Acts
9:10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named
Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered,
"Here I am, Lord." 11 The Lord said to him, "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, 12 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." 13
But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man,
how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief
priests to bind all who invoke your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is
an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and
before the people of Israel; 16 I myself will show him how much he must
suffer for the sake of my name." 17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He
laid his hands on Saul and said, "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." 18 And immediately something like scales fell
from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, 19 and after
taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the
disciples in Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in
the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."
Saul
of Tarsus, a Pharisee of Pharisees,[1]
was zealously protecting the faith against the new Jesus-heresy. On his way to
Damascus he is deeply moved by a vision he has of God. This leaves him blinded
and weak, and he is recovering at the house of Judas. At the same time Ananias,
a Jesus-follower has his own ‘Damascus road encounter’ and finds his world turned
inside out: he is asked to “go to the street called Straight” to meet his
persecutor. And so the choice lies
before him: go in obedience and risk arrest – or stay at home and remain safe.
This
is often the way it is when God meets us: we can choose to stay as we are, or
we can choose to allow God to change the direction of our lives. The former is
safe and predictable; the latter is risky and the outcome is unknown. But every
time we choose to allow God into our life, we discover that this open up space
for God to do more than we ever could anticipate. Today begins our journey of
Lent: how about stepping outside of the safe and predictable and praying for God
to resurrect a new Easter experience in our lives?
The First Sunday in Lent
Preparation for
Ministry
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman
Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville,
The Upper Room 1983), 106.
This reflection is from
my own devotional exercises for the day.
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