The Lectionary suggests a message based on Acts 9 1-20 this morning. That passage deals with what is often referred to as Saul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus. At the outset I want to acknowledge that I have based much of this message on a sermon I heard some years ago on Living Truth from the People’s Church in Toronto.

By way of background, in Acts Chapter 7, Stephen, a man full of faith, full of wisdom, full of the Holy Spirit, delivers a speech to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council in Jerusalem. At the conclusion of his speech, they stone him to death and a great persecution breaks out against the church, resulting in the church being scattered out of Jerusalem. And what was designed to try and end the growth of the church and end the proclamation of the Gospel only pushed it outwards and scattered it into the regions around Jerusalem.

And one of the most prominent actors in this persecution is a young man named Saul, who in Chapter 7, gives approval to the stoning of Stephen, in the passage we heard read this morning.

And Acts Chapter 9 that we just read provides nothing short of a simply amazing account of Saul’s conversion and in his encounter with Jesus Christ. Although we often refer to it as the “conversion” of Paul, William Barclay, a Scottish theologian states that “this was not so much a sudden conversion as it was a sudden surrender to Christ”. I would call it a complete and utterly amazing transformation!

I suggest that there are three things in Acts Chapter 9 that are truly amazing. The first is amazing hate, secondly amazing grace, and finally, amazing transformation.

We are first introduced to Saul at the conclusion of Acts Chapter 7 when Stephen has delivered his speech to the Sanhedrin and laid the case before them about to who Christ is and that they always resist the Holy Spirit. As he was being stoned we are told in Acts Chapter 8:1 that while they were killing Stephen and stoning him to death, we read in Acts 8:1, “Saul approved of their killing him.” A couple verses later, again about Saul, it says, “But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.” And in Acts 9:1, what we just read: “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.” He went to the high priest and asked for letters so that he could hunt them down in the city of Damascus. In Acts 26:11 Saul, looking back on his life, makes this statement: “Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished,” (Christians, that is) “and I tried to force them to blaspheme.” “I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.” Saul is chief enemy number one of the New Testament church. Saul is so zealous to destroy the church that his ambition is actually leading him to a foreign city.

He asks for letters so that he might go up to Damascus, a region now located in Syria and had to travel approximately 240 kilometers so that he might discover who would identify as Christians in the synagogue in Damascus so that he can arrest them and try and get them to blaspheme and renounce their faith in Christ. For all intents and purposes, as we look at Acts Chapter 8 and 9, Saul is in essence a terrorist. And terrorism is the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. And Saul’s terrorism has caused him to travel a great distance to try and end the spread of the message about Jesus. He was filled with hate and was obsessed with zeal to eradicate these Christians.

And that is the irony in Acts Chapter 9. Saul believes that he is serving God’s purposes. Saul was a Pharisee devout to the study of the law. So he thinks he is in fact serving God by hunting down the members who follow Jesus. And it speaks to how anger and hatred can blind us to what God is really trying to do. That hatred and that anger exists in our world today. I need not refer to many examples as recent events in the Ukraine are vivid enough in our memory.

Saul is literally blinded by his hatred and is breathing out murderous threats as he takes his journey to Damascus. And Saul, within about a kilometer from Damascus, on a mission to savagely hunt down the Christians, is met by Jesus Himself. And this is where we may be amazed by the grace of Jesus, because here you have a terrorist to the early church, breathing out murderous threats. Jesus has witnessed what Saul did and within a mile of his destination where he is going to seek out to destroy the church, Jesus appears to Saul.

And there are two beautiful attributes about Jesus that we discover here. The first is his blinding holiness: He appears to Saul and it drops Saul to his knees. In fact he is blinded by the brilliance of who Christ is. Jesus is holy. Jesus is the light of the world. And in His resurrected state, He appears to Saul and blinds him with who He is. And in reverence Saul falls to the ground at the sight of Jesus. Scripture tells us that we will all experience this one day where we will appear before Jesus and we are told in Philippians, the second chapter, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in reverence to who He is, be blinded by who He is.

So first we see that Jesus is holy. But look at what Jesus does to this man who is bent on destroying His church, who is savagely hunting down the people who are following Jesus. Jesus doesn’t destroy him in the process of revealing Himself to him, although He could have. And He doesn’t insult him; He simply asks Saul a penetrating question. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” As an aside, it is interesting that Jesus often asked questions as a means of reaching the person. “Why do you look at the speck of dust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Why are you so judgmental; why are you so afraid; why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Do you believe I am able to do this? Why did you doubt? Do you still not understand? Who do people say that I am? Those are but a few examples.

That’s what He does with Saul here. It is so amazing that this terrorist isn’t destroyed by Jesus. Jesus simply comes and asks him a question: “Why do you persecute Me?” Do you notice that Jesus put it into a personal statement? “Saul, as you have been arresting the members of the church, as you have been hunting down the body of believers, do you realize that your actions are actually a persecution against Me?” And Saul, captivated by Jesus, Saul who has fallen to his knees in reverence because of who is before him, cries out, “Who are you, Lord?” Isn’t that fascinating? Paul, or Saul, says, “Who are You, Lord?” Really? Saul does not know who the Lord is??? Think about that for a moment….

Saul is a Pharisee. He is someone who has devoted his life to the study of the God of the Old Testament. He is someone who is devout in His observation of the Old Testament law. He has given his whole life to it. But when he encounters Jesus he is totally undone and he is simply left with the statement, “Who are You, Lord? I know You are the Lord, but I don’t know who You are.” His whole life he sought the Lord. But he didn’t know who He was until this moment. And Saul falls to the ground in reverence and under the weight of this personal encounter with Jesus, and asks this question.

