Sunday, May 4th, 2025: "Resurrection People: Saul/Paul"

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The First United Presbyterian Church

“Resurrection People: Saul/Paul”

Rev. Amy Morgan

May 4, 2025

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

45 times. That’s how many times the Greek word anistémi (ah-NEE-stay-mee) appears in the Book of Acts. Now, Acts is a long book – 28 chapters containing 18,450 words in the original Greek. So a word that comes up 45 times doesn’t necessarily seem that important. But the same word is used only half as much in the Gospel of Luke, which was written by the same author and has 1,000 more words. And, for comparison, the word agape, meaning love, is used only once in the Gospel of Luke and never in the Book of Acts. Agape is found 116 times in the New Testament, but it does not seem to be the focus in Luke and Acts. By contrast, anistémi is found 108 times in the New Testament, meaning almost half of all occurrences of this word are from the Book of Acts.

Words, especially verbs, that are frequently repeated in a passage or book of scripture, draw our attention to the heart of that story. If I told you that I ran to the store and then ran through the produce section to grab some apples and then ran through the self-checkout and back to my car and then ran several errands – you’d get the point that my life was busy and exhausting and fast-paced. If you paid attention to how many times I used the word “ran,” it would be more than a story about grocery shopping and errands. It would tell you something meaningful about me and my life. Likewise, anistémi is by far one of the most frequently used verbs in Acts, and it tells us a lot about the meaning of these stories. 

Hopefully by now you’re all on the edge of your pew wondering, waiting to know what anistémi means, how it’s translated into English. I’ll give you a hint: it was used twice in the text we read from Luke’s gospel on Easter Sunday. The two men at Jesus’s tomb remind the women that Jesus said he would rise from the dead on the third day. And Peter arises and runs to the tomb to see if what the women said was true. Yes, anistémi means “to raise, rise, stand, resurrect.” And the Book of Acts is clearly a story about those who are raised and resurrected, who rise up and stand up in the name of the resurrected Jesus. It is a story, or maybe more accurately, a collection of stories, about resurrection people. 

Over the next month, we’re going to explore 4 of these stories. We’ll hear about resurrection people, those who were raised or rose up in different ways so that the Gospel could be shared. And we’ll explore how we carry on that story, how we, too, are resurrection people, continuing this legacy of standing up, again and again, of rising up after we have been knocked down, of being resurrected to new life. 

We begin this series with the story of Saul, traveling on the road to Damascus to persecute Christians. Now, we often think of this as a “conversion” story, and for good reason. The placement of this story in the book of Acts seems kind of random, unless we see it within the series of conversions taking place in the early church. Before this story, Samaritans and Ethiopians have been converted. After this story, Gentiles are converted. More and more people from more and more diverse communities are experiencing conversion. And here in today’s text, Saul is converted from Judaism to Christianity, right?

Well, not exactly. First of all, first century Jews did not stop being Jewish so that they could become Christian. Following the way of Jesus was more like a new offshoot of Judaism than a whole new religion. Many Jewish Christ-followers felt it was important to retain their Jewish identity and practices even as they developed a new way of life in the Christian community. It wasn’t conversion so much as a change of direction along the same path. 

But that doesn’t mean that Saul’s experience is any less significant than a conversion experience. In fact, it is much more life-altering than conversion. Because what Saul really experiences on the Damascus road, and what I would argue is actually happening in every conversion story, is nothing less than a resurrection. 

Saul is knocked to the ground by the presence of Jesus. He is blinded and befuddled. His whole sense of purpose and identity are demolished. Life as he knew it is over, dead and gone. 

So the first thing we can say about resurrection people is that they experience some form of death. As we’ll hear next week, sometimes that means literal, physical death. But for Saul, the death he experiences is more complex. His self-image as a righteous Jew fighting to save his religion – dead. His passionate mission to destroy the Christian threat – dead. His healthy eyesight and ability to be self-reliant – dead. His sense of direction, both literal and figurative – dead. Laying there in the dirt in the middle of the road, Saul experiences a lot of death. 

And then Jesus tells him to “rise up.” Saul was not laid low so that Jesus could take down an enemy of his followers. Saul had to die to his old self so that Jesus could raise him up, resurrect him, to a new life.

Which sounds like a good thing. But Saul’s resurrection life doesn’t really look like a party. He’s led into Damascus, stumbling and blind and so distraught that he doesn’t eat for days. The very people he intended to destroy have to care for him and end up healing him. And his new life of serving as a vessel for Jesus, a proclaimer of the gospel message, leads him into mostly suffering and hardship and eventually house arrest and execution. 

If this is resurrection, I don’t know why anyone would be interested in it. If we’re trying to grow the church, putting a banner outside advertising, “Come be resurrected! You’ll have no idea where you’re going, and it’s mostly really hard and painful!” Yeah, that’ll draw people right in. 

So I think the second thing we can say about resurrection people is that they don’t necessarily live happily ever after. New life is not about a more comfortable, happy life. 

And if we look at the second resurrection in this story, it doesn’t get a whole lot better. Yes, there are two resurrections in this text. Faithful Ananias is down on his knees when he’s told in a vision to “rise up” and go find a man who has been actively seeking to torture and murder people like him. He doesn’t know why he’s supposed to go to Saul, other than God is going to use him somehow. 

Ananias and Saul show us that resurrection people are sometimes raised up to do things that are painful and frightening. It’s almost like Jesus was serious when he said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” 

So what’s so great about resurrection? Why would any of us want to be resurrection people if it means dying, suffering, and doing hard and painful things? Feels like the kind of thing we would rather opt out of. 

Well, let’s look at the conclusion of this story. When Ananias heals Saul’s blindness, he calls him “Brother Saul.” And then Saul is baptized into the Christian community and breaks bread with them. 

Saul dies as an enemy and is resurrected as a brother, as family. Ananias dies as a fearful renegade and is resurrected as a brother, as family. They both die to enmity and fear and division and are raised to community, fellowship, and relationship. 

So the final thing we learn about resurrection people from this story is that resurrection people are raised to a new life that is a communal life. Resurrection isn’t about individual health and happiness or life ever after. It is for the wholeness of a community. At the end of this story, the Christian community is made whole when their enemy, their persecutor, becomes their brother. In resurrection, people are not just restored to life; they are restored to relationship. 

Friends, siblings in Christ, like Saul and Ananias, we are resurrection people. We are gathered in this community today because we have experienced death. Maybe the death of our illusion of control or the death of our egos. Maybe we’ve died to greed or self-sufficiency. Maybe the false hope of consumerism or the myth of achievement has died. Maybe we’ve been knocked to the ground and laid in the dust of our very human failings. Maybe we’ve discovered how very blind we really are. 

And for some of us, resurrection hasn’t been pretty. We’ve stumbled around, with no idea where God is leading us. We’ve had to let others lead us and care for us and teach us. We’ve been humbled and hurt. The resurrection life isn’t always rainbows and lollipops. 

Not only that, we’ve probably had to do some things that are painful or scary. Like loving people who hate us. Like holding space for peace in the midst of conflict. Like proclaiming our faith in a world that really doesn’t understand what we’re talking about and isn’t too friendly toward our message. 

And yet, we celebrate our resurrection identity. We are overjoyed to be resurrection people. Not because it makes our lives happy and perfect. But because we have been restored to life and restored to relationship. We have been raised to a life that doesn’t deny the reality of death, fear, and suffering. And that enables us to live fully and gratefully and joyfully and abundantly, no matter what our life’s circumstances may be. And we have been raised to a life that is inseparable from community, because in Jesus’s resurrection we are made one. 

Resurrection people, this is our story. The risen Christ bids us to rise up. Rise up from the death that has bound us in despair and anger. Rise up in courage and compassion. Rise up with our siblings in Christ. Rise up in the power of the Holy Spirit. Rise up to be nourished together at the Lord’s table. Rise up to be strong and to boldly proclaim the reign of God on earth in the love and justice of Jesus. The risen Christ bids us to rise up. Amen.