Ananias Chosen By God to Meet with Saul

“Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias.  The Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’  And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.’  And the Lord said to him, ‘Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, 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.” –Acts 9:10-12 (ESV.  Read Acts 9:10-31.)

Saul was dramatically stopped from his persecution of the Christians by meeting the Lord face to face on the road to Damascus.  He was physically blinded, and needed some help.  As he prayed in Damascus, he had a vision that a man named Ananias would be sent to him.  God appeared to that man Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, who was given a special assignment by God to go to the house of Judas where blind Saul was staying and lay hands on him.  Like many of us when we receive special impressions from God to do a specific task, we question and give excuses, as did Ananias. “I’ve heard how he has done much evil to the saints at Jerusalem,” Ananias said, “and he has come with authority from the chief priests to take prisoners those who believe here.”  How could Ananias put himself in jeopardy and go to this Saul?  But God was persistent in Ananias’ call:  “”Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel (9:15). Ananias was obedient to God’s direction.  He found Saul, laid his hands on him, and immediately Saul’s sight was restored.  The power came not from Ananias to restore Saul’s sight.  It was God’s doing.  But Ananias, the obedient servant of God, was the person through whom the miracle God had in mind was manifested.  After Paul ate—for he had not had food for three days—he was baptized, thus publicly declaring his affiliation with those of the Way who had faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.  Luke does not tell us who administered baptism to Saul. I like to think that it might have been Ananias, but we do not know this from scripture.  Ananias accepted Saul as a brother, calling him by that beloved title when he met him in the house of Judas on Straight Street in Damascus.

Paul gives us an account of his conversion in Galatians 1:15-24.  The accounts in Acts 9 and that in Galatians 1 reveal this chronology:  (1)  He is converted on the road to Damascus. (2)  He preaches in the synagogue there.  (3)  He goes to Arabia.  (4)  He returns to Damascus and preaches for three years (Gal. 1:18).  (5)  Jews plotted to kill Saul, and disciples help him escape by night by lowering him in a basket over the city wall.  (6)  He goes to Jerusalem but the disciples would not accept him.  Barnabas testifies to Saul’s genuine conversion.  (7)  He preaches in Jerusalem.  (8)  Soon in particular the Hellenists (Greek speaking Jews) in Jerusalem sought to kill Saul. This was the group that had brought Stephen to trial and death by stoning.  The very Saul who had consented to Stephen’s death was now preaching about Christ, and these Jews were angry. (9)  The brethren helped him go to Caesarea and then to his hometown of Tarsus.  (10) Luke gives another summary in 9:31 by stating that the church in all Judea, Galilee and Samaria was built up, multiplied and had the comfort of the Holy Spirit upon it.

Paul could have started his preaching where he was not known as a persecutor of the Christians. But he wanted the Jews to know he was a changed man through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Ananias had his special assignment from God to facilitate Paul to begin his ministry.  Ananias was the first of the disciples to show a love for the former persecutor.  God works in His own way to bring people together for His purposes.  This lesson poses the question:  How can we be encouragers of God’s ministers as was Ananias in Damascus and Barnabas in Jerusalem?