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By Peter Summers "Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 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. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 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. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank." (Acts 9.1-9) Let's unpack some of this astounding story. Paul's conversion begins with "threats and murder," letters of introduction and the blessing of the high priest. He was in fact setting out on a holy war, the aim of which was the binding of the followers of the Way and their subsequent punishment and destruction in Jerusalem, God's holy city. I once heard a very wise Bishop say, "Always look for the surprise. That's where you'll find God." We are used to the idea that the Christian faith's most ardent persecutor became its most passionate apostle, but we don't often think of that transformation from God's point of view. It's certainly very impressive that God uses the testimony of one who used to so oppose him and that makes Paul's words so compelling. But let's look at it from God's point of view. He has chosen to reveal himself to someone who is utterly at odds with all God is trying to do; someone who participates in the martyrdom of believers; someone, in short, who isn't fulfilling God's purposes in any way, and who in reality deserves God's censure and punishment. Already we can see, at the very moment when the risen Jesus appears to Paul, God's grace. Who but God would choose an enemy to become his friend? And when Jesus speaks to him, he calls him by name. God is, above all, a personal God, seeking relationship on a first name basis. But Jesus doesn't just know Paul by name, he knows exactly who he is; a reminder that what we do often defines who we are. Paul is Jesus' persecutor. Confronted with the Risen Lord Paul is struck blind and dumb: Like Jesus' three days in the tomb, Paul awaits in darkness and silence the new life that God will give him. That's always God's way. He takes something negative and replaces it, in his own time, with something new and quite unexpected. The story continues: "Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the home of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At the moment he is praying, 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." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." 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; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." 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." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength." "For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue, saying, "He is the Son of God." (Acts 9.10-20) How does God change Saul into Paul? Not by the wave of a magic wand, but by Paul's own prayers and the intervention of another Christian. Ananias must have wondered what he'd done wrong for God to want to deliver him into the hands of the church's chief persecutor. Once again God is doing the unexpected. Time and time again in the Bible we meet someone who makes only a fleeting appearance, but in carrying out God's will transforms the lives of the more famous and memorable characters. Ananias is one of those people, someone just like us, who God asks to do something extraordinary, to step, as it were, into the lion's den. Ananias is the archetype of Christians through the ages who have been called to confront a situation seemingly full of danger and to speak God's word into the midst of it. That he went was extraordinary; what he saw after he delivered God's message was even more so. He witnessed the transformation only God can work: Paul changed from a persecutor to a preacher. We need to remember that God needs all of us to accomplish his will, no matter how famous or retiring we may be; and that when God's presence is added to an impossible situation, the unexpected will happen. Peter Summers is the youngest son of Don and Lena Summers. This page originated as an article in The Messenger, the newspaper of St James' Episcopal Church, South Pasadena, California. |
