It’s interesting to notice, as we read through these chapters of Acts, from 7 to 10, how there’s a theme of blindness and sight, so reminiscent of the words of Jesus at the end of John 9. [In fact let’s listen to them now.]
First Stephen retells the story of the Jewish people and the members of the council refuse to hear what he’s saying. Then in ch8 there’s the Samaritans and particularly the Ethiopian Eunuch who hear the gospel and instantly respond as though they’re suddenly seeing things clearly. In two weeks time we find Peter having his eyes opened as far as his understanding of the place of the Gentiles in God’s plan is concerned. And here in the middle is the most striking example: Paul, spiritually blind to start with, is struck blind physically by an encounter with the risen Christ then has his sight restored through the intervention of Ananias, previously one of his enemies.
There’s no doubt, as ch. 9 begins, that Saul is a dangerous opponent of Christianity. He’s not satisfied with instigating this great persecution in Jerusalem. Now that most of the Christians have fled he proposes to follow them as far as Damascus, to track them down and wipe them out. He makes sure that he’ll get the cooperation of the Damascus synagogues by getting letters from the high priest and then he sets out.
Later on in Acts (26:11) he describes his attitude at this moment as being in a raging fury. And this makes what happens all the more remarkable doesn’t it? There’s no way that Saul is temperamentally prepared for Christian conversion at this point. There haven’t been any bridge building efforts to bring him close to the point of decision making. He’s about as opposed to becoming a Christian as I guess it’s possible to be. He’s like a modern day Muslim living in Iran, or Sudan, or one of the Shiite extremists perhaps who have been taking hostages to try to get the foreign invaders out of Iraq.
But his great opposition to the Christian faith is also an opposition to Christ himself, as he soon discovers.
He’s going along the road, getting near Damascus when suddenly there’s a great blinding flash of light all around him. He’s so terrified he falls to the ground.
Then he hears a voice speaking to him. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, Lord?" He asks. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Hang on a minute! Isn’t Jesus dead? In any case how am I persecuting Jesus, even if he were risen from the dead as these Christians claim?
Here’s another one of those examples of the way that the acts of the apostles are in fact the ongoing works of Jesus. Not only are the things they say and the things they do the words and works of Jesus, performed by his followers in the power of the Holy Spirit, but also the things they suffer are things the Jesus Christ suffers. Paul isn’t just throwing Christians into prison. He’s persecuting Jesus himself. And suddenly he discovers that all that these Christians have been saying is true. Jesus is risen. He is alive. And he has a job for Saul to do.
I’m sure Saul had no idea at this stage just what would be involved in this task of his. All he knows is that he’s to go into the city and wait for further instructions. It’s a bit like "Mission Impossible" isn’t it? Except that there’s no explosion as the message self-destructs. He’s already had a blinding light.
Now I want you to notice that although he’s been doing incredible damage to the Church, there’s no hint of judgement in what Jesus says to him. He certainly asks him why he’s been persecuting him, but there’s no judgement implied. Rather the grace of the gospel is applied to him in a remarkable way. I guess it’s similar to the grace received by the criminal who was crucified with Jesus. All Saul has to do is to respond with faith to this call to follow him. And that’s what he does.
He’s led into Damascus where he spends three days fasting. He may be responding to what he’s just experienced, this revelation of God in Jesus Christ. This is what’s called a theophany. It’s what Moses and Elijah experienced. A miraculous vision of the living God. So his fast may simply be a response to that. Or it might be in preparation for a further revelation to come; for the revealing of God’s plan for his future. But whatever the reason, he spends 3 days fasting and praying, at the end of which he sees a vision of someone coming to his assistance to help him see again.
At this point another actor comes into play. This man is a Christian. His name is Ananias. And he’s heard all about Saul. He protests: "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." God is asking him to do a very courageous thing isn’t he? Here’s Saul, in Damascus to try to root out the followers of Jesus and Ananias is being asked to walk right into the lion’s den. But perhaps it’s a sign of his maturity as a Christian that this danger doesn’t stop him from doing what Jesus tells him. He goes and enters the house. Even that phrase has a sense of menace about it doesn’t it. Entering into the enemies lair.
Yet through this act of courage, Ananias becomes instrumental in the major work of the gospel in the first century, in the spread of the good news to the Gentile world. Paul is to be "15an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel." What’s more "16I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." Here’s the complete turn around. Saul has been changed from bringing suffering on Jesus’ followers, to himself suffering in Jesus’ name.
