The Third Sunday of Easter
May 1, 2022
Acts 9:1-20
From Foe to Friend— Purely By God’s Grace Alone!
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. (NIV1984)
Dear fellow worshipers of our living Lord and Savior,
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
If you were choosing someone to serve as a character witness for you, would you choose your most tireless opponent? If you were selecting someone to care for one of your most precious possessions, would you choose someone who has repeatedly gone out of their way to work against you and everything you stand for? Choices like that seem to defy human reason, don’t they. In our sermon text for today, however, we see our risen Lord and Savior making just such a choice as He selects Saul the Persecutor to be His chosen apostle to carry His precious message of the Gospel to the nations.
On Easter Sunday we noted how the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to change people. Today as we continue our celebration of Easter let’s continue to rejoice as we see how Saul is a perfect example of someone who was brought: From Foe to Friend— Purely by God’s Grace Alone!
Luke sets the stage for us when he says in the opening verses of our text, “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.”
In the earliest years of the New Testament Christian Church, it would have been difficult to find a more dedicated foe of Christ than Saul of Tarsus. When Stephen was executed for powerfully proclaiming the Truth, Saul was present to not only give his approval to Stephen’s execution, but he also guarded the robes of the men who were stoning Stephen to death. (See Acts 7:54ff) After Stephen’s execution Saul started to go from house to house throughout Jerusalem in search of anyone who followed “the Way.” Every time he found someone who believed and trusted in Jesus as the Messiah, he dragged them off and put them in prison. (See Acts 8:1-3)
When the Christians in Jerusalem had been either imprisoned or scattered, Saul asked for and received letters of introduction from the high priest so that he would not only gain access to the synagogues in Damascus, but also have the authority to speak there. Saul’s goal in Damascus was clear: find anyone who belonged to “the Way,” whether men or women, and take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
The risen and ascended Christ, however, had a very different goal. Saul set out on the road to Damascus to imprison Christians, but Christ met Saul on the road to Damascus to set him free. Saul set out in malice, but Jesus met him in mercy. Luke continues, “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’”
Note how the risen Christ confronted Saul with his sin, “Why are you persecuting me?” Why was Saul persecuting the followers of “the Way”? Did Saul see himself as the “Defender” of the faith that had been handed down to him by his forefathers? Did Saul enjoy the power that he had been given to “root out” the Christians and throw them into prison? Whatever Saul’s motivation may have been, the risen Christ made it abundantly clear that Saul was not just persecuting members of “the Way.” Saul was persecuting Jesus, the One who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
The ”light from heaven” that suddenly “flashed around” Saul left him physically blind. But it also resulted in giving Saul spiritual sight! For three days Saul stayed in Damascus— fasting and praying. I can’t help but envision that Saul spent those three days reviewing the Old Testament Scriptures that he knew so very well, and now with his new eyes of faith seeing how those Scriptures had always testified about the One Saul now knew, the One whom Saul had been persecuting.
Once the risen Christ had confronted Saul with his sin and once Saul had repented of his sin, the risen Christ used one of His faithful servants, a man by the name of Ananias— one of the men whom Saul had been intent on arresting— to not only restore Saul’s physical sight but to redirect Saul’s zeal. As zealous as Saul had been when he was a foe of Christ— by God’s amazing grace alone Saul would now be even more zealous as a friend of Christ! Since Saul was now able to see everything through the eyes of faith— faith in what Jesus had done for him (Pointing to the cross)— Luke tells us, “At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.”
To plumb the depths of what God’s amazing grace had done for Saul, look at it this way, my friends. On the evening of that first Easter Sunday the risen Christ gave to His disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit and said to them, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven” (John 20:23). In His gracious wisdom our Lord chose to send the glorious message of forgiveness out to sinners through sinners. After all, who better than the forgiven to share the Good News of forgiveness with others! Who better than a man like Saul— a man who openly confessed that he was the “worst of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15)— to share the comfort that Christ is the friend of sinners!
