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.