April 10 Acts 9, Rev. 5, John 21
So many biblical passages deal with insight and revelation. It is striking in our readings today. acts 9 Saul is introduced as holding the coats of the mob that murdered the deacon Stephen. He is persecuting members of the infant church. Now the last person on earth to become a christian is favored with a vision. A number of people are disappointed in their religious life as they do not have a Damascus road blinding vision and word form the Lord.Ananias has a crucial vision as well. He wants no part of a persecutor of the church. This reconciling act is the basis of a new community.forgiveness means helping and working together. transformation of the enemy is here.Ananias heals the enemy. Now the scales fall from Saul’s eyes, after receiving the healing power of forgiveness and entrance into the new community. Saul has not eaten for three days nor had anything to drink, so he needs physical strength as well to do spiritual work.3 days without water is about our limit, but we just read of three days in the tomb and recall three days in the belly of the beast for Jonah. .He has a remarkable religious experience of a question from the ascended Jesus. That changes everything. He is called into a community. The community has to heal , forgive, send out their erstwhile persecutor.(Tutu’s daughter was here on racial forgiveness).All Jesus does here is voice-I cannot tell if the light is emanating from heaven itself, as in a commission as in Dan. 10 or Ezek. 1) or is part of the vision of Jesus, but it is an auditory encounter as well as a blinding light.Blinded by the light-Can you imagine the difficulty that Ananias would have in healing Paul’s ailment?,Saul has a blinding vision, so did John in his worship visions on Patmos
One of my religious epiphanies was reading Rev. 5:11,in some ways this little passage is the core of the book of Revelation-I repeat not the charts of the newer American interpretations but this passage on the Little lamb and the huge heavenly chorus axios worthy was a political hail to the chief the attribute of the lamb at the center is mighty that expose that unveiling that looking behind the curtain like Toto shows us tension or a level of discourse the great might of God is best seen in the slain little lamb. To what degree is the vision of Jesus by Saul part of this vision? Not the lion as in Lewis’s Aslan, but a slain little lamb.That is how Jesus is imagined in the precincts of the divine.
John 21-The closing of the movie risen draws a lot of its inspiration from our passage this morning. I’ve always like the story of the beach barbecue as it shows continued concern for basic human need-When I am working, I don;t like interruptions, and I especially don't like unsolicited advice when things are not going well, or even being watched when I am trying to cook something-Come and have some breakfast- is it a relay of the loaves and fishes? As opposed to Damascus road the beach scene is not as dramatic-working to get fish and having some lunch lacks some of the drama.resurrection life does not discount the importance of basic survival. It also points to spiritual survival. God is present in life both mundane and in the rare spectacular ecstasy. 3 denials-3 times- do you love me-not forgotten but forgiven. do you love me? Ask yourself that question at the start of the day, as I don’t know if I could bear asking that to myself at the close of the day.
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