"Conversation of Saul" by Rev. Jillian Hankamer, 5/4/2025

A sermon for Northminster Church

Acts 9:1-19

I. Context of Paul

-of 27 books in NT, 13 are traditionally credited to Paul

-only 7 are accepted by scholars as being authentically written by him

-Second only to Jesus in NT

- love him or hate him, we need to know about him

-Remember: Luke and Acts are originally one book written by the same author

                        -Luke a physician

-Starts out life as Saul of Tarsis (present day Turkey) part of the Roman empire.

-Greek speaker

-Likely born around the same time as Jesus, but never met while Christ is alive

-He was a tent-maker by trade

-made working during his missionary journeys a bit easier as he could “set up shop” anywhere

-Was also a Pharisee, a religious party that emerged around 160-165 BCE

-a party of laymen and scribes vs. Sadducees who were the high priests who traditionally provided leadership for the Jewish people.

-Pharisees blue collar. Sadducees white collar.

-Sadducees tended to be literal and fundamental when interpreting Torah. -Pharisees were more open to interpretations that evolved with human experience

-Believed in life after death

 -Accepted non-biblical “traditions” as being about as important as the written Bible

-Very careful students of the Hebrew Bible

-Paul was able to quote extensively from the Greek translation

-Paul says of himself that he was the best Jew and the best Pharisee of his generation and also describes himself as the least apostle of Christ

-Phillippians (3:4-6) You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book.

-Galatians (1:13-14)   I’m sure that you’ve heard the story of my earlier life when I lived in the Jewish way. In those days I went all out in persecuting God’s church. I was systematically destroying it. I was so enthusiastic about the traditions of my ancestors that I advanced head and shoulders above my peers in my career.

-And in both 1 and 2 Corinithians as he attributes his successes to the grace of God.

II. Persecution

-As we heard, Paul starts out persecuting those who were followers of The Way

-motivation unknown, though likely not connected to his role as Pharisee

-chief persecutors of the Christian movement in Jerusalem were the high priest and his associates, who were Sadducees.

-Acts 5 depicts the leading Pharisee, Gamaliel, as defending the Christians (Acts 5:34).

-All we can do is guess at Paul’s motivation for persecution, but it’s possible he believed

1. that Jewish converts to the new movement were not sufficiently observant of the Jewish law

2. that Jewish converts mingled too freely with Gentile converts, thus associating themselves with idolatrous practices,

3. Notion of a crucified messiah was objectionable.

-Whatever his reasons, probably involved traveling from synagogue to synagogue and urging the punishment of Jews who accepted Jesus as the messiah.

-Disobedient members of synagogues were punished by some form of ostracism or by light flogging, which we know from 2 Corinithians (11:24) Paul himself suffers multiple times

-Acts 9 begins immediately after the stoning of Stephen with the rather chilling words “And Saul approved of their killing him.”

-Luke doesn’t give us the particulars of how Christians were persecuted, but we shouldn’t think of it as a constant event.

-In the early decades of the movement, persecution “was sporadic and depended on the willingness of others to denounce Christians to civil authorities and their disposition to pursue the matter.”

III. Continuation of the story,

“There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: “Ananias.” “Yes, Master?” he answered. “Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He’s there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again.” Ananias protested, “Master, you can’t be serious. Everybody’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us.” But the Master said, “Don’t argue. Go! I have picked him as my personal representative to non-Jews and kings and Jews. And now I’m about to show him what he’s in for—the hard suffering that goes with this job.” So Ananias went and found the house, placed his hands on blind Saul, and said, “Brother Saul, the Master sent me, the same Jesus you saw on your way here. He sent me so you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes—he could see again! He got to his feet, was baptized, and sat down with them to a hearty meal.”

-Similarities between the call of other prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah

-powerful, life changing encounters with God

- involve some sort of physical touch.

-Isaiah’s mouth is touched with a burning coal,

-the Lord puts a hand over Jeremiah’s mouth

-Paul is struck blind.

-It’s also interesting to note that Saul is the name of Israel’s first king.

-As in Luke 9 when Jesus is transfigured, being “chosen” by God “is linked to suffering and death for the sake of the gospel.”

-Paul, being the “apostle to the Gentiles” suffers much for his faith and work.

-Side note: Acts uses the name Saul from chapter 7 through chapter 13:7. But then in Acts 13:9 says this, “But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently on him…” the “him” Paul’s addressing being a Roman official in Cyprus.   

-most reasonable explanation I found: “Saul” was his Jewish name, “Paul” his Roman name. Adoration of the latter gave Paul an in-roads with Gentiles in a way “Saul” didn’t.

