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Context No. 3172 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 9:17-21: in context

17Ananias departed and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized. 19He took food and was strengthened. Saul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus. 20Immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed the Christ, that he is the Son of God. 21All who heard him were amazed, and said, “Isn’t this he who in Jerusalem made havoc of those who called on this name? And he had come here intending to bring them bound before the chief priests!”

Ananias goes to the house where the blinded Saul is waiting, and his first word is astonishing: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Something like scales falls from Saul's eyes; he sees, is baptized, takes food, and at once begins proclaiming in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

The grace here is stunning on every side. Ananias, sent to the notorious persecutor, obeys, and his first word is brother Saul; he welcomes the church's enemy as family. God's transformation of Saul is immediate and total: the scales fall, he is baptized, and at once he proclaims Jesus. The persecutor becomes the preacher overnight, and the very people he came to arrest hear him preach the name he had tried to destroy. No one is beyond the reach of God's transforming grace, not even the church's fiercest enemy, and the community, through Ananias, is called to receive the transformed one as brother.

Do I believe God can transform even the fiercest opponent of the faith, and am I willing, like Ananias, to welcome the changed as "brother"?

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