Acts 9:1-22 (Easter 3)

Acts 9:1-22 (Easter 3)                
St. John, Galveston 5/4/25
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Jesus told His disciples that they would testify before kings and rulers for “His name’s sake.” That testimony often resulted in persecution and even martyrdom. Discipleship comes with a cost. Perhaps Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who was put death during Hitler’s murderous reign, said it best, “When our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, calls us to follow Him, He bids us to come to Him and die.” Of course, that death is not always a physical death, but it is always a spiritual one, for we are called to die to self, “to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow (Jesus).”

What Jesus told His disciples about persecution and suffering, has been experienced over the years by countless people. Christian martyrs grew in numbers, as the world proved unable to silence their message. As it says in the Gospel of John, “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never been able to put out the light.” In frustration, the enemies of the Gospel, ramped up their attack. Things went from bad to worse. Be ready, Jesus says. Consider it a privilege to be mistreated for My name’s sake, for “as they persecuted Me, so will they persecute you.” “A servant is not above His master.”

Sometime after Jesus spoke to His disciples about the persecution they would face, Stephen was brought before a violent mob of persecutors. Though it must have been an extremely fearful moment for Stephen, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, he rose above that fear. He defended the faith that had been entrusted to him. “You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears (he said)! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

    In a fit of rage, Stephen’s persecutors hurled stones at him and they kept on hurling those stones until his body slumped over in death. It seems self-evident that, in the minds of those who stoned Stephen to death, they were justified in their violent actions as he died the death of one “rejected and forsaken by God.” Their actions though, in the witness of Stephen, were both rebuked and forgiven in a single cry of the martyr who died firmly in the gracious hands of Christ. “Father, forgive them (Stephen said), for they know not what they do.”  

    And there, on the sidelines, stood one Saul of Tarsus. He watched the gruesome stoning as if he had ice in his veins. Pity didn’t move him to intercede. The love of truth didn’t move him either. Rather self-righteous indignation convinced him that the mobs were doing the right thing in killing Stephen. As one stone after another found its mark on the body of Stephen, Saul considered it god’s work. It was right! It was just! It was God’s will that Stephen should die!      

    Saul would soon find out, however, that his concept of justice and God’s concept of justice were two very different things. As he traveled to Jerusalem to get permission to persecute more Christians, Saul went by way of Damascus. And as he walked along the road, Jesus came to him in a miraculous way, ultimately converting him to the faith that he so wanted to destroy. “Suddenly a light shone around (Saul) from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.””
    “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me (Jesus asked)? Persecution isn’t about you. It is about Christ. When Saul persecuted the Church, when he persecuted Christians, he was persecuting Jesus. After all, the Church is the body of Christ. The Church’s battles are Jesus’ battles. Its sufferings are His sufferings. Its joys are His joys. And more importantly, His victories are the Church’s victories. To persecute the Church, is to persecute Jesus.

    When you consider what Saul had done to destroy the Church, you can only conclude that he should have been judged harshly right then! He should have been in Stephen’s place! He should have had no mercy shown to him, no pity! He should have died fully and truly forsaken by God! He should have been weighed in the balance and found wanting! Such is the judgment due all those who fight against the will of God.  

    While Saul was heading down that awful path of judgment though, deserving everything he would have ultimately received for his sin, God interceded, literally stopping him in his tracks. Annanias was sent by God to give grace to Saul. “Brother Saul (he said), the Lord  Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and  be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.” In that life giving water, Saul was judged innocent, not guilty in Christ Jesus. Even as those scales fell from his eyes, so his sins were washed away in the cleansing blood that flowed from Jesus’ hands and side.  God’s justice, you see, is different from ours. Jesus is your righteousness and you are His sin.  As Luther once said, He has taken upon Himself what He was not, and He has given to you what you were not. That is God’s justice.  
 
    Saul, of course, went on to carry that message that he once rejected, that message that later so captivated him, throughout Asia Minor. Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world, and, as Paul said, “I am the chief of all sinners.”  

    Today we remember, and reflect on the life of Saul of Tarsus. Of course, we know him as St. Paul. We honor him, not for his personal qualities, his leadership qualities, or even for his conviction and boldness. Rather we honor him because he brings us, by God’s grace, the wondrous life changing message of the cross. What is it after-all that changed Paul? It wasn’t the fearful voice from heaven, or the fact that God knocked him to the ground on that Damascus road. No, it was the Gospel of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that changed Saul. Paul said as much when he preached. He said, “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin that you might be the very righteousness of Him.” “God (Paul teaches us) was in Christ reconciling the whole world to Himself.”

    Perhaps nowhere else does Paul speak of the glory of Christ and the profound impact the cross had on his life than when he writes to the Christians scattered throughout the region of Galatia. Listen to the words of a changed man…“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God; for  if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died  in vain.” 
    

The persecutor was himself persecuted.  Paul, like Peter and Stephen, and many other martyrs before him, would come face to face with the cost of discipleship. Having been accused of sedition, Paul appealed to Caesar, a right granted to him as a Roman citizen. Having done so, he was sent to Rome to stand trial.       
   

 When he knew his time to die was near, Paul wrote to Timothy, his good friend and son in the faith. “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” 
   

 When his time came, Paul was lead down the Ostian Way, outside the city walls or Rome, where he was beheaded. “Who will set me free from this body of death (Paul once asked).” His conclusion was one given to him by the Holy Spirit, it was the conclusion that he would proclaim through the rest of his life.  “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
 

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +