Thursday, June 13, 2013

Brother Saul



A few weeks ago my wife told me that she and her team were getting prepared to teach their Sunday school class about Saul and his conversion on the road to Damascus.  This is one of my favorite passages of Acts, so I immediately pulled it up on my phone and read the story again.  I have read this passage no less than 100 times, maybe even more than that, for as a bible quizzer I committed the entire book of Acts to memory and that takes a lot of reading.  Yet, as I read it again, I was overwhelmed by something that I had never considered or realized.

Saul was a serious problem for the early church.  Acts chapters 8-9 states he was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” and that he made “havoc of the church.”  He persecuted them, raided their homes, arrested men and women and put them in prison.  Remember the church that began so powerful and glorious in Acts chapter 2? A few chapters later Saul has scattered that church throughout all Judaea and Samaria.  Only the apostles and a few others remained strong and in Jerusalem,  and many paid a serious price for doing so--the ultimate case being found in Acts chapter 8 where Saul facilitates the stoning of Stephen.  Most of us forget or have never realized that Saul was responsible for Christianity’s first martyr.  Stephen, full of faith and hope, was killed just as his ministry began with Saul looking on.  This seems to add more insult, as Saul never stooped to get his hands dirty, never threw a stone, but was forever behind the scenes igniting the elders, high priests and people to carry out his desires to crush the church.  Where I come from we call this person a snake!   Saul hated the church, what it stood for, and was determined to destroy it.  Soon after Stephen’s death, he travels to Damascus to continue his work against the church where he is struck down by the Lord and chastised for persecuting the church.  Immediately Saul realizes that he is in the presence of God and has committed grievous crimes.  He asks, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”  This fierce and determined man, now physically blinded from his encounter with Jesus, is led by his hand into the city where the Lord has told him he will be instructed further.   

Up to this point, as I read on my phone, this was an all too familiar passage.  However, in the next few scriptures God really talked to my heart.  For three days Saul is in the city; he is blind, neither eating or drinking, and awaiting instruction.   The Lord appears to Ananias, a disciple in that same city, and tells him, “Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Taursus: for, behold he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a man names Ananias coming in, and putting his hands on him, that he might receive his sight.”  Ananias immediately objected: “I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem,” or as we might say today, “Do you know realize who this is? Do you know what he has done” or “Do you know this guy’s reputation?”  Ananias wanted no part of it. However, the Lord makes it clear that Paul is chosen “to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings and the children of Israel.”  Before Kings?  It is clear that Saul is not just chosen but special.

Ananias leaves and goes straight to where Saul is, puts his hands on him, and says two words that literally jumped off the page and punched me in the heart…..”Brother Saul.”  I could continue on and tell you of how Saul received his sight, was filled with the Holy Ghost, baptized and immediately began to preach Christ in Damascus, but I realized that all of that began with two words.  “Brother Saul.”

It’s important that we consider that Saul had been three days blind, not eating or drinking.  Three days realizing that he was responsible for persecuting not just the church, but God himself.  How many times did he replay in his mind the scene where he held the coats of the men that threw stones at Stephen until he was dead?  How many times did the faces of men and women that he put in prison play before him?  In those three days he had come to the stark realization that he was an instigator, a punisher of the innocent and a murderer.  Yet in those three days, God also showed him a vision of a man coming in and laying hands on him, a vision of his sight being restored.  While Saul was reliving his terrible past, God was simultaneously giving him vision for his future.  And it began with a man.  A little known disciple named Ananias who called him brother.  It stands to reason that Saul may have even been on his way to arrest Ananias himself.  He had in his possession letters from the high priest to arrest Christians in Damascus.  Ananias, fearful and wary of Saul because of his reputation, walked in and called him brother.  Had he just said Saul, it would have announced “I know who you are and what you have done.”  However, he added one word… “Brother,” and made it perfectly clear that it didn’t matter who Saul was or what he had done.  Ananias immediately created a bridge for Saul to pass over from the place of his mistakes and regret into the purpose that God had chosen him for.  “Brother” did not just state that how Ananias felt about Saul but how Saul could feel about Ananias.  “Brother” said that his mistakes, his past did not matter to Ananias, only Saul’s future.  Thus, Ananias offers a powerful lesson for you and I.  Our past failures do not separate us--they join us together. We are brothers; I am yours and you are mine.  You can trust in me. My hands will heal you. My hands will help you regain your sight. My hands will help you discover your purpose.

As I reflected on this encounter between Saul and Ananias, my mind was flooded with the names and faces of many people--brothers, sisters, friends, and family.  All of them had made mistakes, failed and stumbled...as we all do.  God has long since forgiven them.  Yet, the nature, severity and sometimes broad publication of their failures have exiled them from our forgiveness.   I wonder if they are feeling blind, alone, and guilty.  Are they trapped in an irrevocable existence of reliving their mistakes and failures while hungrily nurturing a tiny dream of restoration?  Is God whispering to them that He still has a purpose for them?  Are they waiting on the hands of a brother? 


Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.  (Galatians 6:1)
                                                                                                 




PJ Dial is a husband, father and servant of Christ. He grew up in Royalwood and is involved in several aspects of ministry including Praise & Worship, Anthem Student Ministries and currently serves on Royalwood's Board.


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