The Conversion of St. Paul is a dramatic moment. He was
going by the name Saul at the time, and he was actively persecuting the church.
He sought out Christians to arrest them, imprison them, and even approved of
their executions. On the road to Damascus, however, Jesus confronted him, “Why
are you persecuting me?” The encounter left Saul shaken, repentant, and blind.
His baptism, the scales falling from his eyes, and the way Paul immediately
began to preach about Jesus show the power of Jesus’ salvation in his life.
There is another person in this account, and he is
important, too. His name is Ananias. Ananias was a Christian. He was quite
possibly on Saul’s list of targets to arrest. Jesus sent him to Saul to preach
the gospel to him, to pray for him, and to heal him. He was to evangelize his
persecutor.
I find Ananias’s response to Jesus’ instructions
interesting. It goes something like this, “Um, Jesus? Are you sure? I’ve heard
about this guy. Maybe you don’t know how bad he is. He has hurt a lot of your
people, and he has come here to hurt more of us. Are you sure this is the guy
you want?”
Do we ever think like Ananias did here? “Jesus, are you
sure about this person?” There are so many reasons we might think that someone
should be excluded from God’s grace. They might be too liberal, too
conservative, too gay, too hypocritical, too racist, too hostile, too … you
fill in the blank.
Jesus’ response to Ananias is, “Go!” It is a command. He is
clear about who should hear the gospel. He chose Paul for a special purpose,
but even in the purpose is the revelation that God wants all people to know
about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. He wants all people to be saved.
It might be tempting to think, “Well, Ananias had it
easy. Jesus just knocked him on his butt and got his attention. All he had to
do was go in and talk about Jesus.” I’m not sure that our situation is all that
different. Jesus is still working in the mission field. His Spirit is stirring
people’s hearts and lives and preparing situations for us to come in and talk
about Jesus, too. Perhaps we should pray for the scales to be removed from our
eyes so that we become aware of where God is giving us opportunities to talk
about our Savior.
What is it about some people that makes you hesitant to
share Jesus with them? How might thinking of ourselves like Ananias, coming in
after Jesus has already done the hard work, help you be more bold in sharing the
message of Jesus’ salvation?
Lord Jesus, you
confronted Saul on the road to Damascus, and you used Ananias to share the
Gospel with him. Thank you for Saul’s conversion and the ministry he performed
under the name Paul. Thank you, also, for Ananias and his fearful faithfulness.
Please forgive us when we are fearful to talk about you and for the times that
we thought certain people were probably outside of your love and grace. Fill us
with your Holy Spirit and help us to see that you are still at work in people’s
lives to draw them to yourself, to redeem them, and to save them. Help us to
the see the opportunities you place in front of us, and help us to step up to
talk about you. Amen.
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