Strait Street
Acts 9:1-20

April 25, 2004

There is still a street named Straight in the old walled quarter of Damascus, Syria. And as such things seem to work, the street is not as straight or as wide as it used to be, particularly in the first century A. D., when it was the main thoroughfare of the city. It is the only street actually named in the Bible.

Today, it is lined with shops, as crowded as ever, bending a little along the way. About half way down, an alleyway leads to the marbled church and mansion that is the residence of His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatios IV, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. A little further down Straight Street is another turn off to a less impressive church and residence of His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch, also of Antioch and All the East.

Across the road is the church of the Greek Catholic, or Melkite, Patriarch Maximos V Hakim, and he is also Patriarch of Antioch for his church. There are several other Patriarchs of Antioch and All the East for other denominations, but they are in Beirut, Lebanon, and not along Straight Street, where we shall stay today.

It is remarkable that the street is still there, albeit not in its original grandeur. Perhaps just as remarkable is that all these Christian churches flourish in an essentially Muslim nation. Most remarkable is that the small cluster of Christians operating probably around Straight Street in the mid-30's A. D., after whom a Pharisee vigilante named Saul was sent to smoke out, have divided into so many camps today.

Speculation is always risky and dangerous, but sometimes worth doing. What if nothing had happened along that lonely road to Damascus in the year 37 or so? Would the disciples of Jesus have been able to fully carry on the Gospel and the development of the Christian Church? The fellow we call Paul not only articulated the Christian faith in a way identified as the content of Christianity from that time since, he also was the first author of the New Testament. Paul gave us ideas and a way of thinking, as well as establishing Christianity firmly outside the Jewish corridor in Judea and Galilee. Like an ancestor we do not particularly admire, we must recognize that Christianity as we know it would not be here if it were not for Paul. Christianity might not be here unless Paul had heard that voice on the road.

It’s time to walk with Saul and hear his story, for it is a lot more like our story than we care to admit. And like so many of our biographies, there are not many details we are allowed to hear before he comes fully into view. Not much of a life at all.

Most of the biographical details come from Paul’s letters. He was born in Tarsus in present-day Turkey, with Roman citizenship that would come in handy. As often would be the case in diaspora Judaism of the first century, he had two names - a Jewish name (Saul) and a Greek name (Paul) - and if the names could rhyme, all the better. He did leave Tarsus for Jerusalem where he studied under the famous Pharisaic rabbi Gamaliel. By his own admission, however, he perhaps too scholarly for many a listener, a boring preacher, not an attractive man physically. He rewrites the definition of charisma, because by most of our standards he didn’t have much. And he also made tents to earn a living.

Except for the trials of reading his prose, all of these details about Paul do not appear in the narrative of the Scriptures. He appears on our screen during the stoning of the first Christian martyr Stephen. He holds the coats of the executioners and it is noted that he approves. He is filled with venom against the first Christians and while it may have begun as an intellectual and spiritual aversion to the Christian idea, he is observed physically dragging Christian men and women out of their homes and placing them in prison. Prisons were never nice.

Now Saul is on his way again, full of intelligence about Christian activity in Damascus, certified by letters to the authorities in the local synagogues. Were there others like him at the time, violently impassioned for their religion? Has there never stopped being people so full of faith like Saul?

I don’t know for certain, but I imagine there are markers along that ancient road almost into Damascus pinpointing the exact spot where it happened. Saul was accompanied by other vigilantes, perhaps the strong-armed men to do the dragging. Suddenly, a light flashed around him, apparently blinding him, but no one else. No hint the other saw the light. As he fell to the ground, Saul heard that haunting voice, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” A revelation like that of the Old Testament, yet Saul was clueless, “Who are you, Lord?” Not completely without a clue, for he instinctively knew the voice was not that of Satan, but of God. But how God?

The voice continued, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Get up and go into the city and you will be told what to do.” No longer would Saul be telling others what they had to do. He was the one now who had no choice but to submit. His companions couldn’t comprehend any of this, but they helped him into the city and there he sat for three days, so shell-shocked and frightened that he did not eat or drink. He was placed in the house of a man named Judas on the Street called Straight. A bad name for a new Christian - Judas - and all we hear is about his compassionate hospitality.

As for Saul, he was clearly in strait street, dire straits. The project of his life, maybe his life itself, was now called into question and it was found lacking. His personal identity was as a Pharisee, those rabbinic scholars who studied and interpreted the Torah with unimaginable detail and dexterity for our generation. The so-called Christians, followers of The Way, were blasphemers of the worst sort. Blasphemers talk about sacred things in the wrong way so that the Straight Way is mocked and ridiculed. It was clear to Saul that these violators of the faith could undermine everything his tradition believed in, not dissimilar to the way the Samaritans had distorted Judaism in the last few centuries.

But had he been wrong, wrong in the biggest picture of all? I heard the voice of Jesus say... is a favourite hymn we still sing. Why would Jesus talk to Saul now? A dire strait, three days in the tomb of his old world and old ideas.

It isn’t all about Saul. Another vision, really another voice, comes to a Damascene disciple, Ananais, and there is a difference in the conversation. Ananais hears the voice and responds in the words of Samuel and other prophets, “Here I am, Lord.” Saul didn’t know who was talking, but Ananais could.

Being a follower of the Way meant not thinking, but action. Get up and go to this fellow Saul and heal his blindness. He has had a vision in which your name is used. He knows you are a man of Christ. Ananais objected vehemently, for he knew this guy and he was a pretty mean person, no one to be trusted. There are people we learn not to trust, for they are simply never trustworthy. But Jesus’ voice had another angle: “I know about him, but I’ve got a plan to use him as an instrument to reach the Gentiles and others. The human tendency is to dispense with people long before God does. God blesses a lot of things, many people that we curse.

Ananais was a new Christian - everybody was - and was not through being surprised by this Lord. A new life meant doing new things. He found Saul, called him Brother Saul, and in the promise of the Lord Jesus laid hands on Saul, and scales fell off his eyes. He could see and immediately Saul was baptized, started to eat and regained strength. A new life meant doing new things, and Saul started a new life, saying and teaching new words, new interpretations of the way he used to be.

An attitude emerged in the Christian Church: when you meet someone who appears evil or nasty or downright insane, treat that person with respect and dignity and love, for he or she could well be like Saul, a saint in disguise, a fool for Christ’s sake. There never is a formula or a set description of how such a person should behave. The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from the Word. We need to keep our ears open to the still small voice.

And be ready, like Saul, to find our world and plans declared inauthentic and inadequate and start living a completely new life that does not make sense to others, but is the only way you are meant to live.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan