Last Sunday’s Sermon
So What Now?
Psalm 30, Acts 9:1-6(7-20)
Sermon by Dr. Laurey Murphy
Prayer For Illumination: Lord, whether by a blinding light like on the Damascus Road or by a still small voice heard in our hearts, illumine us with Your Word this day for walking in the Way, the Truth and the Light. In your name, we pray. Amen!
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
So what now?
Do we wait for Christmas like the CEO’s…
…those who come to church on Christmas and Easter only?
Do we celebrate once a year the resurrection just as a historical event?
Do we save it as good news and pull it out for comforting those who are about to die…
… and for when we die?
So what now in receiving the good news of the risen Lord?
Today’s Lectionary passages on this third Sunday in Eastertide give us clues —although the dramatic story about Saul’s conversion seems to have nothing to do with most of us. Such a turnaround in the faith known as Saul’s Damascus Road experience hasn’t been the case for many of us in coming to the faith. Nor are any of us here “breathing threats and murder” against those we oppose—at least I hope not! But before we just dismiss this as one of those unbelievable stories in the Bible—let’s take a closer look.
After all, at one time or another, we have all have been on the wrong path.
Haven’t you and I ever been headstrong? Maybe even stubborn?
How about thinking so much about our own needs that we don’t see somebody else’s need?
Or so caught up in our way that we don’t possibly see anybody else’s view or side…
It’s our way or the highway. We are oblivious to how it affects somebody else.
Or what it may cost us and everyone around us.
For example—-
The hard-driving business man who is so determined to be a success
and rise to the top that he loses his marriage and his kids
The teenager, who is so angry and hurt, that she can’t forgive her parents
for being human and making a mistake
The athlete ruthlessly driven to be number one and win at all cost even if it
is to intentionally hurt his opponent to put him out of the game
The ever-pleasing wife who is accommodating to look the other way to a fault
with her husband’s alcoholism until a wreck behind the wheel about
costs the life of their only child.
The hard, demanding parent who’s never told any of the children who are now grown that they are loved
The brother who has been keeping score for years of who in the family has wronged him and he won’t forgive
Why is it always easier to think of somebody else that way —-but deep down we know ourselves on this kind of a level. We have all been on the wrong path before…that happens …that’s part of life. Each of us know when we have been stubborn… close-minded, concerned only how something affects us and what gain we get out of it. We may not be “breathing threats and murder” against one another but our actions can so easily suck the life out of someone else.
So in your own life…what was or has been your blinding light?
What has happened to make you see the truth?
What has stopped you in your tracks?
Who has helped you turn around?
Who changed your mind?
What finally caused you to see how your actions were hurting someone else and yourself?
Maybe it was one door closing and another one opening…
Or a long time friend who tells you like it really is…
Or a partner who finally tells you the truth
Or a son, or a daughter, brave enough to stand up to your ways
Or simply the dead silence of the middle of the night in being all alone
with yourself and the sound of your own breathing.
We may wonder where is God in all of this?
Is God in the business of changing our ways… of turning our lives around?
So often it’s only when we see Life in the rear view mirror— Life in the past tense
that we can see God’s hands upon us and the Spirit at work.
But I don’t believe that God is at work only in the honest friend, the truthful family member, a closed door or a blinding light.
For I believe God is also at work in the light that turns on within us—-and our openness, our willingness to see anew that makes such turnarounds possible—even if it’s because we have been brought to our knees and fallen flat on our faces like the Psalmist in today’s Psalm. It’s a time when we stand at a crossroads and we have a choice to go this way or that way….and O what a difference the chosen way has made.
Saul was not the only one whose way was changed by God. Look at the disciple Ananias. God called him in a vision and he was ready on the spot singing “Here I am, Lord.” But Ananias wasn’t singing anymore when heheard what God wanted him to do….to get up and look for Saul on a street named Straight…did you catch the pun with the street named“Straight”?
We can just imagine Ananias’ response —
Look, God, there’s no way that I’m going anywhere near that killer…
I don’t care if he is praying to You.
That doesn’t save me from him.
Don’t you know who he is and what he’s doing? And You want me to what? You
want me to still go to him?
And do whatttttt?
Oh, You’ll let me know once I get there…after he’s killed me.
Well if you say so, Lord, I’ll go…but I’m not singing “Here I am, Lord” anymore!
Saul was not the only one who saw the Light. Ananias had a religious experience, too. But thank God— he did and said, “Yes, Lord” — choosing to go….and even laying his hands on Saul calling him “Brother Saul.”
Ananias tells him that the risen Lord Jesus who appeared to Saul in a vision has sent Ananias so that Saul could regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul’s sight is restored and he gets up and is baptized…on the Way of a changed life in the Risen Lord.
When we stop to think about it, each of us has had our own “seeing the Light” …of being set straight, turned around, on the Way, given a new beginning in the risen Christ. But it doesn’t happen overnight…not even for Saul who became Paul. And for most of us like him, it’s not the only time that such a turnaround and getting back on track happens. There are times that you will still find me stubborn and needing to be set right; there are times that we all want our way or it’s the highway. We still are blind and need the Light to see. We are all still on the Damascus Road of life…but thank God for that bumper sticker which is kind of trite but O so true: “God isn’t finish with me yet!” Even being baptized and becoming a disciple, we still need to be kept on turning around in our lives.
So we see in our scripture today that the resurrection of Jesus is not just a historical event—it is also the center of God’s calling in each of us. We do not just receive the good news of the resurrected life, we live it. And we don’t just live it…we pass it on with our actions to where God calls us to touch—even those who might want to kill us.
So what now? Where is God calling you and me right now to turn around…to open the eyes of our hearts …to see the Light?
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