Mission Possible
Acts 9:1-20
Matthew 19:26
Saul was a bully.
We have heard in the story today from the book of Acts that Saul was “still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” and that he went to the religious authorities for permission to seek out those who belonged to the Way, round them up, bind them up and bring them to Jerusalem.
Saul was a bully and as we have been hearing in the news, bullies need to be stopped.
We are all familiar with the story of Phoebe Prince, a fifteen-year-old from South Hadley, Massachusetts who committed suicide after months of relentless torture by fellow teenagers both inside and outside of school.
The Boston Globe reports that Phoebe “was taunted in the hallways and bombarded with vulgar insults. As she studied in the library during lunch, the accused students allegedly hounded her openly while other students and a teacher looked on. The witnesses alerted school administrators only after her death. It appears that Phoebe’s death on Jan. 14 followed a tortuous day for her, in which she was subjected to verbal harassment and threatened physical abuse,’’ said Elizabeth Scheibel, the District Attorney. “The events were not isolated, but the culmination of a nearly-three month campaign of verbally assaultive behavior and threats of physical harm.’’ [1]
Fifteen-year-old Phoebe Prince was bullied to death and just a few weeks ago, nine teens were indicted on charges related to the bullying and to her death. This story has made the national news and there is an increased awareness in schools about bullying. Efforts are underway to find a way to decrease the bullying.
This past week, WBZ TV reported a story about a situation in Spencer, MA., where the middle school principal asked students to name the school bullies and after identifying six bullies, she began separating them during lunch, recess and dismissal times. One eleven-year-old wrote his own name down as a bully and was separated during those times, but he ended up crying foul, saying that it was unfair and he did what any child would do this day and age – he called in the media. And they came.
The youngster was asked during the interview why he was a bully. He replied that it was easier to be mean and said: “you don’t have to act like you are nice. And you don’t have to say the right things. When you are a bully you do whatever you want and say whatever you want.” The mother now wants the principal fired, while the youngster says he doesn’t like how it feels to be bullied and is going to change his ways. [2]
Bullying needs to be stopped. Bullying is the act of one person abusing or attacking another and at times it seems to be happening everywhere. Bullying can also be found in the workplace, on talk radio and other media, it can be found in online communities as well as within religious communities. When one person or group doesn’t like the way another practices their faith, they can be verbally and emotionally abusive. There are many times today when people of faith are just as abusive as Saul was in Acts. But God had other plans for Saul and this bully was transformed into an indefatigable apostle for Jesus Christ - for nothing is impossible for God. The love of God is greater than the hate within some of humanity. The love of God is greater than the fear some have of those who may be different than they are.
Saul was a bully and his reputation preceded him. Saul had been persecuting the church and the early believers, was having them arrested and stoned to death. Saul had been present when Stephen, the first Christian to be martyred, was stoned to death in Acts 7 & 8. Saul approved of that stoning and was committed to eliminating the small new communities. He continued on his revengeful ways and was actually “breathing threats and murder” against the disciples. However on his way - his plans were changed.
The Greek word for “way” means the road or path one is traveling on and it also means a course of conduct or way of thinking. Saul was on his way or journey to eliminate the followers of the Way – and his way or his journey was dramatically transformed. He is blinded by a brilliant light, Jesus speaks to him and he is taken to a home of a believer in Damascus, on a street named Straight, where he neither eats nor drinks. Nothing happens for three days and he cannot see. As he is praying another disciple comes to him and explains what has happened, lays his hand upon him calling on the power of the Holy Spirit which restores his sight. Saul changes his name to Paul and his life takes an abrupt u-turn that dramatically affects the formation of the Christian faith. Nothing is impossible with God!
Paul becomes the most effective missionary of the early Church and is really the first theologian. Thirteen letters in the New Testament are attributed to Paul or his school of thought. He took three missionary journeys and through his travels covered territory where people needed to hear the Good News or be instructed on the Way to follow the Christian life. Volumes and volumes of books and papers have been written on Paul and his theology has been debated, discussed and dissected over these many years.
Nothing is impossible with God!
It was a sudden and dramatic transformation, although I imagine that those three days where Saul was just waiting for something to happen seemed like an eternity. There are times for us – when we are going through difficult times, where answers and solutions seem far away and a long time in coming. Many of us know what it is like to be blindsided by something and then to have to wait for what seems like an eternity to receive clarity, direction and healing. For three long days Saul was helpless and lost. He couldn’t see a thing – he had no physical sight and he certainly had no vision. But healing of one kind or another always comes and it did come for Saul.
