Acts 9:1-19
May 1, 2022
When we hear the phrase, “the scales
fell from his eyes,” many of us know that it is based on this story in Acts. We
know, because if we have been in church at all, we have probably heard this
story several times. The story of Saul on the road to Damascus was most likely
a story told with characters on a felt board when I was a little girl in Sunday
School.
So, the scales falling from the eyes
is not new to us. We know that it happened to Saul. We know that it was part of
his conversion from one who wanted to kill followers of the Way, to becoming an
evangelist extraordinaire for Jesus the Christ.
This story is a familiar one, and
the detail about the scales falling from Saul’s eyes has even been incorporated
into popular culture. Yet because this story is so familiar, because it is
known beyond the realm of the church, it presents a unique challenge when it
comes to preaching it. It is so well-known that we may take it for granted. It
is so well-known that it can be hard to figure out how to make it relevant and
real to us right now in 2022. To address this challenge, I decided I needed to
ask questions of this text that I had not thought to ask before.
What exactly are these scales? I
guess there is no way for us to really know. I have always assumed that they
were like the scales on a fish or a snake, because that is what makes the most
sense in this context. I doubt they were the musical scales that I hated to
practice when I was taking piano and cello lessons as a kid. And I also doubt
that they were the device that sits on my bathroom floor, the one that I often
dread to stand on.
So, they must have been like
the scales on a fish or a reptile or even some mammals. But I wanted to know
the purpose of scales. What are they exactly? I take for granted that I know
what they are, but do I really?
Google
to the rescue! Scales on a fish or a reptile or a mammal are hard protrusions
that grow out of the skin of the creature who wears them. Scales provide
protection. They protect the creature by making it hard for predators to get
through the scales. They provide protection from weather, from the environment
the creatures dwells in. They provide protection in the form of camouflage.
Scales will often help the creature blend in with its surroundings.
Hmmm. It makes me wonder if these
were the kinds of scales covering Saul’s eyes, what exactly was he being
protected from? Or, more importantly, what did he want protection from?
Let’s talk about Saul. In this
story, Saul is not yet Paul, the evangelist, church builder, and writer of many
letters. But this story of Saul’s conversion is not the first time that we meet
him. A few chapters earlier, Saul is mentioned as one who approved of the
killing of Stephen. Stephen was the first person to be martyred for the sake of
the risen Christ. And in Stephen’s dying words, he asked the Lord to not hold
the sin of these people – the people who stoned him to death – against them.
Saul must have been included in Stephen’s request.
Saul may have been a minor character
in the story of Stephen, but in the verses before us he steps firmly into the
spotlight. And he steps into the spotlight “breathing threats and murder
against the disciples of the Lord.”
To breathe threats and murder means
that Saul’s desire for violence was in every exhalation of breath. Hatred was
running rampant throughout his circulatory system. If he was breathing threats
and murder, his whole body, his whole being, was filled with loathing for the
followers of the Way.
Just before this story, we read the
story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. That means that the good news of the
gospel, the good news of Jesus the Christ, was reaching far beyond the original
boundaries of Jerusalem. It was on the move toward Syria. That’s why Saul
wanted to go to Damascus. He wanted to prevent this faction from growing any
larger. And it is on the road to Damascus where Jesus meets him, and he meets
Jesus. It is on the road to Damascus where a light from heaven flashed and Saul
fell to the ground in its wake. It is on the road to Damascus where Saul hears
a voice asking why.
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute
me?”
Saul, bewildered and afraid, asked
who was speaking to him.
“I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are
to do.”
Jesus?! Saul was after the followers
of this Jesus. But the voice, Jesus’ voice, made it clear that Saul was not
just persecuting the people who followed him, he was persecuting Jesus himself.
And this voice did not come from Saul’s imagination. All those with him heard
it too. Saul stood up, but he could not see. His eyes were open wide, but he
could not see. Helpless and afraid and wondering what would become of him, Saul
was led into Damascus. For three days,
he could not see. For three days he did not eat or drink.
Then the story shifts to a disciple
in Damascus named Ananias. That brings me to another question. What about
Ananias? The focus of this story is on Saul who becomes Paul. And, yes, Saul is
the main character. As I’ve already said, it is Saul who is breathing threats
of violence and murder against anyone who is a follower of the Way. That’s what
folks are calling the early disciples of Jesus of Nazareth. They were not
Christians as we are, meaning that they were still Jews, but they believed this
Jesus of Nazareth to be the Son of God. They believed him to be the Savior, the
Messiah. They believed that contrary to what common sense would dictate, he was
brutally executed, but after three days in the grave, he was resurrected.
Something happened in that tomb, and he got up and left it empty. So, these
believers were his followers, but the name the Way suggests that they were not
so much about doctrine but about doing. The Way suggests that they were about
traveling and doing and moving through the world in a new way, in the way that
Jesus moved and lived and did.
But what about Ananias? Ananias is a
believer. He is a follower of the Way, and he has heard the stories about Saul.
He knows of Saul’s hatred for believers of Jesus. He knows what Saul wants to
do to those who follow The Way. He probably knew of Stephen and knew that Saul
approved of Stephen’s killing. Ananias knows that even if Saul did not throw a
single stone on that terrible day, he still has blood on his hands. But Jesus
speaks to Ananias too. Jesus tell Ananias that Saul is coming to the city,
blind and in need. Jesus wants Ananias to go to Saul, speak with him, help him
as he experiences this dramatic change in his life.
One commentator wrote that this would
be like asking a rabbi to go to Hitler and help him to hear the word of God, to
bring the peace of God to Hitler, to help convert Hitler’s heart and mind.
With that analogy in mind, it is
easy to understand why Ananias is reluctant to do what the Lord asks of him. He
resists Jesus’ request. But Jesus tells him to go. Go to Saul. Help Saul. Saul
will be the “instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and
kings and before the people of Israel.”
Ananias does what the Lord asks of
him. He goes to where Saul is staying. He lays his hands on Saul and calls him
brother. He tells him that the same Jesus who spoke to Saul on the road to the
city has spoken to him as well. Saul will regain his vision and be filled with
the Holy Spirit.
And it is in this moment, when
Ananias speaks these words to him, that the scales fall. Those hard protective
coverings over Saul’s eyes fall away. And he can see. He can see. His sight has
returned, and the first person he sees is someone who only a few days earlier
he would have arrested, bound, taken to Jerusalem for trial. Only a few days
earlier, Saul would have approved the stoning of Ananias as surely as he
approved the stoning of Stephen.
The scales fell. And if scales on
creatures are designed for protection, maybe Saul kept those scales on his eyes
for protection as well. Maybe he kept them there so that he would not have to
see the humanity of his enemies. Maybe he would not have to see that the ones
he was so angry with, the people he so wanted to stop, were also children of
God.
Saul was helpless from the moment
that light flashed on the road to Damascus, but in this moment, I think he was
more vulnerable than ever before because now he could see – really see the
person who stood before him. He could see his own hatred, and how that had
blinded him. He could see the enmity and destruction that lived inside of him.
He could see how every breath he took was filled with hate and anger and fear.
I don’t think the scales fell only
from Saul’s eyes that day. I think they fell from his mind and his heart too.
That begs my final question. What are the scales covering our eyes? What are
the scales covering our minds? What are the scales covering our hearts? What
are we protecting ourselves from, really? When will we finally allow them to
fall, so that we can see one another as God’s children? When will finally allow
them to fall away, so that we can see one another as God’s children?
Let all of God’s children see, hear,
feel, and share the love of Jesus the Christ.
Let all of God’s children say,
“Alleluia.”
Amen.
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