March 10, 2010 - Ananias

Bible Study – 03-10-2010   Read:  Acts 9:10-19


     There is much known about certain people in the Bible, little known about others. Yet, there are people for whom the brief details of what we know are sufficient for us to admire them.
     One example is Ananias. (There are two men of that name known in the book of Acts. The subject of this study is the one mentioned second. That is, he is not the Ananias who was the husband of Sapphira, both of whom are remembered for lying, rather than being known for qualities we would admire.)
     We know very little about the man Ananias. One tradition says he was a shoemaker, but there are no facts to back up the tradition.
     He lived in Damascus. Scholars think he could have moved there because of the persecutions in Jerusalem against the Christians.
     Ananias is mentioned only twice in the Bible, in connection with the same event. He was involved with the conversion of St. Paul, originally known by his Hebrew name of Saul.
     Paul, in telling the story, says that Ananias was a good man, who was devout and respected by the Jewish community. If you are not going to have very much remembered about you, that's still a fine summary of your life.
     There are a few things we can probably surmise about Ananias from the story.
     He may have been a quiet man. He didn’t see himself as especially courageous, which was why he may have left Jerusalem to escape persecution.
     We often admire the daring folk, the ones who practically seemed to embrace the Roman arena and the lions and the gladiators. But there were other Christians who were good and devout and who just wanted to live the best they could and walk in the path that Jesus taught. So they stayed out of the way of the persecutors and kept hold of their faith in Jesus.
     Glorifying the martyrs too much was even a bit of a problem in the early church. Some early church leaders felt they had to warn Christians not to seek for martyrdom. The church needed those who got caught and wouldn’t recant, and it needed those who taught and witnessed and loved and served and lived.
     Ananias was one of these who survived and served. We are never told, at least, that he was ever martyred. If he ever was martyred, it wasn’t because he was someone who rushed headlong into danger. There are few traditions about him and what there are only developed much later. So it seems safe to say he was a quiet, unassuming man, cautious yet devout.
     The Christians in Damascus had likely heard that Saul was on the way.
     Saul was a fearsome opponent of the Christians. He was extremely intelligent, very organized, exceptionally efficient, overwhelmingly energetic for the things in which he believed. That’s a dangerous combination to face in an enemy.
     Some of the Christians in Damascus had almost certainly escaped from Jerusalem because of Paul’s persecutions, so they were familiar with him and his tactics. It was not good news to hear that he was headed their way.
     Then Ananias hears the voice of Jesus in a vision. This tells us that he was a spiritual man who was open to hearing God speak.
     He heard Jesus saying that he should go and help Saul. This was obviously a frightening proposition, so, in a sense, he told Jesus about Saul and what kind of man he was. This may be interpreted as a statement that he would rather not do what Jesus was asking.
     But Jesus again said, "Go."
     Ananias got up and went. This also tells us that he was a spiritual man who sincerely wanted to do what God asked of him. He may have been afraid, but his love for Jesus must have given him courage.
     Ananias found things as it had been explained to him. He went to the street called Straight. He entered the house and found his enemy, and he called his enemy his brother. In a sermon, Paul later gave a fuller version of what Ananias said to him that day.
      After helping him regain his sight, Ananias told him, "The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear his own voice, for you will be his witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name."
     As a young man, Paul had seen the Christian, Stephen, forgiving those who were killing him. Now, blind, probably scared, still a proud and forceful man, he encountered another Christian. Paul had been out to persecute people like Ananias. Yet this man still came to him and called him brother. The “shoemaker” must have been a powerful introduction to the Christian faith.
      To read another presentation about Paul and Ananias, go to the following:
 www.gbgm-umc.org/dellville/sermons/sm2001april29.htm
 This is a page at the website General Board of Global Missions of the United Methodist Church.


What are the qualities that make Ananias a Christian hero? (Think in terms of an epitaph, or writing an obituary about him, what would a Christian writer say?)

What influence do you imagine that Ananias had upon Paul?