Blinded by the Light

Text for this Sunday's sermon/conversation at The River: Acts 9:1-31


He was just minding his own business. Actually, he was tending to business... on his way to Damascus to arrest those filthy, stinkin' followers of the Way, a.k.a., disciples of Jesus Christ. But something happened to Saul the Pharisee on that fateful day somewhere outside of the city. He encountered the living, breathing, utterly powerful, and not-so-subtle - resurrected Lord.


He was so positive he worked for God... he was so absolutely certain Jesus was a fake Messiah, and his followers were either mindless losers, or elaborate liars. Either way, they deserved death for perpetrating the message that Jesus, son of a common carpenter - and executed like any common thief - was the Son of God who would deliver Israel from her oppressors.


But they were right. All those people he had arrested... all those families whose lives were interrupted... all the pain Saul the Pharisee had caused the Christians... and they had been right all along!  Oh, God... what had he done?  More importantly perhaps... what could he now do to serve Jesus, the One he had so violently persecuted for so very long? How could he serve God... and this time, in the right manner? He would do anything, go anywhere, tell anyone, endure any hardship... he would die in order to share the Good News that Jesus Christ is not only alive - He is the Lord who forgives and restores and transforms anyone... EVERYONE who comes to the end of themselves and cries out to God for deliverance.


The story tells us that Saul was blinded that day... but we know better don't we? We know that, though his physical eyes might have been blinded... Saul's spiritual eyes were opened... and his life was thoroughly, irreversibly, violently, and beautifully re-directed. Once he was baptized and given food and water... Saul set out to become the world's best known missionary and church planter... and ended up writing letters to the churches that became more than 40% of what we know as the New Testament.

They were caught off guard by this and, not at all sure they could trust him, they kept saying, "Isn't this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem among the believers? And didn't he come here to do the same thing—arrest us and drag us off to jail in Jerusalem for sentencing by the high priests?"

But their suspicions didn't slow Saul down for even a minute. His momentum was up now and he plowed straight into the opposition, disarming the Damascus Jews and trying to show them that this Jesus was the Messiah.

Oh, Lord... I want to be like Saul the Pharisee... who's identity was changed to Paul the Apostle (and passionate follower of the Way). I want to be as zealous as Paul... I want to be as willing to embrace suffering... I want to trust You with all that I am... I want to obey you, even if it means dying for your cause. Amen.


Wait, wait, wait... I need to clarify: I said I want to be like that... but I'm not exactly certain I have arrived there yet... perhaps I'm still waiting for the scales to fall off my eyes? Geez, He sure does want a lot from us, doesn't he? 


So... assuming you're a disciple... what has following Jesus cost you?