Saul was just going about his day as usual. He had gotten permission to seek out all those Jews in Damascus and the surrounding area who believed that Jesus was the Son of God. With the letters in hand and some companion bouncers to help with the round up, he walked down the road to Damascus. It was a normal day for Saul. He had been rounding up followers of Jesus in Jerusalem. He had held the coats of the people who had stoned Stephen to death.

As he waked along the road to Damascus he was just thinking about expanding his work to eradicate the followers of Jesus. He had his reasons. He thought they were blaspheming against God by saying that Jesus was God’s Son. He thought they were pulling people away from following the law by calling them to follow this lawbreaker instead. After all it was Saul’s crew that got after Jesus for doing things like healing people on the Sabbath and eating with sinners. There certainly didn’t need to be any more followers of this mischief-maker.

Saul was just going about his day as usual when God intervened. In a blinding flash of light Saul was brought to his knees. Saul had studied the scriptures so he would know what to expect when one encounters the divine. He would have known all about how God appeared to Moses from within a burning bush. He would have known how God appeared to Elijah in the silence after earthquake and storm.

As the light from heaven flashed all around him, Saul knows that this is God visiting him. So he asks, "Who are you, Lord?" He knows it is God but just as Moses asked the burning bush, "Whom shall I say is sending me?" Saul wants to make sure he gets the message right. Saul was probably expecting a cryptic response such as "I am who I am" but much to his surprise he gets the clear answer that the one who knocked him to his knees is none other than Jesus!

Still blinded by the light and with his whole purpose in life shaken to the core, Saul is helped to Damascus where he waits. For three days, Saul does nothing but waits. Saul was just going about his day as usual when God came along and knocked him to his knees.

Ananias was just going about his day as usual. He was tending to his business as he did every day. Then all of a sudden Ananias had a vision. He heard God talking to him. There was no blinding light for Ananias, just a voice. Like Saul, Ananias would have been familiar with the times God appeared to Moses and Elijah. He too knew how to behave when the divine came calling. "Here I am, Lord. I’m listening."

The words that followed knocked the wind out of Ananias. "Go see the man Saul of Tarsus." Ananias shook his head and wanted to make sure he got the message right. "You didn’t just say what I think you said – did you God? Maybe you haven’t heard what all Saul has been up to lately. Are you sure this is what you want me to do?" "Yep," came the response, "I’m going to use Saul as an instrument for spreading the good news."

Ananias was just going about his day as usual when God called and said, "Go and see your enemy." Along with the stories about God’s visitation to Elijah and Moses there were probably other biblical stories running through the mind of Ananias the disciple as he walked to the street called Straight. He probably remembered how Moses had been forced to flee Egypt when he committed murder. He probably remembered how King David was an adulterer and Jacob was a liar. If God could use them, Ananias must have thought, perhaps God could use Saul.

So through the action of God, Ananias and Saul met. Persecutor and persecuted come into the same room. When Ananias laid his hands upon Saul, we are told something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see. Maybe Ananias’ eyes were opened as well when he saw Saul change over the next few days.

Saul had just been going about his day as usual, breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord when God knocked him to his knees. Then Saul began to fill his days breathing life and invitation to all who were hungry for God.

When Saul was breathing murder, God was breathing life. When Ananias was breathing concern, God was breathing courage. Both men were going about their days as usual when God intervened and brought them together.

Most scholars refer to this story as Saul’s call. Saul is called away from breathing threats and murder against the followers of Jesus to becoming a follower himself. Saul not only becomes a follower but a missionary as well.

Saul’s experience seems so dramatic – from the blinding light to the voice from out of nowhere. Many of us in the church who haven’t had a dramatic experience of deciding to follow Christ – myself included – may feel disconnected from the drama of Saul’s call. Those among us who can say, "there was never a time I didn’t believe," may feel as though God was not calling them.

When we focus on Saul and his role in this story, we miss two of the major characters – Ananias and, most importantly, God. There can be no call in Saul’s life without God. God does the work of changing Saul from breathing threats to breathing belief. God was at work in the life of Saul and God is at work in your life as well. Whether you have believed from the time you can remember or if you had a major experience in your life that caused you to believe – the same God was and is at work in you life.

The often-ignored character of Ananias deserves some of our attention as well. We know very little about Ananias. We don’t know what he did for a living or who his relatives were. But we know one very important fact about him – he was a disciple. He was one of the people who believed that Jesus was God’s Son. He was one of the people Saul was coming to Damascus to drag off to Jerusalem for prosecution and probable death.

Many of the other followers of Jesus in Damascus probably fled the city when they heard Saul was coming to town. They didn’t want to be bound in chains and dragged off to Jerusalem. But Ananias stayed. We aren’t sure why but I’m sure that God had something to do with that. Ananias serves a great purpose in Saul’s change.

If Saul had just started telling people that now he believed Jesus was God’s Son, who would have believed him? If Saul had started trying to win people to Christ all on his own, people would have been looking for the catch – checking behind his back to see if there were chains waiting to bind them for believing. Who would have believed Saul if he claimed this change of heart on his own?

However, through Ananias, Saul cannot claim that this change of heart was all on his own. Through Ananias, Saul was welcomed into the community of believers – he was welcomed into the church. Saul can’t just go out on his own and preach the gospel, he must be supported by the community of faith – the church.

For several days after the scales fell from his eyes, Saul stayed with the disciples in Damascus. He was involved in the life and faith of the community of Jesus’ followers who had gathered together there.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall the first time Saul walked into one of their worship services. Gasps must have gone up from those who recognized their most virulent persecutor walking into their midst. I imagine Ananias walking in beside Saul and inviting him to share the pew with his family. I wonder if the people could see a difference in Saul.

The only way Saul could have become an advocate for Christ is through the action of God. Through the action of God through Ananias, Saul is given new eyes with which to see the people of God. Through God working in the community of faith, Saul is commissioned to proclaim the gospel to all who will listen. All of this happens through God – it could happen by no other means.

The only way we gather together here is through the work of God. God is acting in this community and in each of our lives. Just as God shed the scales from Saul’s eyes that kept him from seeing God at work through Christ, God works to shed the scales from our eyes. We may not see a blinding light and be tossed to our knees, but God nevertheless speaks to us. Through a comforting touch and in the words of the members of this community of faith, God is speaking to us. Through the continually challenging word of the gospel, God is shedding the scales from our eyes.

Sometimes I think that our eyes can be like the skin of a snake. A snake sheds its scaly skin and that is good for a while but before too long, the scales become clouded over and don’t seem to fit anymore and the snake needs to shed its scaly skin again. Scales fall from our eyes as we see who God is calling into the community of faith. We get comfortable with welcoming one group when all of a sudden we realize that there are still scales covering our eyes again. We shed those scales and see with fresh eyes who God calls into community.

Like a snake that consistently needs the renewing experience of shedding the old scales, we also need the renewing experience of shuffling off the parts of our life that no longer fit who God calls us to be now. What scales need to fall from our eyes? What scales are clouding our vision of God’s community? May God give us eyes to see all who God calls into the community of faith.