Homily – April 10

Ananias – 4/10/16

Have you ever noticed when people wonder about who they may have been in a past life, that no

one ever thinks they were a minor character? Everyone tends to think they were someone

famous like Joan of Arc or Charlemagne, but no one ever thinks they were a blacksmith or a

chambermaid. I think this is a natural occurrence as we feel we know great historical figures

better and can identify with them since they are mentioned in history. But sometimes, great

figures don’t start out as great figures.

The apostle Paul is one of the great figures of the Bible. He was a prolific author responsible for

much of the New Testament, (or at least much is attributed to him). He founded churches

throughout the world, spread the gospel to new lands, and was a tireless pastor to all he had met.

Paul, as much as any of the apostles, is responsible for the extension of Christianity to the

gentiles. In fact he was the one who stood up to Peter and forged agreement that gentiles could

be followers of Christ without first becoming Jews.

But as we know, he didn’t start out this way. His name was not always Paul, but Saul and Saul was

a bad guy. A Pharisee and zealous persecutor of Christians, or as they were called then, people of

the way, he had been responsible for many crimes, not the least of which was witnessing the

stoning of Steven. Saul hated these people as he felt they were blaspheming against God, a sin

that justified the most severe punishments. And now he was on the move. Not just satisfied with

murdering people in Jerusalem, Saul had heard that some believers had gone to Damascus. They

had gone to build up the church, but in his mind, they had fled to escape his punishment. So he

begged the high priest to give him authority to track them down and bring them to justice, or

should I say, to his version of justice.

So off he went, letters of arrest in hand, to continue to cleanse the world of the infestation of

Christians. And on the road, well, we just heard the story. Jesus appears to him and Saul is never

the same again. But think about how this took place. Saul is blinded by the meeting with Jesus

and is led helplessly to Damascus. And the Lord appears to Ananias. Now if Saul is a major

character like Charlemagne, Ananias is a minor character like the blacksmith. But this minor

character plays a very important role.

Jesus appears to Ananias and tells him to go to Saul. And Ananias says essentially, excuse me?

Lord, Saul is a bad guy. He has done a great deal of evil to your people in Jerusalem and has come

to Damascus to do the same thing here.

Let’s stop for a moment and consider our minor character. He is a disciple and a believer, but he

lives in a time very different from ours. The people of the way are decidedly outsiders who have a

great deal to fear from both the Romans and from the Jews. Did you ever wonder why one of the

earliest Christian symbols was the fish? It came from the notion of Jesus making us fishers of

men, but it was also a convenient symbol that would not attract the notice of the authorities.

Today we wear a cross, but to do so then would have been inviting trouble, so instead they

identified themselves to one another with the fish. It was a dangerous time as they lived in

constant fear of harassment, and even death, from the authorities.

It is in this time and place that the Lord said to Ananias in a vision, “Get up and go to the street

called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he

is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so

that he might regain his sight.” Jesus appears to Ananias, and gives him a mission. What would

any of us do if this happened? I can think of a lot of different responses I may make to such a

vision and charge from Jesus. But none of them are what Ananias does. Ananias answered, “Lord,

I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem;

and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” He actually

tells God that he is wrong, that this is a bad guy. Ananias may think that Jesus doesn’t know of

Saul’s past, so he takes it on himself to educate God.

But Jesus tells him to go, that He has plans for Saul. I have been struggling to come up with a

good analogy to offer you, to give you some sense of how hard it must have been for Ananias to

go to Saul. The only one that came to mind was this; imagine a shi’ite Muslim being told in a

vision that he had to go to Sadam Hussein. Sadam was a violent persecutor of shi’ites and was

responsible for many deaths, so they were quite naturally terrified of him. This is something like

what Ananias must have felt when Jesus told him to go to Saul.

But here is the amazing part; he goes. Having made his initial protest, Ananias does exactly what

Jesus commands and goes and enters the house. There he lays hands on him and restores his

sight, saying the amazing phrase “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way

here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Not only

does he go to Saul, but he addresses him as Brother. What faith that took! Saul is the chief

persecutor of the disciples, was there at the murder of Steven, and has come to arrest Ananias

and all of his friends. And with one word from Jesus, Ananias addresses him as a brother!

Once he lays his hands on Saul the scales fall away from his eyes and his sight is restored. But

more than that, he has been shown kindness and love from one of Jesus’ disciples. By his simple

act, Ananias has shown Saul that they are not mere blasphemers, but they act out of love, the

love of the risen Christ. And he is immediately baptized. Saul has gone through a significant

transformation from persecutor to believer, from outsider to insider, from doubter to believer.

Jesus did this, for it was all part of his plan. But to accomplish that plan, Jesus called upon humble

Ananias to play his role in the conversion of Saul. It was a small yet critical part of the journey and

it took an act of faith on the part of a believer to make it come to pass. So the next time you think

about who you may have been in a past life, remember that it is not always the famous notables

who are important. All of us play a role in God’s plan and we are all important; king and

blacksmith alike.