05-01-2022 A Dangerous Misunderstanding

Thomas J Parlette
“A Dangerous Misunderstanding”
Acts 9:1-20
5/1/22

       Can you remember the last misunderstanding you had with someone? You said one thing, they heard something different, and the result was a mess. It may seem funny when you look back on it – but in the moment, it can be very frustrating.
       A man named Norm Williams shared a misunderstanding he had at his local library when he requested copies of two books by author Deborah Tannen. Tannen is a communication researcher. One of her most popular books is titled That’s Not What I Meant. Another popular one is called You Just Don’t Understand. Williams went to his local library and asked the librarian to check the availability of those two books.
       “And what’s the first book,” asked the librarian.
       “That’s Not What I Meant.”
       “Well, what did you mean?”
       “No, that’s the title of the book.”
       “OK, and the other book?”
       “You Just Don’t Understand.”
       “Excuse me?” said the confused librarian.
       It took awhile of sounding like the Abbott and Costello routine, but Williams finally got his books(1)
       Misunderstandings can be frustrating, and yet amusing. But they can also be dangerous. Such is the case in our scripture passage for this morning. It revolves around a young Pharisee named Saul who misunderstood the nature of God, and this resulted in tragic consequences for the new community of Christians known as The Way.
       We are introduced to Saul here in Acts 9 with the words, “Meanwhile, Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord…”
       That kind of says it all about Saul at this point – “breathing threats and murder…” It’s not like you could read that sentence and say, “I’m sure he’s got some good qualities. I could still hang out with him.” No- I don’t think so. After reading this one sentence, you would probably un-friend Saul on Facebook and block him on Twitter.
       Many years ago, some political pollster came up with the craziest measure for choosing a presidential candidate. It was the “who would you rather have a beer with?” poll. Every four years, some organization polls the American voters all this all-important question: which Presidential candidate would you rather have a beer with?”
       Clearly, Saul would have lost that kind of poll.
       Saul was a member of the Pharisees, a religious group that advocated a strict interpretation of Old Testament law, especially the laws of purity. Saul’s mission in life was to protect the purity of Judaism by destroying what he saw as the heretical cult of Jesus-followers known as The Way. In verse two of our passage, it is noted that Saul went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to The Way, whether men or women, he might take them prisoner and bring them back to Jerusalem. Here is where the dangerous misunderstanding comes in.
       Saul did not believe he was an evil person; Saul’s fellow Pharisees didn’t think so either. No, in Saul’s mind, he was doing God’s work. But God obviously disagreed, and wanted to correct Saul’s misunderstanding of the situation.
       Steven Weinberg, a theoretical physicist and recipient of a Nobel Prize in Physics, once said, “With or without religion, good people can behave well, and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil – that takes religion.”(2)
       I don’t want to believe that’s true – but I suppose there’s something to it. People can do some evil things in the name of religion. That certainly was the case for Saul. Saul thought he was doing God’s work by persecuting Jesus’ followers.
       But on the way to Damascus, Saul was confronted by a bright light flashing all around him.  A voice spoke to him, asking: “Why are you persecuting me.”
       “Who are you,” said Saul.
       “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now go to Damascus, and I will tell you what to do.”
       So the men traveling with him, who heard the voice but saw no one, led him by the hand to Damascus, because he could not see anything.
       This well-known story of Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus shows us what kind of God we believe in. I hope you can see how messed up Saul’s mission had become. His primary motivation for persecuting Christians wasn’t hatred or destruction. His primary motivation for hunting down and arresting the followers of Jesus was his desire to serve God. A dangerous misunderstanding. Serving God, whose very nature is love, by persecuting and killing innocent people. On the road to Damascus, Saul needed to confront his entire approach to life. He needed to see that any mission that isn’t aligned with the heart and will of Jesus, isn’t from God.
