Acts 9:11-16: a reflection

11The Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judah for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying, 12and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight.” 13But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem. 14Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel. 16For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

The Lord tells Ananias to go to a house on Straight Street and lay hands on a man named Saul, so that he might see again. But Ananias hesitates. He has heard how much harm this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem, and that he has come with authority to arrest those who call on Jesus' name. Everything Ananias knows about Saul says danger. Obedience here means walking toward the very man he has reason to fear.

The Lord's answer reframes everything. Go, he says, for this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before nations and kings and the people of Israel. The persecutor is to become the great missionary. And there is a sober note: I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. God's grace does not merely spare Saul; it commissions him, and the road ahead will be costly.

Two truths meet in this small scene. First, no one is beyond the reach of God's grace, not even someone whose record seems to disqualify them entirely. Second, God sometimes asks you, like Ananias, to be the one who extends that grace to a person you would rather avoid. Is there someone you have written off as too hostile or too far gone? Be willing, if God sends you, to go and call them brother.

Lord, you sent Ananias to the very man he feared, because that man was your chosen instrument. Teach me that no one is beyond your grace, and make me willing to carry it even to those I would rather avoid. Where you send me toward someone I have written off, give me the courage to go and to call them brother. Amen.