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| "Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him." Acts 9:3 |
The Rev. Kathi Johnson
C Lectionary 10 – June 9, 2013
Text: Galatians 1:11-24
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.[1]
Last week, we began our summer
sermon series, jumping into the letter written by the apostle Paul to the
Galatian church. We looked at the very beginning of this letter, noting that
Paul has some strong things to say to his Galatian brothers and sisters, who
have apparently allowed other teachers to turn them away from the freedom of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, turning instead to concern about religious purity.
In today’s section of the letter,
we can begin to answer the question: Why does Paul feel so strongly about
correcting the Galatians, or leading them back to the true gospel of Jesus? In
today’s section, we hear from Paul’s own perspective a bit of his own story –
his own experience of Jesus.
Before encountering Jesus, he was a
religious zealot. He was passionate about religious purity, to the point where
he persecuted Christians horribly and violently. Remember that Christianity was
the new kid on the block at this time! The followers of Jesus were seen as
dangerous by some, and so Paul led the charge against them.
And then…he has this “revelation of
Jesus Christ,” as he calls it in verse 12.
We get more details about this
revelation from Luke, the author of the book of Acts: Paul is headed to
Damascus, looking for Christians to persecute, and all of a sudden, there’s
this bright light! Jesus himself asks Paul, “Why are you persecuting me?”[2]
and then Jesus introduces himself to Paul. Jesus then tells Paul to go into the
city and await further instructions. And – here’s the terrifying part – Paul is
struck with blindness.
But he does what Jesus tells him to
do – he goes into the city. He is found by Ananias, who has been led to him by
Jesus. Now, Ananias is a bit hesitant about going to Paul – after all, Paul’s
reputation of being a persecutor has preceded him! But Ananias goes and lays
his hands upon Paul, praying for him to be healed and to receive the Holy
Spirit. The scales fall from Paul’s eyes – he can see again! – and he is
baptized. And almost immediately, he is at work, proclaiming Jesus.
In today’s lesson from Galatians, Paul
shortens his call story, but he hits to the very core of his being called by
God, when he says that God set him apart for the work of proclaiming the grace
and love of God – set him apart even before he was born! What he’s doing in
saying this is placing himself in the company of the great prophets – such as
Jeremiah, who was called in a similar manner.
Paul is trying here to establish
some credibility for himself as not just some yahoo who says he’s following
Jesus, but rather one who is called by God to proclaim Jesus, and Jesus
crucified and risen. Paul is expanding on that mini-resumé that we got last
week – sharing passionately about the vocation to which he has been called by
asking them to see how far he’s come in faith.
He has found freedom in the gospel
of Jesus and proclaimed that freedom to the Galatians already, before these
other teachers came and tried to say that the gospel of freedom wasn’t quite
enough. It’s almost like he’s now saying, “Hey look, before, I was wound around
all these rituals and concerns over religious purity, just like these teachers
are trying to get you to be. But Jesus frees us from all that because God calls
us by grace – by grace!”
The story of Paul is really an
amazing one. That God takes someone so passionate is not surprising at all, is
it? All God does, in God’s perfect way, is to re-frame Paul’s passion – his
zeal. God re-frames his passion and zeal into something he can really use – and
Paul ends up becoming one of the most important preachers and teachers of the
early Christian church, especially to the Gentiles (or non-Jews). He ends up
“proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.”[3]
The first time that Steve and I
came here to Our Redeemer to interview with the call committee, we used our GPS
quite a lot. I don’t even know where we were, but we ended up in an area with a
lot of new roads, and the GPS didn’t quite know what to do with all that. At
one point, I was driving quite confidently on a road I new would take us where
we needed to go, because I was seeing the road signs. The GPS, however, had no
idea what I was doing, and at one point, started yelling “IMPOSSIBLE!” at me,
thinking I was driving off-road in a field or something.
In reading Paul’s call story, I am
struck by his fantastical turn-about. I am struck by the fact that Paul is
headed very firmly down one road – quite literally! – and then is re-directed
by God to do something that many find impossible to comprehend. “Wait a minute,
God, you’re calling him to proclaim Jesus? That guy? Have you seen the way he
treats Christians?”
Isaiah says, “For my thoughts are
not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.”[4]
God calls the most unlikely people to proclaim his grace and love – he calls
the likes of grumpy Paul and impulsive Peter and all those disciples, and me
and you and a whole lot of others, too. He calls us to show others who Jesus is
– this Jesus, who healed many, who raised people from the dead, who died
himself and rose again. This Jesus, who loves us deeply to this day.
God calls the most unlikely people
– if you think you aren’t one of them, I’d think again. I’d look again at the
baptismal covenant, which says that we are called to “proclaim Christ through
word and deed.”[5]
And if you think it’s impossible, this task to which we are called, I’d think
again about that, too. And I’d remember the amazing work that God did in the
apostle Paul.
May we be open to God’s work in us
– may we not yell “IMPOSSIBLE” to one another – but may we be open to that
which God is calling us.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters.[6]
Amen.
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