As wonderful as it is for us to see how God’s amazing grace transformed Saul from a foe of Christ to a friend of Christ, we would be remiss if we did not stop to contemplate how God’s amazing grace has worked the very same miracle in our hearts and in our lives. We may not have participated in the organized persecution of Christ’s church as Saul did, but we are every bit as dependent on God’s saving grace as Saul was. Many of us are able to recall what we learned in Confirmation class, namely, that by nature we are all born spiritually blind, spiritually dead and spiritually the enemy of God. I personally think that there is a reason why the portions of Scripture that we commonly use to substantiate those truths were penned by the apostle Paul.
When God the Hoy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to write to God’s people in Corinth, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14), Paul knew from personal experience how true that is! Paul thought that he knew God’s holy revealed Word better than perhaps anyone else— until he was given the gift of saving faith in his heart. It wasn’t until he became physically blind that Paul realized just how spiritually blind he had been! It was there in Damascus that Paul realized that the only way to read and understand God’s Word correctly is to read it and to understand it with eyes of faith— a faith that is clearly focused on Who the Messiah is and what the Messiah has done for us! (Pointing to the across)
That still holds true right down to this very day, my friends. Many of us were given the eyes of faith when we were baptized as a child. We grew up with the God-given ability to see that all of holy Scripture is focused on Christ and what He has done for us. At the same time, many of us may know people who are not able to read the Bible with the eyes of faith and therefore are not able to “see” Who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for them. How can we help them? We can share the Truth of Scripture with them and ask the Holy Spirit to create the gift of saving faith in their hearts too! Through the power of His holy Word God the Holy Spirit can remove the “scales” of unbelief from their eyes so that they can see Jesus clearly!
When God the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to write to God’s people in Ephesus, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), he knew from personal experience how true that is! Once Paul was given the gift of saving faith in his heart he was able to look back at the execution of Stephen— the execution which he fully supported— and realize that he, Saul, was the one who was truly dead. Saul/Paul now knew that it was purely by the grace of God alone that he was truly alive. Now he knew that purely by the grace of God alone he knew that like Stephen he would live forever— with Jesus!
When’s the last time you stopped to contemplate the fact that if it were not for God’s amazing powerful grace you would still be “dead in your transgressions and sins”? It’s good for us to have that humble realization clearly before our eyes. Why? Because that realization serves as a powerful reminder to us that our salvation is 100% the result of who our God is and what our God has done for us and 0% the result of who we are and what we do. That realization also serves as a powerful reminder to us that we do not want to freely indulge in the sins that the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh place before us. Remember, my friends, that it was through Paul that God the Holy Spirit gave us the warning: “The wages of sin = death”! (Romans 6:23).
When God the Hoy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to write to God’s people in Rome, “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so” (Romans 8:7), he knew from personal experience how true that is! No one was more “hostile” to God, no one was a bigger “foe” of Christ and His Church than Saul. That’s why after he was brought to faith in Jesus as his Savior Paul clearly and adamantly proclaimed the central Truth of Scripture: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Romans 3:288) and, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
As Lutheran Christians we have known this truth for as long as we can remember. How well are we living this truth? Is our gratitude for God’s amazing grace clearly visible in the way that we are living our lives? Is our dependance on God’s amazing grace clearly reflected in the way that we prioritize worship, Bible study and prayer in our lives? Is the fact that we are friends with Jesus— purely as a result of His amazing grace— clearly visible to the people around us?
If you were choosing someone to be a character witness for you, who would you choose? If you were selecting someone to take care of your most treasured possession who would you select? If you were to ask those questions of Jesus, He would wrap His arms around you and say, “I choose you!” How can that be? Because in His amazing grace Jesus has done for you exactly what He did for Saul. In His amazing grace Jesus has transformed you from being His foe into being His friend— for all of eternity!
To God be the glory!
Amen