       A mission that is divorced from the heart and will of Jesus may have noble intentions and yet bring about tragic results. Such a mission will drive people further from God rather than draw people to God. Saul’s faith wasn’t in God; it was in the misunderstanding of the kind of god God is. Saul served the law – not the Lord, Our God is not about rules and laws, but rather grace and love. We Christians can be just as short-sighted and destructive if we don’t align our lives with the heart and will of Jesus.
       I like what Pastor Robert C. Roberts once wrote on the subject. He said, “There’s something comfortable about reducing Christianity to a list of do’s and don’ts… you always know where you stand, and this helps reduce anxiety. It has the advantage that you don’t need wisdom. You don’t have to think subtly or make hard choices. You don’t have to relate personally to a demanding and loving Lord.”(3)
       Too many Christians are passionate about the laws of God – but completely miss the love of God, the grace of and forgiveness of God. For Saul, that began to change on the road to Damascus.
       This passage also demonstrates who Jesus is and how he expects his followers to live. The only way to understand our own identity and purpose is to understand the character and will of God. And the best way to understand the character and will of God is to look to Jesus. God in the flesh. In Jesus, we don’t see an angry, condemning, punishing God. No, we see a man who ate with sinners and welcomed outsiders and loved the least, the last, the lost and the lonely, who extends grace, forgiveness and love instead of judgement. That is the kind of life that is in tune with the heart of God.
       There is a well-known quote from writer Anne Lamott that I like to turn to now and again. She writes, “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” That’s a real danger for Christians- for anyone really- the desire to create God in our own image. It’s so easy to take Bible passages out of context, or to assume that God hates the same people or issues we hate. It’s so easy to think that our anger somehow honors God, or pleases God. It doesn’t. In the book of James we read, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” Another lesson Saul learned on the road to Damascus.
       So – How does this dangerous misunderstanding get cleared up? We get an answer to that in the verses of Chapter 9 that our lectionary puts in parentheses.
       When we read this story about the road to Damascus, we usually focus our attention on the pyrotechnics – the bright, flashing light, the voice of Jesus and Saul’s three days of blindness. It is very dramatic. But the lectionary labels verses 7-20 as optional, in parentheses, when they are actually a big part of the story. In those verses, we meet the supporting actors in this conversion story. First, Saul’s traveling companions lead him the rest of the way to Damascus. Then we meet the Jesus follower Ananias. To be clear, this Ananias is not the one from the Old Testament, or the one associated with Sapphira who runs into difficulty over finances. This Ananias was likely a refugee from Jerusalem. He skipped town when Saul was persecuting and killing Jesus’ followers there and he found a safe refuge in Damascus.
       When Ananias heard that Saul of Tarsus had come to Damascus – he was understandably concerned and probably more than a little frightened. But at the Lord’s direction, he took him in, baptized him and guided him through Jesus teachings. Ananias and the rest of the early Christian community in Damascus helped guide Saul on the way to becoming the Apostle Paul – our most influential Christian theologian.
       Some of the best stories in the Bible are those in the parentheses. The unsung, overlooked, supporting actors who make it possible for the heroes of the Bible to fulfill their purpose. Ananias and the disciples in Damascus are surely some of those supporting actors.
       “It takes a village to raise a child” is the African proverb made widely known by Hillary Clinton. That proverb holds true for raising Christians as well. Think about your own faith journey, or your own professional journey – who were the supporting actors who helped you on your way. Who were the people guided you and taught you in your early days. If you sit down with any pillar of the church or successful business person, it won’t take long before they are talking to you about the people who supported them, taught them and guided them along the way. So who has been there for you in your own challenging times.
       Today, we are taking some time in our worship service to express our thanks and gratitude for those who work in the healthcare field. It’s been a rough few years for everyone in the healthcare community and their families. But without their skills and sacrifices, support and guidance – we would not be in the more positive position we are in today.
       So will you join me in A Prayer for our Healthcare Community printed in your bulletin…

1.  Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII No. 2, p3.
2.  Ibid… p4.
3.  Ibid… p4.