And how do you think Saul felt when this blinding light replies, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” The One who the apostles were testifying about in the city of Jerusalem and Saul heard them testifying but didn’t listen despite the miracles they were seeing. The Jesus that Stephen, as he was giving up his last breath, was testifying about, and Saul there giving approval unto his death; this very Jesus is the One appearing to Him. “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”

Do you think Saul, when Jesus made that statement, started to have a flashback to all of the things he had done up to that moment trying to stop the spread of this Jesus thing, was thoroughly undone when Jesus made that statement? This very Jesus, who he was trying to stop, has now appeared before him. Imagine how Saul feels when Jesus makes that statement.

You know Saul, who eventually becomes the Apostle Paul, writes a letter to Timothy. In 1 Timothy Chapter 1, looking back on his life at this moment, makes this statement: “I was a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man, but I was shown mercy… “The grace of God was poured out on me abundantly.” God meets this self-described blasphemer, persecutor, violent man, and in His encounter brings all of the anger and hatred out of him and asks him, “Why are you doing this? You think you are serving God but you are not.” And Saul starts to discover who Jesus is. Saul, who was blinded by his hatred is now blinded by the person of Christ and led into the city.

And Acts Chapter 9:6 simply states that Jesus said, “Get up, go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” There’s not much of an option there is it? Saul, again looking back on his life in Acts Chapter 26, looking at this moment, provides us with a little more detail as to what Jesus said to him in this encounter. In Acts 26:16 we see this: “Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. “I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and find a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

This is amazing grace indeed. Not only is Jesus appearing to Saul and not destroying him in the process, He is also calling Saul into missionary service and giving him a vision that will subsequently change the course of the rest of his life. Now who of us, if a terrorist was on their way to our home or to our church this morning to drag us off and arrest us, would ever think that it would be safe to interact with him? If someone was coming against us is that how we would treat them? Jesus not only appears to him; He also commissions him into His service.

And it is interesting to note that Pharisees liked Gentiles the least. And Jesus appears to Saul and says, “You are My chosen instrument to take this message to the Gentiles.” This is a complete 180 on so many levels. Jesus has just transformed the life of a terrorist, who was trying to stop the message of the Gospel, into a missionary who is going to reach out to a people group that he formerly despised, and will be one of the greatest missionaries in human history to point people to Jesus.

Those who are opposed to Jesus, once they get a true glimpse of Him, are restored. And we are told in Verse 9 of Chapter 9, “For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.” What do you think it was like for Saul those three days as he wasn’t eating or drinking anything, as he was certainly praying and reflecting on what had just happened in his life? Do you think his memory went back to the stoning of Stephen? Do you think his memory recalled the faces and maybe even the names of all the people that he had punished trying to get them to blaspheme? There was probably a depth of repentance in Saul’s life about the things he had done, but at the same time a beautiful mystery unfolds as to the grace of this God that he had just encountered on the road to Damascus.

And we see an amazing change or transformation within Saul. And the first person to be notified of the change that had taken place in Saul, in Verse 10 we are introduced to Ananias. And he is called by the Lord to go and look for Saul. Now I just want to imagine that conversation for a moment. Please imagine if you were Ananias, living in Damascus. You know Saul is coming to hunt you down, potentially kill you or force you to blaspheme. He is going to break up your family. He is a terrorist. He is going to throw you in prison. And imagine you are praying to God and the Lord appears to you in a vision and says, “Hey, Ananias, you know the one who is arresting people in Jerusalem?” “Yes, Lord, You mean the one breathing out murderous threats, right? Yes, I have heard about him.” “Good. I want you to go and look for him. He is blind right now and I have told him you are coming.” “You want me to go to the person who has come to arrest me.” “Yeah, that one.” That’s who I want you to go and talk to. He is waiting.” Who of us would blame Ananias for his apprehension?

And when you look at Saul, again from the exterior, who of us would ever imagine that a terrorist who is trying to destroy the church would be the very instrument through which the church would experience rapid growth? We witness his amazing transformation!

God’s ways are not our ways. His ways are a mystery to us. And His amazing grace should captivate us all because it is simply astounding what happens in Acts Chapter 9. So, Ananias has this back and forth with the Lord but it ends abruptly in Verse 15 when He says, “Go. Get out of here and go. He is waiting for you. I have told you where he is. This man is My chosen instrument.” This was the very vision that God had given Saul on the road to Damascus. He also let Ananias know of His plan so that when Ananias shows up he can say, “You are going to be His chosen instrument to the Gentiles.” And Saul will realize that the vision he received was indeed confirmed by Ananias.

And the one who came to persecute the church, we are told at once started to preach in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. The one who came to persecute is now proclaiming the very One he came to persecute. The one who had come to hunt down the Christians by the end of Chapter 9 is himself being hunted down by the Jews who reject Jesus. Acts Chapter 9 is simply amazing.

And I close with this. Do we believe Jesus is still doing this today? Do we believe that we have committed any human atrocity that creates too great a distance between us and God, for Him to satisfy? Maybe today He is coming to me and you and He is saying, “Why are you doing that? What’s on the inside?” Maybe He is inviting us into a relationship with Himself and we are the ones arguing as to why we have done too many things, committed too many sins, that therefore a relationship is never possible. And He is simply saying, “Trust Me. Come to Me.” Remember that we are a forgiven people by his death on the cross. If we are apprehensive that our anger or whatever issue or whatever sin it is that we have in our lives is too great to overcome, I’ve got good news! It’s not too great or too late for Jesus to overcome. And just as He set Saul free from the anger and hatred that was consuming him, He can set us free today. And just as He can heal Saul, so He can heal us today.

Let’s pray.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see. Lord, we stand amazed at Your grace. We stand amazed at how You move in people’s lives and the transformation that only You can bring, how You can turn us from hatred into love, from resisting You to proclaiming You. Thank you Lord, in Jesus’ name, Amen.