Reading 1: Acts 9:1-9
Christianity began as a reform movement within the Jewish tradition. It was known as The Way because its members believed that Jesus of Nazareth was anointed by God to show the true way of being God’s people in the world.
The leaders of the religious establishment – the temple priests, the religious lawyers, and the political leaders in Jerusalem saw The Way as a problem. Its teachings, its disregard of traditional religious practices, and its tendency to attract and elevate apparent ne-er-do-wells seemed dangerous to the religious and moral fibre of the nation.
They thought executing Jesus would be the end
of the problem. But when the Way continued
and only became more popular in Jerusalem, the authorities brought in Saul, a
zealous student of the law from the city of Tarsus, to clean up the city. In fear for their lives, many of the
followers of The Way fled Jerusalem to find safety in the city of
Damascus.
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” the voice replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
Reflection: Saul
My name – at least for now, is Saul. Originally from Tarsus. I wouldn’t be surprised if I have to change my name soon, because of the other big change in my life.
It was the voice that most shook me, and broke me down.
The light from heaven was startling. But to someone with my theological training and spiritual experience, I’m actually exhilarated by in-breakings of the Holy and by Divine Encounter.
And knocked off my horse? I’ve been knocked down before, and always managed to get up and fight again. The work I’d taken on wasn’t easy all the time, nor painless. But I knew God was on my side, and would see me through.
What really shook me, was the voice and the answer to my question, “Who are you, Lord?”
It was the only question to be asked at that point. It goes back all the way to Moses, to when Moses saw the light of heaven in that burning bush. Good servant that he was, and wanting to know what God he was meeting, he asked for God’s name, and he was told. The great and holy “I AM THAT I AM.” The unutterable name we’ve known God by ever since.
So, when I saw the light, I too asked the question, expecting to get the same affirmation that Moses did for himself, his purpose and the eternal holiness of the mission he was one.
Centuries ago, when God revealed Himself to Moses, it was for him to lead us to this place that we have, and to become the holy people and the nation that we are. People were here before us, but by God’s good will and divine guidance we moved in with God’s love, God’s law, God’s true religion, and God’s special purpose to be achieved here and in all the world through us. Our manifest destiny. To be God’s dominion.
With God’s help, we built something good. Something meant to be a light to all the world. A city set on a hill that we are the rightful citizens of.
Of course, we’ve had our ups and downs. Times we lived up to what we are meant to be, and times of not – of going astray, of losing our way, losing God’s way.
But we are still and ever God’s people – and we know for ourselves what we need to reform and be right. Just get back to what we know. Be the best we can be. Keep the stock and the blood lines pure. Don’t let anyone topple the structures. Keep control, keep calm, weather the storm. Also keep telling others how to be good, how to be godly, how to be like us.
Even if they can’t be.
The Galileans, of course, don’t like this. They say it makes them feel like outsiders, inferior, marginalized, racialized. But isn’t that the point of it? Isn’t it important to be clear about who measures up and who doesn’t? Who is pure and who is not? Who’s inside and who’s out? Who God’s blessed ones are, and who’s not? In other words, who and what and how you should try to be like, even if you really can’t be?
Instead of trying to be like us and accepting their inferiority when they’re not, these Galileans have been saying God loves them – and loves all people, as they are and for who they are. Even the broken and struggling ones. Even the wayward and straggling ones. Even the different and clearly “other” ones. That God embraces them all as one family and calls them all to an equal – even a privileged, place at the table.
Well, that might be good enough for Galilee. We can tolerate that kind of thinking on the edges of the kingdom. Whatever makes them happy and feel they belong somewhere.
But in Jerusalem? In the holy city? In the places of power and influence? Teaching and acting that out in the temple? As our official and public way of being?
No, this had to be stopped before it toppled and overturned and changed everything about us.
So, when I was on my way to Damascus to cleanse us once and for all of the followers of The Way … and the light from heaven drove me to my knees … and I was able to ask the question, “Who are you, Lord?’ … and the voice started to answer with those wonderful holy words “I am …” … and I expected it to continue into “I AM THAT I AM” … and I would know that I was being affirmed like Moses had been, … and everything I was fighting to protect from being changed really was meant by God just to stay as it was … it shook me to the core when that voice from heaven said instead, “I am Jesus, whom you are fighting against.”
“I AM JESUS, WHOM YOU ARE FIGHTING AGAINST.”
That was the message from heaven. From the heart of the holy light. It shook me to the core.
And I suddenly knew how blind I really was. How badly I saw things. How deeply mistaken I was about God.