And notice the gracious way Ananias greets him when he gets there. What does he call him? "Brother Saul". Do you find that amazingly gracious? He knows exactly what Saul is like, why he’s come here. Yet he accepts him as a Christian brother even before he’s laid hands on him and baptised him. If Jesus has accepted him, extended his grace towards him, then that’s the least Ananias should do.
I guess that’s an important lesson for us to learn as well isn’t it? If God has shown his grace to someone we know who’s offended in some very public way, how can we not show the same grace to them? Though I guess it’s OK at the same time to be looking for the fruit of that grace to be shown in their lives.
For Paul the fruit of that grace soon becomes apparent. As Ananias lays hands on him he receives the Holy Spirit and his eyes are opened. We’re told by Doctor Luke that it’s as though scales fell from his eyes and his sight was restored. Then we see the full impact of his encounter with Jesus. We’re told "immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." 21All 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?" They’re astounded to say the least. I guess the bush telegraph had prepared the locals for his arrival but now he’s doing just the opposite of what they were expecting. Instead of arresting the Christians, now he’s taking their side. And then we see just why God has singled him out for this task of taking the gospel to the Gentiles. "Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah."
While his conversion may have been sudden, in the blinking of an eye, as it were, it certainly hasn’t come out of the blue. We saw a few weeks ago how Saul was present as Stephen gave a most eloquent exposition of the gospel. And that must have had an impact on him. But even before that he was one of the pupils, in fact the star pupil, of Gamaliel, one of the leading rabbis of his time. So when he was converted, he had all the training, all the theological education, all the tricks of rabbinical argument ready at hand. That, combined with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the fact that he was teaching what God intended to be understood from the Scriptures all along, meant that no-one could stand against him. So much so that again the Jews decide to resort to assassination to rid themselves of this adversary.
But their plot is discovered and Saul escapes via a basket lowered from the city wall.
Now at this point, Luke’s narrative probably jumps 2 or three years. According to Paul in Gal 1 he moved in and out of Damascus over a period of 2 or 3 years, so the "After some time had passed" in v23 could be those 2 or 3 years. And then in v26 "When he had come to Jerusalem" may mean after those 3 years, in which case he only stayed for a fortnight or it could be another 14 years later. In any case when he did return to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples they didn’t want to know him. They all had friends and family who were in gaol or dead because of Saul, so they weren’t very happy with the thought of him joining them.
But then we meet Barnabas again, the "Son of Encouragement." We’re not told that he received a vision like Ananias. It seems he just looks Saul up and listens to his story and is wise enough that he’s convinced by it. And so he takes him to the apostles and speaks for him. This of course is the beginning of a lifelong friendship and partnership in the gospel. In a few chapters’ time Saul and Barnabas will be set aside by the Church at Antioch to go on their first missionary journey together to take the gospel to Asia Minor.
Barnabas has a good enough standing in the church that they listen to him and Saul is accepted as one of them. And again he goes out into the marketplace, arguing, this time with the Hellenists, that Jesus is Lord. And again he’s so successful that he’s in danger of being killed by his enemies. And so he leaves Jerusalem and sails for Tarsus from where Barnabas will call him to come to help with the new Gentile converts at Antioch.
And again the Church is at peace. They enjoy a period of consolidation as the gospel continues to be proclaimed and the numbers of Christians increases.
Well, lets think about what we’ve seen in this passage today.
First we’ve seen how Saul was so dramatically changed by his vision of the risen Christ. He changes from raging fury against the Church and against Christ to being one of his most potent advocates.
We see how the identity of Christians with their Lord extends even to their sharing his sufferings and how Jesus Christ himself acknowledges that Christians who suffer are suffering as part of being in him.
We’ve seen how Ananias accepted God’s choice, God’s grace towards Saul and in response offered his own right hand of Christian fellowship.
We’ve seen how God had prepared Saul for his mission of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles through both his past experiences, particularly hearing Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin, and through his training in theology and the Scriptures.
And we’ve seen again, the graciousness of Barnabas in being willing to listen to Saul; and to stand up for him before the leadership of the Church in Jerusalem.
And most of all we’ve seen how the light of the gospel impacted on Saul in a way that will lead in the end to the gospel being proclaimed all the way to Rome, to the centre of the Roman Empire, in fact in the Emperor’s palace itself.
Well, that’s all for now. In 2 week’s time we’ll hear how Peter’s eyes were opened as far as the possibility of Gentiles becoming Christians was concerned.
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