Acts 9:1-20
Many years ago during
the Christmas season, Carol and I attended the Cleveland Orchestra's annual
Christmas concert. When that evening
finally arrived, Carol and I went out to dinner then we made our way to
Severance Hall not too far from downtown Cleveland. Sitting next to me on the
other side was a woman who was very finally dressed. I surmised that she was
probably a regular concert goer just by her mannerisms and how familiar she
seemed with the surroundings.
About ten minutes
into the concert I heard the sound of muffled snoring and looked to my left,
and discovered that she was sleeping. In fact, I glanced her way several times
through the first half of the concert and not once before intermission did she
open her eyes. She slept soundly.
After intermission (she did wake up
for that) everyone returned to their seats for the second half. It wasn't long
before she was asleep again. Only one time did she open her eyes—when the
cymbals clashed loudly and awakened her as she just about jumped out of her
seat.
In our reading from
the Book of Acts chapter nine, two men are, in a sense, awakened from the routine of their
day in a startling way. Saul, public enemy number one, as far as the church is
concerned, is traveling on the Damascus Road. He has orders from the religious
authorities in Jerusalem to round up as many Jewish Christians as he can find
in Damascus in order to bring them back to Jerusalem, presumably to stand trial
for their newly found faith in Jesus, which as far as Saul was concerned, was
a blatant rejection of the ancestral traditions and a perversion of the faith
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Saul had overseen the stoning of Stephen, a
convert to Christianity in Jerusalem, and now he was headed to north where it
appeared that Christianity had made solid inroads in the Jewish community
there.
On the way along with
some companions, Saul is awakened from his own agenda and given another. He
will become a member of the very same group he has been persecuting. He will
become a follower of Jesus. He is led to Damascus as one struck blind and he
waits for the new world that is in store for him.
In Damascus there is
a faithful disciple of Jesus, Ananias. We have not heard of this Ananias until
now, and after the story of Saul’s conversion concludes, we will never hear of
him again. Andy Warhol said that everyone gets his or her fifteen minutes of
fame. Acts chapter nine recounts Ananias' brief and famous moments.
Ananias is told that
he must encounter this Saul and bring him into the faith through baptism. It is
understandable that Ananias would be quite skeptical over Saul's conversion.
After all, Ananias has heard of Saul and what he has done to the church in
Jerusalem. What is this is a ruse; a trick of Saul's to infiltrate the church
in Damascus in order to arrest the leadership and bring them back to Jerusalem?
Just as Saul, Ananias is awakened from the routine of his life and called upon
to be part of something larger, something that will change the course of
Christianity.
Acts chapter nine is
indeed a tale of two men. In some ways, both are very different. Ananias'
moments of notoriety in the Bible are quite brief, but Saul, who will become
St. Paul, will go on to author most of the book of the Bible in the New
Testament; and he will become and will remain the most influential theologian in
the history of the church. Ananias is a devout follower of Jesus
Christ. Prior to this incident on the Damascus Road, Paul is faithfully
persecuting Jesus' disciples. Yet, there are ways in which they are both the
same. Ananias is committed to his faith in Jesus Christ. Saul is committed
deeply committed to his Jewish faith and will bring that same commitment to his
Christian faith. Ananias is willing to follow God's lead, even though it is
risky. Saul takes the risk of becoming a follower of Jesus and will be sought
out for arrest from the very same people who gave him authority to incarcerate
Christians.
Most commentators
focus on Saul in Acts chapter nine, which is understandable. He is by far the
most famous and most influential of the two men in our story. But it is
unfortunate that too often Ananias is neglected. He is a critical part of Saul's
conversion. He not only initiates Saul into the Christian faith, but it will
become his job to convince the Christians in Damascus that Paul's conversion is
indeed real and that this former persecutor is now be trusted as a fellow
disciples.
A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life
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I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe, –that unless I believed, I should not understand.-- St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)
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