Acts 9:1-20
Easter 3 Year C
April 14, 2013
First and Harmony Presbyterian Churches
The Rev. Dr. Robert Wm Lowry
When were you saved?
I am going to go out on a limb and guess that living here
in the buckle of the bible belt, most of you have heard that question at least
from time to time.
When were you saved?
As a Presbyterian, and
preacher to boot, having been brought up in good Reformed fashion, my
quick response is always, “when was I saved?
I was saved on a hill far away nearly 2000 years ago when Jesus died on
the cross!”
Two things about that statement are true, one spoken and
one unspoken. I do believe that I was
saved and you were saved and the whole world was saved through the life, death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That
is the spoken truth of those words and it is important that we have the voice
to say it. It is important that we who
live in our Reformed tradition are willing to articulate our understanding of
God’s salvation history. It is important to speak our truth.
The second truth in that statement about being saved on a
hill far away in time and place is unspoken.
My other truth in those words is that I am jealous of Saul. I am jealous of anyone for that matter who
has what is called in church shorthand a “Damascus Road experience.”
The story of the conversion of Saul, the Damascus Road
Experience, can, if we allow it lead to what one commentator calls “faith
inferiority complex”- that nagging feeling that somehow our faith is not as
good; as genuine; as godly as another’s.
It is that little voice that convinces us that while God may be at work
in our lives, God is not THAT at work. I mean if God acts like this to draw in a guy
like Paul, what does it say that my life- my conversion- is so much less of a
mountain top experience?
Just think about what happens that day.
Saul, professional harasser of Christians makes a visit
to the high priest. No longer spewing
what the text calls “murderous threats” against the followers of Jesus, Saul
wants permission to round them up. Saul
goes to the high priest and asks for written permission to do a theological
round-up and take all these Jesus people into custody and throw them in
jail.
This is the man we celebrate today. When Saul set out on the road to Damascus he
was setting out on a crusade to theologically cleanse the Jewish world of the
Christians.
Well, while Saul the ethnic cleanser to be was riding
along the road, a light from heaven encircled him. Saul falls off his horse, is struck blind,
has a conversation with God and eventually he is baptized- ordained really- by
Ananias.
Flannery O’Connor once said of Paul, “I reckon God knew
the only way to make a Christian out of that one was to knock him off his
horse.” Of course the story never says
that Paul was on a horse, but who am I to argue with Flannery O’Connor!
Whether or not it is historically accurate, O’Connor
raises an important point about this story.
The main actor in the story of Saul’s conversion, in the story of every
conversion, is God.
God is the central character here.
What happens on the Damascus Road is not Saul’s sudden
revelation that Jesus is the son of God.
His eyes were not opened to the truth in some moment of internal
spiritual awakening. In fact, he is
struck blind! His eyes are quite
literally closed.
What happens that day to Saul is not his “decision for
Christ” as so many call it, but God’s decision for Saul and the world.
In the African-American preaching tradition, there is a
practice that is known as call and response.
From time to time the preacher will simply say, “Amen?” to which the
congregation will proclaim, “Amen!” Or
the preacher may ask, “can I get a witness?”
And with many voices, the congregation will answer. It is call and response.
The conversion of Saul is a sort of historical call and
response. God needs a witness- a voice-
a mouthpiece for the gospel- not merely to say the words but to demonstrate
with a life the very power of the grace of God.
God needs a witness not only to the words of Jesus but to the power of
God that is behind them.
God needs a witness, and Saul is the perfect candidate. Who better than a Jesus hating, death
threatening, Christian bashing Pharisee to demonstrate the love, compassion,
forgiveness and saving grace of God!
Yes, God needed a witness and Saul fit the bill.
Amen? (You know you want to
respond. Go ahead. Its ok.)
This is quite a story, right! It is easy to get swept up in it. It is easy to get drawn into the Hollywood
drama of the theological villain being struck blind, redeemed and proving true
that old saying that there is no one more passionate than convert!
This is the mountain top of mountain tops!
When I sat and wrote these words, I hoped that I would
feel more drawn to this story. I hoped
that my unspoken truth-that I am jealous of those who have Damascus Road
experiences- would subside. To be
honest, it didn’t- it hasn’t.
Now don’t get me wrong, I can point with no measure of
doubt to places where God is at work in my life. But still, it would be nice to
get knocked off my horse from time to time;
nice to know that God is paying that kind of attention to
my life;
that I am that useful to the work of the
Kingdom of God.
I know in my heart that there is nothing wrong or unholy
about the steady unfolding of conversion, but it would be kind of nice to have
a big moment like that to hang our hats on.
When I find myself getting jealous of Saul and all those who have had a
Damascus Road, I try to remember, slow and steady- slow and steady- after all,
slow and steady wins the race.
Do you see it?
Do you see the problem there?
I didn’t until I was well into preparing this
sermon. It did not dawn on me what the
real problem is with this text; or at least the problem I impose on this text.
The problem is not that I or perhaps you have not had a
Damascus Road experience; a dramatic conversion in our souls. It is not that we lack some formative experience
in the faith or even that we forget that slow and steady wins the race. The problem is that we think it is a race to
begin with.
In that moment-that place-that time- God needed a witness
who could shake the foundations of the world; a witness who would come at the
world so sideways that nothing but the grace of God could have made it
happen. God needed a particular witness
and God found it in Saul.
The point of this story is not that Saul was so convicted
of his past sins and so convicted of God’s power and calling that he had to
change his name to leave the past behind.
The point is that God needed a particular sort of bold in your face
witness and Saul fit the bill.
Saul’s is not the model for conversions. In fact it is the exception to the rule. Far more converts in the book of Acts come
through the steady relentless proclamation of the Gospel.
Saul’s conversion is romanticized and lifted up as though
it is somehow better than or more powerful than others, but is it really? Is Saul any more faithful that Thomas who,
despite his nagging doubts, will not leave Jesus? Is Saul any more holy than the Roman
centurion whose conversion we hear of just after this text and from whom we
never hear again?
What the story of the conversion of Saul reminds us is
that there is not a one size fits all conversion experience just as there is
not a prize for being the first to believe or the one to be brought to belief
in the most dramatic fashion.
The thing we must remember in this story is that more
roads lead to faith in Christ than just the road to Damascus. That was Saul’s road and thanks be to God he
got knocked on his rear end so he could dust himself off and never be the same
again.
And Saul’s road-Paul’s road-may be the road some of us will
take to faith in Christ and thanks be to God for it. But Saul’s road is not the only road. In truth, a theologian William Muel said,
there are as many roads to Christ as there are Christians to walk them.
Whether God is knocking you off your horse or leading you
gently by the hand or coming more as a whisper from the dim light of tomorrow,
the point is not how we are called but that it is God who does the calling.
My we, each and every one, have eyes to see and ears to
hear and above all lives to respond to the calling of God- however it may come.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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