Scripture/Sermon of the Day May 1, 2022
Acts 9:1-20
The Conversion of Saul
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder
against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for
letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to
the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was
going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed
around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul,
Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came,
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the city, and you
will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood
speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8 Saul got up from the
ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by
the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight,
and neither ate nor drank.
10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias.
The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” 11
The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the
house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is
praying, 12 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.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord,
I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints
in Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all
who invoke your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument
whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the
people of Israel; 16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake
of my name.” 17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul
and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here,
has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy
Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his
sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some
food, he regained his strength.
Saul Preaches in Damascus
For several days he was with the disciples in
Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues,
saying, “He is the Son of God.”
Reflection/Sermon:
I. This is one of the most famous scripture passages
in the New Testament, after the gospels. God chose Paul to be a missionary for
Jesus Christ, to Jewish and non-Jewish people.
My mother’s family came from one of the places in
Turkey where Paul visited and established a church, Pergamon. I wish I was
famous so Henry Louis Gates, Jr., would do an episode of Finding Your Roots with
me. Maybe my family tree goes back to St. Paul. People who thought they were
enemies discover that actually they’re related!!! Slave owners had children with
their slaves. Gayle King was shocked to discover that she was a third white.
White people discover that they’re part African.
II. Here’s something I just realized about the man in
our reading today. Saul was from Tarsus. That’s in South-central Turkey, twelve
miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea. If you go North from Paul’s city of
Tarsus, you come to the Black Sea. If you take a ship north and cross the Black
Sea — you would be in Ukraine.
If you go east from Tarsus, you are in Greece and
Italy. If you go west you are in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Saul was in the
heart of the ancient Mediterranean world. He was the perfect cosmopolitan
missionary. But before he spread the gospel, he tried to kill it.
An insight of this story is that we have a great
capacity to change and grow in different directions. Saul was the enemy of
Christianity before he became its ambassador. Hopefully each of us will keep
growing.
III. I talked with Paul Furgalack a couple nights ago.
We’ve prayed for him since he was diagnosed with cancer. Because of the his
surgery, Paul isn’t able to play the harmonica. But he’s learning piano now. See
— there’s another Paul who is changing.
IV. I just changed this morning! I read about Saul
since my teens. If someone asked me, “When did Saul’s name change to Paul?” — I
would have said, “After he was converted, on the road to Damascus.” I just
discovered that’s wrong! This (Saturday) morning — I saw that Saul — or Paul —
never was given a new name after his conversion. He was always Saul and people
sometimes called him Paul (see Acts chapter 13).
Janet asked me Friday night about Paul and why was his
name changed and I couldn’t think of where in the Bible that happened. Saturday
morning I looked — and discovered — it never happened. Acts chapter 13 says he
was always Saul — sometimes called Paul.
V. Our reading this morning shows how important it is,
with God’s help, to remain humble and open because we never stop growing and
changing, no matter what our age is. Paul converted to Christianity, the
religion he tried to destroy. Once he arrested Christians and threw them in
jail, now he’s the Christian arrested and thrown in jail!
VI. When Saul’s blindness was healed he went to the
synagogues and proclaimed that Jesus is the Son of God.
That’s what we see when our spiritual blindness is
healed. We SEE that Jesus and God are LOVE.
We SEE that God loves everyone.
So think about this: Jesus did not punish people — he
taught the opposite — if someone hurts us, be kind to them. The God revealed by
Jesus would not cast anyone into hell. JESUS TOOK HELL OUT OF PEOPLE! REMEMBER —
HE WAS AN EXORCIST.
And if we find through our own error that we are in
hell, Jesus will find us and bring us back to the place of love and peace — the
kingdom of heaven. That is love’s mission — to find us when we are lost and
bring us back to God’s loving embrace.