Acts 9:1-22 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he might bring them to Jerusalem as prisoners.
3 As he went on his way and was approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
5 He asked, “Who are you, Lord?”
He replied, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you need to do.”
7 The men traveling with him stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone.
8 They raised Saul up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could not see anything. They took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. 9 For three days he could not see, and he did not eat or drink.
10 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 told him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. In fact, at this very moment he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he can regain his sight.”
13 Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man and how much harm he did to your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 The Lord said to him, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel. 16 Indeed, I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
17 Ananias left and entered the house. Laying his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, whom you saw on your way here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. 19 And after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul stayed with the disciples in Damascus for several days. 20 Immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
21 All who heard him were amazed and said, “Isn’t this the one who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? Didn’t he come here for this very purpose: to bring them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 But Saul continued to get stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5:12). Amen.
A few weeks ago, I was eating lunch at the WLS cafeteria with three of our third-grade boys. I noticed that one of the boys had an interesting eye color. So, I asked the boys, “What color are all of your eyes?” One boy had green eyes, the other blue, and the other brown.
Then I explained that I’m colorblind, and that’s why I asked about their eye colors. They then did what every other person does when they find out I’m colorblind. They started asking me, “What color is this?” and “What color is that?”
I answered, “I’m not sure. I think that might be periwinkle. But it could also be fuchsia. Or maybe even magenta.” I can’t really see those colors. I have no clue what those colors look like. But I also knew those boys had no clue what those colors were either.
Hopefully all of you have the eyesight to be able to enjoy the wonderful colors of God’s creation. More importantly, I pray you have the spiritual eyesight to see the Lord as your Savior from sin.
History is filled with men and women who were drastically changed by the Holy Spirit when he created faith in their hearts and allowed them the ability to see their Savior. Saint Augustine enjoyed wine, women, and son before his conversion. John Newton, the author of “Amazing Grace,” was the captain of a slaving trip before his conversion to Christ. I once ministered to a prisoner who had hated God so much he had 666 tattooed over his heart. Yet the Holy Spirit softened that prisoner through the sacrament of Baptism.
Maybe you know someone who was transformed when they became a Christian. Maybe the Holy Spirit drastically changed you.
One of the greatest transformation stories is found in Acts 9. Saul was physically blinded after seeing the risen Christ. He had been spiritually blind but was given the sight of faith. He was taken from spiritual blindness to seeing to serve the Savior.
We first meet Saul as he approved of Stephen’s execution as he guarded the cloaks of those doing Satan’s work of stoning Christ’s saint. Then we see Saul dragging Christians to jail as he ravaged the Jerusalem church. He is so zealous in his persecution of Christ that he’s willing to travel 150 miles on horseback to Damascus to identify and detain any followers of the Way he found there.
Saul’s eyes were opened by being blinded. One the road to Damascus Saul saw a bright light that stopped him in his tracks – both literally and figuratively. Saul met the risen Christ. In the process, his eyes were opened to see the path he was pursuing was a dead end. What he thought were lies was the truth. What he thought was the truth were lies. The work he thought he was doing for God was really against God. The terror he was reigning down on Christians was really serving Satan.
Saul learned from Jesus himself that the Way he was trying to stop was unstoppable. By persecuting Jesus’ people, Saul was attempting to persecute Jesus. That’s why Jesus asked, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
After seeing the Savior, Saul was blinded. Scales remained on Saul’s eyes for three days as he fasted and prayed. He certainly knew much of the Old Testament Scriptures by heart. I’m guessing he used those three days to meditate on those Scriptures to see where he had gone so wrong. The Holy Spirit was working on Saul to turn him 180 degrees.
Saul physically saw the risen Jesus. During those three days of blindness, Saul spiritually saw Jesus as his Savior. But that’s not all. He also saw how much he would suffer.
The Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel. Indeed, I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Ananias left and entered the house. Laying his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, whom you saw on your way here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. 19And after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul stayed with the disciples in Damascus for several days. Immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
The Lord was well aware of Saul’s history. Saul would be his witness to the Gentiles, kings, and Jews. He would suffer a great deal for Jesus. Saul was a converted man. But he wasn’t a different man. Once his eyes were opened, Saul applied the same zeal and intellect he had used to persecute Jesus to preach about him, starting right there in Damascus. The name he had been trying to silence he would now spend the rest of his life trying to spread.
