This weekend we remember Saul’s conversion. I wonder what the road to Damascus was like - a dusty, and busy highway. I wonder if Saul was in sight of Damascus when Jesus met him. Let’s imagine Saul, a man on a mission, and his friends, journeying together, maybe in a column of travellers and traders.
By the time Luke wrote Acts, having carefully researched the history, as he tells his friend Theophilus at the start of his Gospel account, he will have travelled with Saul (by then nicknamed Paul – meaning “little”) on his missionary journeys to Philippi, Athens, and Corinth, and seen the Holy Spirit at work – Paul reaching the unreached of his time.
He will have heard Paul tell the account of his conversion again and again. It is often part of his testimony – being changed from one who persecuted the church, a Hebrew of Hebrews, faultless… to “the least of the apostles…”working in vulnerability so that the fruit - new faith in others - may not rest on men’s wisdom but God’s power (1 Cor 2: 5).
So what does Luke bring out in this story in Acts 9? Three thoughts,
- The extraordinary
- The witness of others
- The workings of God
First the extraordinary: There is a flash that stays, maybe like a searchlight beam, a sound, Paul falls, hears words, and gets up blind. A profound change occurs. He does not eat or drink for three days. Imagine! Ananias comes, prays and Paul is a new man… healed and baptised
Second: the witness of others – his companions. Let’s imagine that road again. There is brightness, they see him fall, hear a noise and maybe hear the words. They are rendered speechless. They must have been aware of a divine encounter. And their boss is blinded, and affected.
Third: the workings of God. Luke is the gospel writer who carefully brings out the dynamic activity of the Holy Spirit. Look at the birth narratives, or the meeting on the road to Emmaus. I love imagining Luke’s careful research and interrogation of the facts as he puts together his orderly account. We are told that Ananias, a disciple, is given a vision to do something extraordinary. Ananias asks. The Lord explains why. Ananias goes. And his hands and prayer are a channel for the Holy Spirit to work wonders. They would all see it.
So, what is the Lord’s commission for Paul? – to do what Luke has already seen Paul doing – reaching the unreached of his time. It is an extraordinary fact that God used the expert in the Jewish Law, not to convert Jews, but to reach gentiles. It would need all Paul’s knowledge and wisdom to engage with the philosophers in Athens.
And us? Let us:
- remember our own conversion – the moment we said “I believe”
- Recall our change…
- And ask where is God sending us to tell the good news of Jesus Christ
This may be to people very different to ourselves. Many are looking for God.
Let us go where he calls, knowing that God will give us the words to say.
And where-ever we go, may we overflow with hope…
A closing prayer – words of Paul – that we all can become channels for the Holy Spirit to reach the unreached.
May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in him, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Nigel
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