When God Takes Another Direction – Acts 9.1-8

                In the Gospel of John, Jesus brings the teaching home to the people. They were following him, receiving the blessings of being near him, without fully accepting. Their sick were healed. Their bellies were full. And their leaders rebuked. Then they were told now it is time for them to decide what their part in following Jesus was. No more free ride, if you will. John records the most of the followers stopped following. It is here that Peter confesses the 12’s beliefs that Jesus is the Messiah. But even then, Jesus said that one would still betray him.

                Maybe it is because Judas did believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but he thought if he’d push it along, force Jesus’ hand, then the earthly kingdom would come. He wanted to be the hero of the hour. He didn’t have the right direction, though his actions did indeed bring about the direction God intended. Yet his mistake wasn’t the first misunderstanding, nor would it be the last. But I do wonder if that was Judas’ desire, but ultimately, his faith wasn’t founded for the kingdom, or for Jesus.

                I wonder if as a young man, if Saul of Tarsus, a member, or at least pupil of a member of the Sanhedrin was there that day Jesus was tried and executed. He saw that according to his understanding and education, Jesus was most certainly not the long awaited savior of the world. He was a heretic. He and his followers had to be destroyed. God’s honor must be defended.

                No, I am not stretching on this being Paul’s thought. That is the very definition of zeal. In his defense of God and the Law of Moses, he thought he was doing the right thing by destroying the Church. It’s the very confession to the church in Philippi. The man named Saul was always devoted to the Father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And it is here where we pick him up in our passage to telling others about Jesus. Stephen died for Jesus. Philip went on walk about preaching. Now we have Saul taking the persecution beyond the walls of Jerusalem, beyond the shadow of the Temple. Let’s read the text.

                Saul, as he was on his mission for God, came to see the light. We can look at it from all the traditional angles. We can see that God and Jesus are one; that what he thought he was doing for God was really attacking God. I have seen some imply that Saul was selected to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, that he had no choice but to comply. He went from being God’s biggest enemy to being his biggest preacher. Yet I think that there is more here, that as he became blind, something that has parallel in John 9.39 where Jesus said that he came to blind those who see and give sight to those who are blind.

                That would mean that Saul was one of those who claimed to see, to know the truth, when in fact, he was blind to the truth, and now literally blinded by the Truth. In Psychology, they would say that if Luke was accurate, Saul was protesting too much, that he must be dealing with guilt. I wonder what all he was processing in his thoughts. Could the stoning of Stephen be replaying in his mind? Or maybe it was the crucifixion of Jesus?

                Either way, he was now dealing with a choice, with a change in direction. He could continue on with what he thought he knew. He had a way of upbringing that has been set on its proverbial ear. Yet if he went down this avenue, as Jesus said in John 9, would Saul remain blind? Perhaps. It would be fitting if Saul chose not to listen to the truth of God’s Word.

                Then there is the other choice, to accept that he didn’t have a firm handle on who Jesus is. He didn’t understand how Stephen would, could stand there looking into heaven as the stones were knocking the life out of him. Of course we know the direction, the avenue Saul chose to travel down.

                But he was not the only one that afternoon who had a choice to make. He had an entourage with him. They, too, saw the light. They also heard the voice, but unlike Saul, according to Acts 22, the entourage didn’t understand voice, they knew it was a very supernatural event. They had to know that it was related to their present mission to Damascus, some 200 miles away from home.

                Too often we imagine that the entourage, after escorting Saul into Damascus, turned around and went home. This is something that has been nearly 2 weeks in the journey. What did they do during the three days of fasting that Saul submitted himself to? How did they respond to the message the Saul began immediately preaching?

                Now I am making an assumption about the entourage. I am assuming that the men were as open to learning the Word as Paul was that they were at least nearly as scholarly as Saul was. It is not within a person to take so much time with people he doesn’t particularly like. He wouldn’t be unevenly yoked. So I assume that they may have been some of his first believers. One other wondering question that I had: Could Silas have been part of Paul’s original entourage? The first time we really see Silas is where the Apostles and elders of Jerusalem selected him as part of the entourage to Antioch to explain what Gentile Christians were to do to live for God. He was the first choice for Paul when Paul and Barnabas had their tiff. But Silas is fanciful wondering.

                Yet what the Word doesn’t tell us is how the entourage chose. It is one of those unfinished stories that the Bible seems to be full of. It is like our story this morning. It’s not yet finished for any of us here. How do we choose?

                Yes, right now, following God within our understanding, it is easy to say yes. But what if God changes directions? What if God allows something to shake our very core, our very faith? Could we then be wise enough to recognize where God is and move ourselves to following Him? What if we as a church are called to go where we hadn’t planned on going?

                How do we make the right choice? Like Saul, we need to listen to his voice. No, he probably won’t talk to us in the manner that He spoke to Saul. We can see how God speaks to us through the reading of the word.  Often we don’t look at it because we let life distract us. Or perhaps we might fear what the Father might challenge us to change within our own lives. But reading the Bible is one aspect. It does no good if we just read the Bible and then live the day as we desire.

                We need to also make sure our spiritual life is in order. I like Luke’s gospel because it gives us a glimpse that Jesus had a habit of going off to pray to the Father. Do we make sure that our spiritual life is in order? Do we have a time that we let life just stop around us so that we can devote that time talking to our Father? Also that is the key. If God is our Father, than we are brothers and sisters, we are family. We are to gather, according to Colossians 3.16 and Hebrews 10.25, to encourage one another.  Yet how often do we let the world give us reason to skip any of the mentioned?

                When we make a choice for Jesus, when we listen to His Word, when our spiritual life is in order, we will find that God hasn’t changed as much as we have been changed, prepared for every good work that the Church, His children, His hands and feet and mouth, are called to do. Then those around us will take notice.