Saul went from being the greatest persecutor of the Church to the greatest preacher for the Church. He traveled, suffered, was beaten, whipped, stoned, shipwrecked, and ultimately killed. Still, he preached “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). He would not be deterred. Nothing could hold him back. He was fearless in his preaching of Jesus Christ. He saw and was now serving his Savior.
May 1st is the confirmation of four of our youth. They have been baptized and converted. Now they are confirming that baptismal faith.
Like Saul, our confirmands and all of us have been chosen purely by God’s mercy. There is nothing good in any of us that we should be chosen, converted, saved, and invited to serve. It’s like we sang this morning in the opening sentences of Morning Prayer: “Hasten to save me, O God. O Lord, come quickly to help me.”
Groucho Marx once received an acceptance letter into a club. He wrote back a resignation letter, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.”
That’s true of Saul. That’s true of us. If you were starting a new religion, would you pick as a spokesperson someone who hated you? But that’s exactly what God did with Saul. It’s also what God did with you and our confirmands. God didn’t choose the best behaved or the most faithful people to be in his Church. He chose a bunch of people who were born sinful and by nature enemies of God. He chose scum and villains. He chose people who wanted nothing to do with him and were living lives opposed to him.
Saul, who became St. Paul, was under no illusions that God brought him to faith because he was such a good person. Paul knew who and what he was. He wrote to Timothy, “This saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,’ of whom I am the worst.” (1 Timothy 1:15). He explained to the Christians in Corinth, “Last of all, he appeared also to me, the stillborn child, so to speak. For I am the least of the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted God’s church” (1 Corinthians 15:8, 9).
By the grace of God, the Holy Spirit has opened your eyes. You look in the mirror and recognize the sinner staring at you in your reflection. But that’s why you’re here. It why our confirmands are being confirmed. The Holy Spirit has opened your eyes to see your sin. The Holy Spirit has opened your eyes to see the crucified and risen Christ as your Savior. You have been saved by grace. You have been chosen by mercy. The Lord has come quickly to help you.
The scales have come off your eyes. You were born in unbelief. You have been reborn in Baptism and given saving faith. You were blind but now you see. You were dead in sin but you were made alive in the risen Christ. You were filled with hate for God. Now you are filled with God’s love and forgiveness. You were hungry and Christ gives you his sacred meal. You were thirsty and he brought you to the water of life.
Now you are so grateful for God’s grace that you wish to serve your Savior. Many of you made the same vow the confirmands are making. It’s a serious promise. Being faithful even to the point of death rather than falling away from their confirmation faith. We ask the Holy Spirit to grant them – and you – the strength and perseverance to remain faithful to that vow.
St. Paul faced severe opposition in serving his Savior. You will face opposition, too. You will say no to your fiancé when he or she wants to move in together before marriage. You will be canceled on social media for defending biblical marriage between a man and a woman. You will be bullied for not acquiescing to and promoting the transgender movement. You will be silenced when you speak up about Jesus in any context. You may lose your job, lose your friends, even lose your freedom for standing strong on God’s will, Jesus’ name, and the Holy Spirit’s words.
Are all of you really ready for all that? That persecution is coming. It will happen.
You will be tempted to be quiet, to cower in the corner, to delete tweets, to erase posts, to not call your friends to repentance, to not speak about our culture’s descent into decadence, to change your mind, and give up your faith.
Your Triune God will bless you as you bless him with your courage and conviction. The heavenly Father will send his legions of angels to protect you. The King of kings can thwart any governing authorities who oppose you. The Holy Spirit will give you the right words to say when you are hauled before kings and councils and courts to give your testimony.
You have seen the Savior with your own eyes. Now serve him. Serve him as ushers and on the altar guild, cleaning the church and cutting grass, playing music and serving on committees. But more than that, serve your Savior by sharing your Savior. By God’s grace, the scales of unbelief have been removed from your eyes. Tell people about the risen Lord Jesus. Lead them to repentance and baptism so the scales of unbelief will fall from their eyes, too.
Serve your Savior now so you might join the song of the saints, angels, elders, and living creatures in heaven singing for all eternity: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5:12). Amen.
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever” (Revelation 12:13). Amen.