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.
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 house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this 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 synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.
--Acts 9:1-22 (NRSV)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Creator, and our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Alleluia, Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia! (Just checking to make sure you remember that we are in Easter!)
Have you ever found yourself in conflict with someone with whom you deeply disagreed?
In 1989, F. W. de Klerk became president of South Africa. He was an Afrikaner - a white ethnic group in South Africa descended from Dutch and Huguenot ancestors. He was a member of the National Party, which was the majority party in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. This party - also known as the Nationalist Party - was responsible for the implementation of apartheid rule. Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation that existed, beginning in 1948. It ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation’s minority white population. It barred the vote of non-white citizens. It prohibited mixed-race marriages. It required all citizens to register into one of four racial groups based on appearance. It also removed black Africans from their homes and forced them into segregated neighborhoods, some of the largest mass evictions in modern history.
By the time de Klerk was elected in 1989, white citizens represented around 15% of the population but had 100% domination politically, socially, and economically. Yet, the handwriting was on the wall. De Klerk recognized that apartheid was unsustainable. International pressure was mounting. His election was a recognition of these realities. His election was a mandate for change.
This is not like our story today. :) This text in Acts is the story of a man, a zealot really, who was on a warpath, to seek out and destroy every follower of The Way - what the early Christians were called. He was dogged in his search. So dogged that he had sought and received papers from the Jewish leaders that gave him the authority to extradite Christians from Damascus back to Jerusalem for punishment. Likely the same punishment meted out to Stephen, whose stoning he had witnessed, as noted in the previous chapter. As our story today begins, he - Saul - is on the hunt, on his way to Damascus. There will be no compromise on Saul’s part, no will to engage in good-faith action to reach any agreement. Only arrest and punishment.
How is it that these two men can come from similar backgrounds, steeped in the respective systems in which they had grown up, yet each eventually moving into such different directions? One, a leader who can envision a different future, a more inclusive future. The other who can only envision a future where he is right. Where his belief systems reign. And who will stop at nothing to ensure it.
Except there is one thing that this second person - Saul - does not consider. Or I should say one person that Saul does not consider. Christ. His encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus changes everything.
We need to note, though, that it was not only Saul who was changed. Because this text is about Saul AND Ananias. Ananias, who, when told by God to go to Saul, blind and helpless in a house on Straight Street (I love that analogy!), it was Ananias who said, “Whoa! Wait a minute here! Isn’t this the one who has been chasing us, persecuting us, breathing “threats and murder” against us? You want me to go where?” And, yet, Ananias, in faith, goes.
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You and I are living in a world of division. Perhaps you, like me, have been at times the cause of some of that division. Disagreeing with family members or friends over political or ideological stances, even over issues of faith. Insisting that we are right. And, while we might not say the word aloud, there are those whom we might consider enemies. Because they don’t think like us. Because they don’t look like us. Because they don’t live like us. Or because of any other reason we can find to separate us, to keep us divided. So, that we can be right. Just like Paul. And even Ananias.
It is when Saul encounters Christ that he is transformed - not just by his interaction with Christ, but also by his interaction with one of the very people he is working against. Ananias is changed as well by his call and by his interaction with Saul. Through it, Ananias learns that there is no limit to who God can work in and through. His initial distrust of Saul is well-placed. But it cannot stand against God’s action working in and through both of them. It is in their relationship, through the work of the Spirit, that they are both changed.
The work of F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela would change themselves - and a nation. The work of Paul and Ananias would change themselves - and the church. The work of Christ and of Christ’s Spirit will change all creation as they continue to nudge us toward shalom. May we be a part of this work. In faith. Trusting in the power of God - and God’s unexpected and often messy ways - to create and re-create our world.
And may we be transformed in the process.
Amen.
Preached Sunday, April 28, 2024, at Grace & Glory, Goshen, KY, and Third/MOSAIC, Louisville, KY.
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