Reversal

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

April 18, 2010

Text: Acts 9: 1-22

EXTRAORDINARY INTERVENTION!

Saul was “dazed and dazzled.” (Gunther Bornkamm) This was not something he had prepared for. To the contrary, he had a purpose-driven life already. He knew what he was going to do and he had the power to do it.

Paul’s experience was exceptional: here he was breathing murderous threats and murder against Christians. Then, lights flashing, falling to the ground, a voice, blindness.

His life was interrupted.

Paul’s conversion reminds me of an experience of the 17th century scientist, Blaise Pascal.

Pinned to the inside of his jacket when he died  were found these words:

“23 November, 1654
From about half past 10 in the evening til about half past 12: FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars. Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.”

Paul’s conversion was so spectacular that we are tempted to be incredulous, or, conversely, to make it the example of what real conversion should be.

There is no evidence that Paul’s conversion became a model for others. Some conversions are gradual, cumulative; others sudden and dramatic. The common denominator is transformation. And everyone who encounters Christ is called to be an instrument of God’s mission----each in our own way with the gifts that we have been given.

If Christ has met you in your life journey, how did it happen?

For me, it was cumulative, a seemingly random series of events and influences:

Music which spoke to me: “I have decided to follow Jesus….No turning back. Though none go with me, I’ll follow Jesus…..No turning back, no turning back….”

Old shaped note music and Stamps Baxter gospel music sung at “musicals” which were jam sessions, at my grandparents home. My all-time favorite was “Riding the Range for Jesus.”

 Later in life, these hymns led me toward conversion: “Holy, Holy, Holy,” “Christ for the World We Sing”

My dad as he swept out the house and then wrote his check and placed it in the weekly envelope every Sunday morning.

The stories of Jacob wrestling with God’s messenger, of Abraham and Sarah, old with years, consenting to go where God would lead them; of Moses, standing there smelling of sheep, frightened half out of his wits when God spoke to him out of the burning bush, Amos thundering “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Ruth, clinging to her mother in law Naomi and being led to a new life in a foreign land.

Images of Jesus blessing the children and Jesus with the lost sheep in his arms.

Memorizing verses for VBS. I was struck by the beauty of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. The words of Jesus “Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden; take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart….”

The compassion I saw in pastors: especially- David Cook, Uncle Bill, Dean Franklin, Jack Shelton.

Movies: Quo Vadis, Spartacus, The Magnificent Obsession.

E. Stanley Jones, missionary to India, who held me spellbound for 45 minutes reading from lectures at an Ashram at Mt Wesley in 1961.

And old pastor speaking at compulsory chapel at Decatur Baptist College in the fall of 1960.

McMurry professors Howard Alexander Slaate, Howard Ramsey, Bert Affleck.

A Methodist Student Movement Conference in Wimberley listening to John Deschner of SMU on the subject of the Lord’s Supper.
Reading “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Junior.

These and many other people, writings, stories and events led me to “conversion,” and an adventure called ordained ministry.

And they still come, these moments Christophanies.
These were not dramatic, sudden events but they were cumulative, and they have shaped my life and have introduced me to the Triune God.

Paul was encountered from One beyond himself.

HOW ODD OF GOD!

Paul is an odd choice! This is what the Christian Ananias knew! In a vision, Jesus tells him to go and “lay hands on” Paul, who would be praying, “so that he may regain his sight.”

Ananias as much as said, “Lay hands on him! Have you not heard about him? He is laying hands on disciples every day, men and women, and taking them off to jail. Don’t you remember that he was the one who held the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death!”

Paul was Enemy Number One, on a mission to search and destroy Christianity.

Jesus tells Ananias: “Go! I have chosen this man to be my instrument, to bring the good news to the gentiles and his own people.”

When Christ touches our lives, appears to us, speaks to us, some are humbled and brought low by Christ; others are lifted up. It depends on where we are in life and our needs.

The Lord takes us from where we are to a new place we could not have gone without his call and leading.

Paul’s case was “not the case of one without faith finding the way to God but of one zealous for God, earnest about its demands and promises.” ( Paul Bornkamm)

 Paul went from  being very dedicated in his religion, to being an ambassador for Christ. It was a change of but the same zeal.

INCLUSION

And the church receives Paul. “Brother Paul,” Ananias says. Who is Ananias? An ordinary follower of Christ, given courage to do what God tells him to do. He is fearful of Paul, for good reason. He becomes the instrument of Paul’s healing and reception.

To be met by Christ and changed does not mean that we go off to ourselves to follow Christ by ourselves.

Paul got up, once he could see again, and he was baptized; and he was fed, and he regained his strength. After several days with the other disciples, he began to tell others about Jesus.

A SENT ONE: APOSTLE

He changed from one who was causing Christ (and Christ’s people) to suffer to one who would suffer for Christ’s sake.

Paul is another example of one who is divinely commissioned who move out in obedient response, even when it means radically departing from his past and being plunged into suffering as a way of life.

Bishop Will Willimon, quoting Hans Mol, wrote that when we are met by God, these things happen:

Detachment from our former patterns.
A time of rootlessness and confusion.
A dramatic transition from darkness to light.

 And conversion is not individualistic and private. The faith community supports and accepts the convert.
What does this all meanfor us?

Fred Craddock summarizes:

“What is God like? God will choose anybody God wants to choose, reverse their loyalties and use them as instruments of his kingdom-work.

“What are we humans like? We are no match for God’s power; we can only respond to God’s initiative.

“What are we to do or be? When our name is called, it is best to  answer “Who are you?” And listen.

Don’t ever presuppose who is capable of being converted or called to serve…. [Even] God’s enemies can be changed into God’s ambassadors.