How much help I would need, how much I needed to change, and how much I needed to be changed, just to see things right, and be on the right track. To be not against, not apart from, but to be on and be part of The Way that is God’s way.
Reading 2: Acts 9:10-22
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. And I myself will show him all that he must suffer for my name.”
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul spent several days with the disciples in
Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of
God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who
raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come
here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” Yet Saul grew more and
more powerful, and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is
the Messiah.
Reflection: Ananias
My name is Ananias. I was the one who the Lord sent to lay hands on Saul to help restore his sight. I have a question for you, that I want you to answer as honestly as you can.
What would you have done, in my position? Be honest.
Would you think, as I did, at least for a moment, “Aha! Now it’s time for him to suffer!!” And then … as things unfolded, maybe just for a – what do you call it, a nanosecond? – would you have thought just for a nanosecond, “Here’s the chance … our one shot … to get rid of him forever”?
Saul – that devil of a zealot from Tarsus, had made himself our sworn enemy, and he was a formidable foe. He had come to Jerusalem for the sole purpose of ridding the city of us, and when we fled for safety to Damascus that wasn’t enough for him. He asked for orders to follow us here, find us, and take us back in chains.
On the way here, though, God intervened and struck him blind. We heard about it. And when we heard it, we … well, never mind for now what we thought or did.
Because I want to know: what would you have done, if you were hiding in the hovels and back rooms of friends in Damascus, fearful that Saul would find you and take you back to certain punishment and maybe death in Jerusalem, and you heard that on his way God had intervened and struck your mortal enemy with total blindness, rendered him powerless?
What would have gone through your kind when you heard that news? Maybe, “Good”? “Praise God”? “There is a God”? “It serves him right; he’s been so blind to the truth all along”?
It seemed an affirmation that yes, we were God’s anointed holy people, and God was protecting us as God promises to his special servants. We know are different from the mainstream. We know we are a thorn in the religious establishment’s side. A curiosity to many. A problem for the civil authorities.
All because of the way we are following. Because of how we are shaking things up. Obeying a new law of love for all. Letting ourselves be led and inspired by a new and powerful Spirit being poured out by God upon us.
We’re okay with being different. Being separate. A special community into ourselves. A righteous remnant. You probably noticed in the reading how we referred to ourselves as “holy people.” And praise be to God for setting a shield around us, to keep us safe from harm and from the powers of the world.
Isn’t that how you would have felt in that spot? Especially blessed and shielded by God? And obviously especially holy because of it?
But then … in a vision, the Lord came to me and said, “He’s in Damascus. He was led by some people, and he’s staying at the house of Judas on the street called Straight. I want you to go there and find him, and when you do …”
What would you be thinking at that point?
What I thought was … is this the chance to be rid of him forever? To send our mortal enemy – and God’s, to the great hereafter, and for us – God’s new holy people, to live now in peace and in freedom from fear?
Of course, I immediately knew this was not what this mission was to be about. This was not a contract God was putting out on the bad guy.
If it was Peter speaking to me, maybe it would have been. Maybe also if it was James and John, the sons of Zebedee; they always seemed to be more than a little power-hungry. Certainly, if had been – the Iscariot Judas … he was not above trying to do God’s work with the devil’s tools.
But this was the Lord who was speaking. This was Jesus sending me to go find Saul and … lay hands on him – not to kill him, not to choke him, not to hurt him in any way, or even force a treaty of peace or safe passage from him – but to help regain his vision.
To do him good. To do something clear and strong for his well-being. And … in the process, to make ourselves vulnerable to him once again.
Just like the Lord, isn’t it? Just like Jesus to love, and love, and always and only love one’s neighbour as one’s self. And to say our neighbour is everyone. That is The Way that he shows as the way of God and God’s kingdom, isn’t it?
And when I reminded Jesus of just who Saul was, what he was capable of, and what he even had orders to do, Jesus said, “Yes, I know. But I have plans and a good purpose for him. He brings a lot to the table – to any table he’s at. So, I want you to help bring him to your table, our table, God’s table. And I will show him what changes, and humiliations, and conversions, and transformations he must undergo to be part of God’s work in the world and help it keeping growing in wild and wonderful new ways…
"Just as I have – and am still doing, with you.”
I admit, that’s what sealed the deal for me. The memory and the confession of the work the Lord had already done to help me be part of the Way.
How could I not be glad to do what I was able to do, to help Saul be part of it as well?
For his sake. For my sake. For God’s sake. For the sake of The Way of Jesus the Lord growing farther and wider and deeper into the life of all the world.
Now, how do I get to Straight Street from here?
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