The road to Damascus is a very long road

Please don't convert me

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." (Acts 9:1-20)

Bruce Springsteen, the boss, the rock star, the dude born in the USA, sang a beautiful ballad about walking the streets of Philadelphia. While on the road, Bruce sings, “I was bruised and battered, I couldn't tell what I felt. I was unrecognizable to myself. I saw my reflection in a window. I didn't know my own face. Oh brother, are you gonna leave me wasting away on the Streets of Philadelphia?”

The road to Damascus is a very long road. Dirty. Dusty. Sometimes crowded. Often desolate. But at the end of that road is an important Syrian city about 135 miles north of Jerusalem. Damascus was a leading commercial city smack in the middle of the Roman Empire. There was a large population of Jews there who believed that Jesus was The Way, the Messiah, the truth, the light. Many were studying the sayings of Jesus. This was a concern for many, especially to one young man, blameless under the Law, a guy named Saul.

Saul was an expert. He was willing to celebrate his own expertise but unwilling to consider the expertise of others. None of us are experts on everything, but we certainly live in a culture where that seems to be a prominent belief.

“I am an expert on everything.”

“Blameless under the law.”

Congratulations! We certainly can identify with expert culture. We live in a world where everyone is an expert on everything. Politicians are experts on education. Homophobes are experts on sexuality and gender identity. Talk-show hosts are scientists who are also experts on medical matters.

We are surrounded by “experts” proclaiming their beliefs and experiences as universal truths. “Speak your truth,” assumes that everything everybody says is valid. Our expert culture creates thick scales on our eyes.

The road to Damascus is a very long road.

Many of the people of Israel in Damascus did not recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah. They were concerned about the many conversions of gentiles to their faith. When newcomers come in, they bring their own ideas, and we already have our own. As citizens aligned with Empire they risked losing their special citizenship status. These privileges included memberships to exclusive clubs, which could be taken away instantly. Laws granting special protections based on religious beliefs, skin color, family connections, and allegiance to the emperor could be snatched away if you got out of line. The Way of Jesus was good news for everybody, and the status quo was concerned.

Why toss our nets on the other side of the boat? We have always done it this way. Everything I know and love could suddenly challenged and I am no longer me, no longer recognizable to myself. These Jesus-followers must be stopped.

Saul got on the road to Damascus, excited about persecuting these so-called followers of the Way. But the road to Damascus is a very long road.

Saul’s holy mission was to find and gather up those Jesus-followers and return them to Jerusalem for a religious inquisition. The Law serves and protects and keeps everything in order. Our traditions deserve to be protected and preserved. The Good News proclaimed by the people of The Way just does not cut it. Your experience of God and of God’s world and of the mystery of God-with-us is just not valid.

But as Saul hit the road, he encountered all along the highways and byways, just beyond the sudden twists and turns, the people of God crying out, “Why do you persecute me?” Barely hanging on at the crossroads and on the corners seemingly leading to nowhere, he saw the hungry and the homeless, needing food, shelter, and access to medical care. He encountered a world needing Good News, just like we encounter a world begging to be saved from itself.

When we walk the streets with all the people of God, we discover that 1 of 4 children go to bed hungry every night. 30% of our nation’s children live below the poverty line. Yet, the leaders we elect delight in cutting support services to those in our communities who need help. No schools. No hospitals. No Whole Foods. If drinkable water is available, water bills are too high to pay. But, I don’t have the energy to cry anymore. The scales on my eyes thicken and harden. The road to Damascus is a very long road.

We hear, “Don’t say gay.” We remember the signs, “Whites only.” We still see them today. “Whites only” now translates to the more politically correct “Members only.” Are the scales on our eyes that we no longer can or want to see?

But the dusty road to Damascus is set ablaze in the sunlight, and there I walk with Saul right past all of the people of God. And luckily I can’t see them. But God can. And God wants me to see them. God wants me, God wants us to be converted. Can I let the spirit in or have I gotten too used to, to. comfortable with, the scales on my eyes?

Saul marches on to Damascus, “breathing threats and murder against” the people of God. When suddenly, Jesus calls out, “Saul, why do you persecute me?” And with the flash of light, there is a burning, blinding, sickening sensation. Saul drops to the ground grasping, seeking, searching, touching, hoping to find something, anything that feels familiar.

Get me off this dirty and dusty road. It is blinding me. I cannot see. Nothing around me seems familiar. My blood pressure rises. My sense of self is threatened. I prepare for attack. But then, someone takes Saul’s hand and guides him, straight into the city, right into the midst of the people and Saul cannot even see them.

He is blinded for three whole days. When he is the most blind, most disoriented, most unsure, most insecure, most anxious, and most vulnerable, God sends someone to anoint him, to ordain him, to commission him, to CONVERT him.

C.S. Lewis shares, “If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a persons's outward actions— if they continue to be just as snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as before— then I think we must suspect that their 'conversion' was largely imaginary.”

Suddenly, in an instant, Saul hears the cries of the persecuted people of God. He is no longer Saul. Because everything that was him, his identity, his orientation, his tightly-held believes, his understanding of the law, - all of this and many more things are turned upside down, - CONVERTED!

None of it remains. Nothing that was Saul is there and God removes the scales from his eyes. A new name is given him - Paul. Beloved by God. Preacher and friend to Jew and Gentile, servant and free. I was blind but now I see.

Do I really want to change? Do I really want to see and hear? Do I want to be converted? Can I possibly change everything that I believe and follow the Way? Maybe I’m perfectly content with the way things are.

Conversion is not a one-time event. This is a daunting truth. This is a truly scary fact about how much God loves us. Do I really want God walking with me on that road to Damascus? Maybe I should just hit the exit ramp and head into the alley.

I’ve been converted before. Personally. Professionally. Vocationally. Where suddenly, I was totally blind. Nothing around me was familiar. Others took me by the hand and led me to where I didn’t want to go. They told me things I didn’t want to hear. I wasn’t in control of anything. I knew nothing, trusted no one, understood nothing. It was the worst kind of feeling ever. Totally terrifying. I was scared. Out of control. I would not wish it on anybody.

But the good news is, God is in it. God is in it always. Creating us. Sustaining us. Giving us new life. Calling on us to walk the road to Damascus even though the road to Damascus is a very long road.

Bruce Springsteen cancelled a concert in Greenville, North Carolina, saying,“North Carolina passed HB2, which the media are referring to as the ‘bathroom law.’ The law dictates which bathrooms transgender people are permitted to use. Just as important, the law also attacks the rights of LGBT citizens to sue when their human rights are violated in the workplace. No other group of North Carolinians faces such a burden. This is a time for me and the band to show solidarity for those freedom fighters. Some things are more important than a rock show.”

Just when I think all of the scales have fallen from my eyes, I turn the corner and discover that many, many more need to fall off.

Have you been converted? Are you ready for another one? The body of Christ calls out, “Why do you persecute me?” The road to Damascus is a very long road. Common sense tells me not to get on that road. But God is there, calling me, calling us, to walk it together. Do we dare walk the long and winding road that leads us to your door?