-Also possible he gave up “Saul” because of its royal connotation in favor of “Paul” which means “little” or “small,” as an effort to make himself smaller and Christ greater. No matter the reason, this is a choice Paul makes not a change from Jesus as with Peter.

IV. Artwork

-“The Conversion of St. Paul” by Carravaggio

-One of at least two paintings by Italian painter Caravaggio of the same subject, the Conversion of Paul. Another is The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus.

-Beautiful! All of Carravaggio’s work is beautiful and I’m a sucker for it.

- This painting, together with Crucifixion of Saint Peter, was commissioned by the Treasurer-General to Pope Clement VIII, in September 1600.

-Caravaggio biographer Helen Langdon notes how the composition, with its jagged shapes and irrational light which picks out details for their dramatic impact, creates "a sense of crisis and dislocation [in which] Christ disrupts the mundane world."

V. For Today

-This story is a conversion and a call

-picks up theme from last week and story of Thomas of believing without seeing literally

-But Saul’s literal blindness on road to Damascus “is just the final, most literal blindness” in his life

-In his blindness, Saul approved the stoning of Stephen (Acts 22:20).

-In his blindness, he was a—if not the—top persecutor of the church.

-Commentator Barb Hedges Goettl”...Saul’s first career seems to be more readily defined by what he repudiated than by what he embraced. His second career, however, lives out what it means to be enveloped by the light of God. Driven to the ground, Saul meets God. The light of God, accompanied by God’s voice, illuminates. Saul recognizes the speaker as a power greater than himself. He addresses this voice as “Kyrios,” meaning Lord or Master.”

-This is a light with the power to cause blindness. To dispel shadows and dark corners, “revealing God in unexpected places.”^[1] 

-this light, this call demonstrates the character of grace. This grace is prevenient in that it has to originate with God. No one else would even conceive of such a thing!

-God goes on to further reveal Godself in unexpected places. (There was a Christmas skit a few years ago in which a small angel responds to God’s plans for the birth of Jesus with the repeated line, “Brilliant! No one will expect that!”)

True to fashion, God calls together the persecutor of the church and the disciple Ananias. Saul would not expect help from those whom he’d persecuted. And Ananias would not expect to help Saul, the great persecutor.

Ananias, too, has a spot of blindness with regard to the power of God. He knows Saul as the evil authority. He knows Saul as an enemy of the saints of God. He knows Saul as having free reign to bind those invoking God. And, unsurprisingly, he doesn’t want to go anywhere near him.

Who do we want to stay away from? Whose reputation frightens or intimidates us? Who do we leave in possession of the stage because we don’t want to have anything to do with them? Because we don’t know how to engage them? Because it’s easier to write them off than try to find and address their humanity?

God counsels Ananias that he has special plans for Saul. Now Saul is going to become what he thought he already was—God’s instrument. Ananias will serve Saul so that Saul can, in turn, serve those whom he persecuted: Gentiles. And kings. And the people of Israel. And God Godself will reveal to Saul “how much he must suffer for the sake of [God’s] name” (verse 16). Paul enumerates this suffering in 2 Corinthians 11:16-33. So Ananias goes. He lays hands on Saul. And Saul receives his sight. And the Holy Spirit. And baptism. All in short order. (Subsequent Narrative Lectionary passages will go on to reveal more about Saul/Paul as God’s instrument, as the vessel of God filled with the Holy Spirit and doing God’s will.)

Paul’s subsequent ministry continues what has begun here—the interdependence and ongoing relationship between Jews and Gentiles, and between other similarly separated groups: slave and free, male and female. The community of faith joins what humanity has split asunder, but not in a way that nullifies or ignores what has gone before. The abuser is not forgiven without repentance. The oppressor is not freed from responsibility. Instead, what—and who—has gone before is converted.

Death-dealing is confounded by the giving of life. Oppression is swallowed up by freedom. Hatred is answered by love. The enemy becomes the beloved. No wonder God had to take the first step! No wonder Paul was blinded by what God was doing! No wonder all this was—and is—predicated on the work of the Spirit!

Good News: This story is full of drama and miraculous happenings. It’s conversion on the grandest possible scale which most of us can’t hope to live up to. For if we have a “conversion experience” - and many of us who grow up in the church don’t - I doubt any of them look quite like this.

But this is also a story about the power of touch - it’s not until Ananias lays hands on Saul that his sight is restored - the possibilities and new life that can happen when we’re willing to change, and most importantly, the continued effort God makes to call the most imperfect, least likely, messiest people to share the love and message of Christ with people.

After all friends, if Jesus is willing to track down Saul and enlist him to teach people about the eternal life to be found in Christ and the joy of God’s kin-dom there isn’t a single one of us who isn’t qualified to do the same. And that is very Good News.

^[1] Barb