Sermon for July 31st (Conversion of Saul)

God likes surprises. Or, maybe the truth is, that God is just so very different from us that he always surprises us. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes through the Father except through me.” But the way God leads us is often in a completely different direction than we expect. God’s truth always seems to catch us off guard, no matter which side we are on. Even in as simple as a matter of life and death, Jesus Christ surprised us by dying in the first place (he was God after all in the flesh) and then surprised us all once again when he arose from the dead (he was a dead human being after all). God is a surprising God. And God continues to surprise us in the story today from Acts about the man named Saul.

Now, the beginning of the story isn’t too surprising; in fact, it actually makes a lot of sense. Saul is a Jewish man who is out to defeat what he sees is a competing religious sect muscling in on his faith and life: he wants to destroy Christians and their attempts to evangelize other Jews. He is doing this by any means necessary. He tries to bully them for instance by making “murderous threats” as the text puts it against disciples of Jesus. He attempts to detain and convict any Jews following this religion as well by asking for reference letters from the high priest in order to enter synagogues and smoke out any Jews with Christian interests. And he finds no shame in watching these Christians receive the death penalty for their blasphemous actions. He was even present at the stoning of the deacon, Stephen, and the text says that Saul approved of what happened.

While we might look back today and find Paul’s actions despicable, nothing he was doing was surprising. To a committed Jewish man in the first century, the Christian disciples must have seemed very invasive and threatening. They were preaching publicly and trying to persuade other Jews to believe something new about their faith. Not only that, they were doing it with miraculous healing and that sort of thing which was hard to fight against. Maintaining that Jesus was one with God, God’s chosen Messiah who was raised from the dead, was blasphemy and the punishment for blasphemy was death. So, in other words, when a Jewish Christian died, it was a simple matter of justice. Once again, while it might look mean to us today, there was nothing surprising about it back in Saul’s time.

In fact, it’s not even much of a surprise when God intervenes against Saul. In fact, that seems just about right from the Christian perspective then and now. For that matter, you and I probably wish that type of thing happened more often today. In many countries around the world today, Christians are put in jail and even killed for no other reason than that they are publicly confessing their faith in Jesus Christ. If a man who had once sought the death of Christian missionaries was struck down with blindness on the way to arrest Christians we might look at that as divine retribution. Perhaps it would surprise us that it actually happened, but it would seem right and justifiable.

So then what’s the big surprise? The first surprise comes when God calls on a Christian disciple named Ananias and tells him to find this man Saul and restore his sight. Right there we suddenly see that God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not his thoughts.

How do I know that this was a surprise? Because we, as human beings, whether Christian or not, always seem to believe revenge makes more sense than mercy. For example, several months ago, Osama Bin Laden was killed in a raid on his hideout in Pakistan, remember that? And the next day, when I read the headline “Justice served” on CNN.com, I felt good, you know? I felt like, yeah, that’s right, finally! He got what he deserved! But, then the next day, on 107.1, the Christian station out of Des Moines, I heard a guy talk briefly about this issue in between songs. He said, was Osama Bin Laden’s death the best case scenario? I mean, we know it cut down on court costs and probably hours upon hours of political wrangling, but was it the best case scenario . . . in God’s eyes? This radio DJ said, NO, he didn’t think it was. Because in Ezekiel chapter 33 God said this, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” God isn’t simply after justice, the best case scenario is always repentance. And that’s always a surprise to us. And it would’ve no doubt been a big surprise to Ananias that day as well.

Ananias said, I’ve heard about this guy Saul. He’s a bad guy. He’s out to hurt Christians! Not only was Ananias probably afraid to see Saul, he probably thought Saul didn’t deserve his help. But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

There are some of you here today that are a lot like Ananias. You are surprised at the type of people God brings in people to this church. They scare you. And, to be honest, you don’t think they deserve to be here. Again and again people tell me who they think should be here and who shouldn’t. Who should sing and who shouldn’t. Who wrong and who isn’t. Let me tell you. God would surprise you if you saw people from his perspective. That person you hate, the one you despise . . . God loves them with a passion you can only dream of. And every time you confess your hatred and gossip about them, imagine God’s wrath boiling over at how you are speaking about his beloved child. God may have chosen your worst enemy to be his chosen instrument. Perhaps that’s why you are at today’s healing service . . . to be freed of your grudges, your bitterness, your anger, your hatred and to instead lay them at your Savior’s feet and obey his call to love your neighbor as yourself. His desire isn’t for justice, but for repentance.

But there is one more surprise in today’s reading. The surprise Saul must have felt. Remember, this man was persecuting Christians and then he encounters the Risen Jesus Christ. Imagine the fear, the dread, the embarrassment, the vulnerability of finding out you were wrong—dead wrong, he must have imagined. A Jew believed that to be in the presence of God, you were going to die. Saul met Jesus and he was still alive. He had persecuted Jesus and yet Saul’s life was spared. And more than that; Jesus seemed to want to do something with him. He met a man, named Ananias. What would this man do? Kill him? Stone him? That would have only made sense. It would have been what Saul would have done. Instead, Ananias prayed for him and Saul’s sight came back—scales fell from his eyes.

Now, while I do believe that scales actually did fall from Saul’s eyes, I believe that when Saul opened his eyes his saw much more than he bargained for: he saw the surprises of God. He saw God’s great mercy. He saw forgiveness for what he had done. He no doubt now saw clearly how horrible of a man, how horrible of a Jew even, that he had been before. God’s love and forgiveness will do that to you. None of us deserve it. Saul’s surprise was that no matter how horrible of a person you have been in this life—you are never outside of God’s mercy.

There are some of you a lot like Saul. You believe that you are too sinful to survive God’s wrath. You can’t even see your own sins you are so blind by your self-righteous pride. I pray that God lifts the scales from your eyes. That you see yourself, in all your shame and guilt—I hope that it surprises you—the sin that lurks beneath that heart of yours. Then, I hope that you are in for a much bigger surprise. God wants you for his very own. He wants to use you for good, not for evil. He has plans much bigger for your life than you could ever imagine. It’s time to come forward and see the truly surprising grace of God. Today’s healing service is for you, whether you have trouble forgiving others or trouble forgiving yourself. God’s grace is for you and it’s always a surprise.