I always thought I would end up
doing. It’s taken quite a few years to
own it, time sitting around wondering if this is okay, if I should sup it up in
places, if there were all going to laugh at me (or think I don’t belong
here). Today, we meet 2 people with very
different call stories, of how they receive new life and what they do with
it. Every Sunday, every day really, we
are surrounded by people with different stories. We are invited to hear them
with joy and remember we are all working together.
Finally,
I think of The hymn we are going to sing a few minutes, There is a Balm in Gilead,
choosen for today because of one verse, If
you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot pray like Paul, you can tell the
love of Jesus and say, "He died for all." That
is ultimately what we are doing here
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