There Was a Disciple

3rd Sunday of Easter            May 4, 2025

The Texts for this sermon are John 21:1a, 15-17 and Acts 9:1-20

Saul, a Pharisee of the most observant and devout sort is appalled by the rise of a cult attached to that Jesus person. So he’s taken it upon himself to extinguish them. He’s on a mission he believes to be holy but it’s a mission motivated by fear; fear of the People of the Way and the threat they pose for the Way of the Law of Moses.

He’s been banging down doors and arresting people in Jerusalem and now he’s headed to Damascus to stop this nonsense there. But he’s stopped in his tracks; thrown from his donkey; confronted by a Question Saul, Saul why do you persecute me? Saul responds with Who are you Lord? He recognizes the voice as Divine but he’s confused. He’s not persecuting Yahweh!

The response: I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

Can we imagine the astonishment? The Jesus who was crucified? dead! that Jesus?
The text doesn’t say, but I’m thinking “Woe is me!” shoots through Saul’s heart.
And how it is this dead person folks have been praising is alive and speaking to him.
And not only alive, but divine?

There are two things we need to note in what Jesus says:  First, his address to Saul is personal. He’s talking to Saul and only Saul. And He’s introducing himself to Saul:
I am Jesus. Second, Jesus then says that Saul is persecuting him. In this, Jesus aligns himself with those whom Saul has persecuted. Jesus is the one Saul is targeting, arresting, torturing, killing. 

Saul picks himself up from the ground. The text says his eyes were open, but he could not
see.

He comprehends that something momentous has just happened, but he is, nevertheless, blind. There’s a lot to plumb there, but not today.
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We move now, as does the text, to a man in Damascus named Ananias. Ananias is minding his own business when he’s visited by a vision. He recognizes the vision as of God and says Here I am Lord.

The Lord instructions Ananias to go to the man named Saul. Saul will be expecting you.

Saul? the Jerusalem Saul? the Saul seeking to kill us? that Saul? Go! God says, I’ve chosen him to bring my name before the Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.

Ananias goes to Saul. He greets him as “brother Saul” and Saul is baptized, he eats, fellowships with the Damascus believers and begins immediately to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God.

The story of the Damascus Road; this story has long been part of popular culture. We talk about a Damascus Road Experience: experiences marking dramatic life-changing moments.

We hear this story and love the drama of it but do we own it? Do we think of it as speaking to us? I’m no Saul: breathing murderous threats! I’m no Ananias: asked to face someone wanting to kill me.

Because the Damascus Road experience is so over the top and Saul so much bigger than life.
This whole event is, well, unbelievable, exceptional. We mark it in our Bibles and move on.
But it’s a story told for our benefit. It’s a story of instruction, of call and it’s applicable to
everyone: those then and us now.

We may not seek a subpoena to break down the doors of our enemies, but have we not pursued misguided efforts? Have we not been so convinced we were right about something, insistent even to someone else’s detriment? wrong-headed, ambitious, obsessive maybe?

Have we not had experiences or engagements that have lifted the veil from our eyes and caused us to see the error of our ways? or sparked dissatisfaction with our misguided hopes or way of behaving? or experiences or engagements that have helped spur us to change? to apologize? to realign?

It is often in retrospect that we recognize these everyday moments as Damascus moments:
Moments when Jesus showed up in a prayer, a circumstance or a person that shook us awake.

Saul was brought to a moment of choosing as have we all. He was headed one way; God wanted him to head the opposite way. We’ve all been, and in many senses are, headed one way and God calls us to choose another way.

And what of Ananias?

Ananias was called out: called to undertake a risky task. 

Did you notice that God did not tell him he was going to survive. God didn’t tell him Saul was perfectly safe. What God did disclose though was what God had in mind for Saul.
And Ananias chose to believe that future prospect; to trust God that God would work God’s desire.

When was the last time you had a vision wherein God asked you to risk your very life?
Not so common.

But, when was the last time you felt prompted to do some particular thing or reach out to a particular person? or consider a prospect or idea that would take you out of your comfort zone?  Something that seemed preposterous?

What did you do? Did you do it or did you rationalize yourself out of doing it?

When Ananias met Saul he called him Brother.

He embraced the purpose God had for Saul; trusted God to bring that transformation about.
Maybe we could say that Ananias saw what God saw in Saul. 

We too are asked to claim and name the future of grace and mercy; forgiveness & redemption of others. We’re not to dwell on their faults but on their promise; to believe God can work God’s reclamation.

There’s one more thing I want us to take home with us today. We need to mark the role and power and fruit of prayer that underlies this story

I invite us to remember that Saul is first introduced in the Book of Acts as a witness to the stoning of Stephen. The Stephen who, as rocks were breaking his body, shattering his bones, prayed God would forgive his attackers which included Saul. Stephen prayed for Saul; prayed for his forgiveness.

Based on what we know of those early Christians, it’s not too far afield, to believe they too prayed hard for God to intervene with Saul. Saul became Paul because people prayed. 

Ananias was prepared to recognize a vision from God because he was a praying man.
Ananias was moved from doubt and reservation to action in the act of praying.
Ananias was able to claim and celebrate the future God had for Saul because of prayer.

Terrorism became life-giving Testimony because people prayed.

If we think this story isn’t for us, let’s think again; and if isn’t timely for what’s going on today, let’s think again.

May we be people who are willing to let God change us. Really change us.
May we be people who obey God and move into God’s call.
May we be people who believe God really does bring about unimagined transformation.
May we be people who pray for unimagined transformation.