Acts 9:1-22 Last week we heard
how the early church faced persecution.
That persecution quickly grew from imprisonment to murder. Stephen was a leader in the early church and
after a particularly powerful sermon was attacked by a mob and stoned to death.
We don’t know the
name of anyone in that mob save one: a
young Pharisee named Saul—born about the same time as Jesus—taught by the
greatest rabbi of the day—a rising star in his community—a man who stood by
watching with approval.
You would think
that brutal experience would have elicited some compassion from Saul but it
didn’t. Instead he became the fiercest persecutor
of the church. The Bible says that:
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 belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Immediately
before his ascension into heaven, Jesus gathered his disciples together and
told them that the Good News of salvation would go forth into the world,
reaching more and more people through their witness.
But the devil was
right there too—doing everything in his power to tear down the Christian
faith. And the tool that he chose to do
that was Saul of Tarsus—the young man who stood by while Stephen died—the young
man who wanted to expand the persecution of the church—the young man who by
virtue of his intelligence and zeal and ruthlessness was the deadliest enemy
the church had ever encountered.
But what we see
today in God’s Word—what is the best possible news for us when we confront a
world that is increasingly opposed to Christianity—is that the risen Christ has
the power to change lives forever—even his enemies. The Bible says that:
Saul approached
Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to
the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to
do.”
When
we hear the stories of what is happening to Christians in the Middle East, the
emotions that we feel are not love for our enemies and a desire to do good to
those who hate us, are they? And yet God
loves them and Jesus shed his life’s blood for them.
Saul was an enemy
of God and a persecutor of Christians and a more dangerous obstacle to the
mission of the church has never existed than that man—and yet Jesus loved him
and intervened in his life in a mighty and miraculous way to save him.
We may shake our
heads in wonder at God’s love for his enemies—we may think that we could come
up with a better solution regarding those who persecute the church—but God’s
love for his enemies and his desire to convert his persecutors IS the story of
Christ’s salvation and it encompasses us too—and in exactly the same way.
The Bible says
that Adam’s rebellion has passed to each of us—that the old self is
corrupt—that we are by nature children of wrath—that the intentions of our
heart are evil from our youth—and the carnal mind is at war against God.
The biblical point
is this: if the love of God and the
salvation of Jesus do not extend someone like Saul—then neither do they extend
to us. But of course they do! The risen Christ came into our lives just as
certainly as he did for Saul on the Road to Damascus (perhaps not as
dramatically!) but no less real for that.
Jesus’ love for us
would not let us continue as his enemies and he came to us and converted us by
the power of the Gospel and made us his people.
The Good News of God’s love for his enemies and Christ’s salvation of
his persecutors for Saul and for us is this:
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
That is the
message that changes our hearts when it comes to our enemies and makes us love
them and desire their salvation. The
Bible says that:
There was a disciple
at Damascus
named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here
I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called
Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for
behold, 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 at Jerusalem.
And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your
name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to
carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I
will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
It’s
important to note that while the risen Christ did miraculously appear to Saul, Saul’s
actual conversion did not occur at a snap of God’s fingers or through some
magical way—it came through the people of God—just like our conversion did.
Someone brought us
to Holy Baptism. Someone taught us in
Sunday School. Someone preached to us. Someone witnessed to us about Jesus. Someone invited us to church. God used those who were already his people as
the means through which he brought us into his kingdom—and that’s the way it
worked for Saul.
We talked last
week about how we hear the word “go” again and again in the Easter story and in
the church’s story as it shares the message of Easter and so it is today: the Lord comes to Ananias and says “GO”!
In fact, he has to
tell him twice because Ananias has some serious reservations about the mission
he is sent on. Doesn’t the Lord know
that Saul is a persecutor? Doesn’t God
know Saul wants to destroy the church?
Doesn’t God know what kind of man Saul is? Well, yeah—he does—he’s God!
The problem wasn’t
with the Lord or his plan but with Ananias because the words he heard about
what a terrible man Saul was-- were more powerful than the Word of the Lord
that tells him to “GO”!
That the Lord told
him to “go” should have been all he needed to immediately drop everything else
and go. But Ananias could only see what
was in front of him in an angry, murderous man.
He didn’t have the faith to see what Saul could become through the gracious
work of the Risen Christ in his life.
We still struggle
with the same discipleship challenges of obedience and faith. The Lord has told us to “go” with the Good
News of his life and yet we are very comfortable remaining in the comfort zones
of people and places that we already know.
We look out at a
world full of people who have real problems and that’s all that we can see--
instead of what they can become if only they knew Jesus. The work of bringing Christ to the world and
the world to Christ goes forward through us his people who obey his command to
make disciples of all nations and who believe his promise that he can change
the lives of even the most hardened enemies of the church.
The power of the
risen Christ to convert his enemies has not changed or diminished in the last two
thousand years and is still being accomplished today in every place where his
Word is preached and his sacraments are administered. Luke writes:
So Ananias departed
and entered the house. And laying his hands on Saul he said, “Brother Saul, the
Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came 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 he regained his
sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.
In
that moment, Saul went from being an enemy of Jesus and a persecutor of the
church to a child of God and a brother to all the other believers in God’s
family.
From that moment
on, every time he talked about baptism he would talk about being raised from
death to life. From that moment on, every
time he talked about the church he would talk about a family of faith. From that moment on, when he talked about the
work of the Holy Spirit in human hearts, he would liken it to a blind man
regaining his sight.
But also significant
was what happened to Ananias. He learned
that God wanted even his enemies to come to faith. He learned the importance of being obedient
to the Lord’s mission and in having faith in the Lord’s vision of salvation
that encompasses the whole world. He
learned the power of the risen Christ who could convert even his worst enemies.
We need to learn the same.
The saving mission
of Jesus Christ goes forth into a world that does not know him and is opposed
to him and hates him. But it goes forth
in confidence and courage because the people of God know beyond any shadow of a
doubt that the power of the risen Christ is infinitely greater than his enemies
and has the power to change persecutors into preachers. The Bible says that:
For some days Saul
was with the disciples at Damascus.
And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son
of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who
made havoc in Jerusalem
of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose,
to bring them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more
in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the
Christ.
This
is what Jesus had in mind all along—Saul was a completely changed man by the
power of the risen Christ—but he didn’t lose what he was before.
He was still
zealous and intelligent—he was still dedicated and fearless. It was all just converted to the cause of proclaiming
Jesus as the Christ. As powerful an
enemy of Christianity as he was, he now became its greatest champion. Countless millions of people have come to
Christ through his apostolic ministry—and Ananias was the one who brought him
to Christ.
That is the joyous
privilege of being a part of our Lord’s mission: he does not demand of us results—but that we
would be obedient to his Word and faithful to his mission-- and trust that the
Risen Christ can convert his enemies.
Amen.
