This passage is most typically known as Saul’s conversion story—his Damascus Road Experience. It describes a dramatic encounter between Saul and Jesus on the road to Damascus…the encounter that started Saul down a new path that would make him the most prolific evangelist of the early church and the most prolific writer in the New Testament.
This passage also describes an encounter—less dramatic and less well known—between Jesus and another guy, um, you know…Ananias.
Saul usually gets all the attention. But today I invite you to pay attention to Ananias too.
Ananias is a common foot soldier in the Lord’s army. He doesn’t get a lot of attention. Nobody really remembers him. The Lord didn’t blind him with a bright light. The Lord didn’t change his name. As far as we know, the Lord didn’t send him to far away places where he would suffer floggings and imprisonments and shipwrecks. The Lord did not give him an assignment to change his world so that our world would still be reverberating from the impact.
But the Lord did give Ananias an assignment to change the world for one person. And, for that reason, it’s worth paying as much attention to this account of the encounter between Ananias and Jesus as to this account of the encounter between Saul and Jesus. You and I may never be asked to change the world, but you and I will be asked, from time to time, to change the world for one person.
We don’t know a lot about Ananias. He was a disciple of Jesus, and he lived in Damascus. Later in Acts, Paul describes him as “a devout observer of the law and respected by all the Jews” in Damascus.
I wonder when Ananias came to know Jesus.
Was he in Jerusalem for Passover the week that Jesus was arrested? Did he meet Jesus then? Did he hear him teach? Did he see him die? Did he hear about the empty tomb? Did he come to faith then?
Or maybe he was in Jerusalem for Pentecost a few weeks later. Maybe he was in the crowd that heard Peter preach. Maybe he believed then and was baptized.
On the other hand, maybe Ananias was from Galilee originally. Maybe he met Jesus while he was teaching and preaching and healing there. Maybe he was among the 120 followers who waited in the upper room for the Spirit to come at Pentecost. Maybe he only moved to Damascus after Stephen was killed and the persecution began in Jerusalem and Judea.
Maybe Ananias was never part of the church in Jerusalem at all. Maybe he was introduced to Jesus by other disciples who came to Damascus from Jerusalem.
We don’t know if Ananias had been a follower of Jesus for a long time or a short time. We do know that he knew Jesus. We know that he had been in Damascus long enough to be known and respected among the Jews (and the Jewish Christians) there.
Saul did not know Jesus. He knew the name of course. It had become Saul’s career to know the name and to root out followers of that name.
Saul was from Tarsus, a Jew born into Roman citizenship. He was a Pharisee—a student and adherent of the Law, highly educated under the tutelage of the most famous rabbi of the first century. Back in Jerusalem Saul watched over the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death. Now he is on his way to Damascus, the nearest important city outside of the Holy Land—“breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples”. He is carrying letters from the High Priest in Jerusalem to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he finds Jesus followers among the Jews in Damascus he might arrest them.
On the road to Damascus, Saul encounters Jesus. Shortly thereafter, in Damascus, Ananias hears from Jesus too.
Two very different encounters…both very important to the future of the church…both with a lot to teach us about what to expect when Jesus decides give one of us an assignment—big or little.
First thing to notice…Jesus seems to be willing to give assignments to those who recognize his voice and to those who don’t…to those who are walking the path of discipleship faithfully and to those who are resolutely walking the wrong way entirely.
Saul was an enemy of Jesus—out to take some heads. When he heard the Lord call his name, he had to ask, “Who are you, Lord?”
If you think you have to get your act entirely together before Jesus will even consider calling upon you, think again. Sometimes it is only Jesus’ call that lets us know that we don’t have our act together.
Ananias was a disciple of Jesus—just trying to keep his head down and out of the line of fire. When he heard the Lord call his name, he recognized him and answered, “Yes, Lord.”
If you think you are safe from any further nudges from the Lord now that you’ve made the decision to follow him, think again. The call to turn his direction the first time is only the beginning. He will continue to call upon you to change the world for one person at a time for the rest of your life.
Second thing to notice…if the Lord wants to get your attention, he is quite capable of doing it.
Ananias seemed to be tuned into the Lord. When the Lord called, he heard him immediately.
Saul was tuned into one thing and one thing only—his zealous pursuit of followers of the Way. Saul was intensely focused, but he was intensely focused on the wrong thing. The Lord had to get his attention before he could do anything else with him. So he did. “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.” Saul fell to the ground and was blinded. For three days he did not eat or drink and he was dependent on his men to lead him by the hand. That would get my attention!