The reputation of the faith community in Damascus must have been a good one. Their reputation preceded them as well. Saul heard about them in Jerusalem, and that reputation caused him enough concern that he traveled with a warrant for their arrest. So from our perspective - something good was going on in Damascus. After Saul is blinded by the light, Jesus calls upon this new community and in particular two of the followers to get involved. Judas opens his home and Ananias is called to go and lay his hands upon Saul to be the vessel that brings the healing and the vision. Except for the recounting of this story again later in Acts we don’t hear about these two men again. They were probably a couple of regular, every day quiet guys with a good circle of friends grounded in the hope of Jesus Christ.
Ananias was God’s instrument chosen to take a bold step. He was in tune with the Lord because when Jesus first talks to him, he was apparently listening and responds immediately. Ananias is uneasy about the request, aware of Saul’s reputation and has a little conversation with Jesus who explains his plans. And then Ananias goes. There are no blinding lights for him, just baby steps taken in the name of Christ. Then this unusual community takes Saul in, feeds him, baptizes him and ministers to him. If it were not for the bold steps that this man and this community took - the story of the growth of the Christian church may have been different.
Nothing is impossible with God – even with small faith communities!
These every day disciples are no different than we are. We too are called to be agents of healing and of clarity for those who have been blindsided. We need to free ourselves of the labels we paste upon one another. We need to free ourselves of our negative assumptions about our community of faith - look what God did with tiny Damascus! We need to rid ourselves of the times that we too lash out in anger and fear. We all need let go of our fears and allow ourselves to be transformed by the ongoing grace and work of Jesus Christ. Nothing is impossible with God! We are agents of healing for one another and we will continue to be agents of God’s grace. We are not perfect. We strive for progress and not perfection.
Our faith is a faith of transformation and possibilities. It is a faith of hope not despair, of life, not death. If we find ourselves in a situation that we feel is hopeless – that situation can be transformed. That transformation may be dramatic or that transformation may occur in the baby steps that we take each and every day. Our faith is a faith of possibilities.
Who could have imagined that Saul whose very breath was filled with hatred would someday write; “love is patient and kind, love is not jealous or envious, or boastful or rude; love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13)
We too are on the Way; each one of us individually as well as this community of faith. Our steps together are positive and healthy ones. We seek health as we journey together in faith by listening to God’s sacred beat.
We have chosen not to stand back and let things simply happen to us as a faith community, but we have chosen to be proactive and intentionally look at who we are, where we have been and where we are going. Our life together will be transformed – for nothing is impossible with God!
Nothing is impossible with God! Do we believe in the power of those words from Matthew?
Nothing is impossible with God! Do we believe that God is at work here and in the world?
If we believe that God is in the transformation business and that God could transform a bully like Saul into a disciple like Paul - then we better watch out. Annie Dillard said the church doesn’t really have any idea about the power that we invoke. She says “It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.” [3]
For nothing is impossible with God.
As we journey along the way together - we must remain faithful, hopeful and positive. We believe that God is with us. We seek to be an authentic community of faith – discovering who God has called us to be. God is in the business of transformation and we are all children of God, grounded in the saving love of Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit. But we must always remain faithful, hopeful and positive. For nothing is impossible with God!
A woman shared a wonderful, little story about her husband Ron who taught a class of mentally impaired teenagers. Ron tried to look at his students' capabilities rather than their limitations and he taught them to play chess, restore furniture and repair electrical appliances. Most importantly he taught them to believe in themselves. A young man named Bobby soon proved how well he had learned that last lesson. One day he brought in a broken toaster to repair. He carried the toaster tucked under one arm, and a half-loaf of bread under the other. [4]
As we fix up the toaster let us have faith enough to bring along the bread – for nothing is impossible with God.
For God is good - all the time. All the time - God is good.
Amen.
[1] Retrieved 04/16/10 from: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/03/30/da_charges_9_teens_faults_school_officials_in_s_hadley_bullying_case/
[2] Retrieved 04/17/10 from http://multimedia.wbz.com/m/video/30312056/school-criticized-after-singling-out-bullies.htm
[3] Dillard, Annie (Teaching a Stone to Talk, Harper & Row, 1982) retrieved from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Annie_Dillard
[4] Edna Butterfield in Sermon Illustrations. Retrieved on 4/17/10 from http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/f/faith.htm
|