Saul’s Damascus Road Experience always reminds me of Moses’ burning bush experience. That was another occasion when God wanted to get somebody’s attention. Moses inattentiveness was not a matter of being focused on the wrong thing, though. Moses’ problem was that he had spent so many years wandering the desert with his sheep that he had stopped focusing on much of anything. The burning bush got his attention!
Whether our inattentiveness is due to intense focus on the wrong thing or lack of focus on anything in particular, God is quite capable of getting our attention when he wants to.
Third…God has his own reasons for handing out assignments, this assignment to this person and that assignment to that person.
Think about it. Here’s Ananias in Damascus. He’s a faithful disciple. He’s attentive to the Lord’s voice. He’s well-respected by all the Jews. He knows the Law and observes it. He lives outside of the Holy Land so he must be at least somewhat familiar with the ways of Gentiles.
Do you ever wonder why God went to the trouble to get Saul’s attention when he already had people like Ananias around?
God chose a zealous Pharisee, an active and “murderous” persecutor of his church, to carry the Good News to the Gentiles. Based on results, I guess God knew what he was doing.
Do you suppose Ananias ever wondered why he did get selected to go to Saul? I would guess that most of the Christians in Damascus went underground when they heard that Saul was on his way to town. Ananias was the lucky one who got the assignment to risk arrest and worse by confronting Saul. Why Ananias? Well, based on results, I guess God knew what he was doing.
Fourth…sometimes when the Lord calls, the next thing you have to do is wait.
When Jesus confronted Saul on the road to Damascus he asked Saul one question and he gave Saul one instruction. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” and “Get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men with Saul led him by the hand into the city. For three days he could see nothing but darkness. He ate and drank nothing. He waited, and he prayed. He received a vision that a man named Ananias would come and place his hands on him to restore his sight. He waited some more.
God had a tremendous task to set before Saul, but his first task was to wait. This is not a task he could do under his own power or with his own wisdom. He needed to let the Lord lead him one step at a time.
Fifth…sometimes when the Lord calls, the next thing you have to do is go.
When the Lord gave Ananias his assignment, Ananias had time to ask one question of the Lord.
“Lord, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” Are you sure this is the man you want me to go see?
And the Lord responded with one instruction: “Go!”
The corollary to this observation is that when God gives you an assignment, you always have the choice to say yes or no. You always have the freedom to obey or disobey. That said, sometimes it’s clear that you have to say ‘yes’ even when your insides are crying out in fear ‘no, no, no!’
It seems this was the case with Ananias. He was understandably concerned about going to see Saul, but God said ‘go’ so he went.
Sixth…sometimes when the Lord calls, he has to do a lot of changing in you before you can go out and change the world.
When Saul lost his sight for three days, more was going on than a physical reaction to a really bright light. The Lord was letting Saul know just how blind he had been…that his rejection of Jesus was the result of blindness…that his zealousness in persecuting the church was the result of blindness…that even his devotion to the Law was a blind devotion.
When Ananias laid his hands upon Saul and the scales fell from his eyes, more was going on than a physical healing of damaged eyes. The Lord was signaling to Saul the dramatic changes that would happen in his life now that he could see Jesus clearly.
Before Saul could even be given his assignment, he had to do a lot of repenting and turning from old ways. Before Saul could even be given his assignment, first the Lord had to do a lot of healing within him. Before Saul could even be given his assignment, he had to come to know Jesus.
Seventh…sometimes when the Lord calls, it will turn your life upside down and nothing will ever be the same again; sometimes when the Lord calls, it is simply time to do your task and return to your life. Either way, when the Lord calls, he very often calls you and me out of our comfort zone.
Saul was focused on a purpose of his own. He never expected the Lord to encounter him on the road to Damascus. He never expected to have his life turned upside-down. He never expected to become an evangelist for Jesus Christ. But the Lord called, and nothing was ever the same again.
Ananias was understandably concerned about the idea of going to see Saul. It didn’t make a lot of sense to him, and it involved taking a considerable risk. But the Lord called, and he responded. For one brief moment he stepped into the spotlight in response to God’s call, and then he stepped into the background again and went on with his life.
The Lord provided Saul with everything he needed to fulfill his assignment. The Lord provided Ananias with everything he needed to fulfill his assignment. The Lord provides you and me with everything we need to fulfill our assignments.
Thanks be to God.
