ACTS 9 (SELECTED VERSES) | A SILK PURSE OUT OF A SOW’S EAR

A SILK PURSE OUT OF A SOW’S EAR

ACTS 9 (SELECTED VERSES)

APRIL 10, 2016

(FOR THIS MORNING’S SERMON I AM INDEBTED TO THE WRITINGS OF FREDERICK BEUCHNER – FOR SOME OF THE WORDING AND IMAGES USED HERE.)

PAUL WASN’T MUCH TO LOOK AT.  “BALD-HEADED, BOWLEGGED, STRONGLY BUILT, A MAN OF SMALL SIZE, WITH MEETING EYEBROWS, (WHAT WE WOULD CALL A UNIBROW THESE DAYS), AND A LARGE NOSE.”

YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH THIS IS THE WAY THE APOCRYPHAL BOOK THE ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA DESCRIBES THE APOSTLE PAUL.

APOCRYPHAL BOOKS, YOU MAY REMEMBER, ARE BOOKS LIKE THOSE IN THE BIBLE, ABOUT BIBLICAL TIMES, ABOUT BIBLICAL FIGURES, BUT THAT FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER DIDN’T MAKE IT INTO THE BIBLE.

PAUL HIMSELF IN II CORINTHIANS 10:10 EXPLAINS HOW SOMEBODY WHO HAD ACTUALLY SEEN HIM, DESCRIBED HIM THIS WAY: “HIS LETTERS ARE STRONG, BUT HIS BODILY PRESENCE IS WEAK.”

AND ELSEWHERE, IN DESCRIBING EVERYTHING HE HAD BEEN THROUGH IN HIS LIFE AND MINISTRY, PAUL WROTE THIS ABOUT HIMSELF:

“FIVE TIMES I HAVE RECEIVED AT THE HANDS OF THE JEWS THE FORTY LASHES LESS ONE.  THREE TIMES I HAVE BEEN BEATEN WITH RODS.  ONCE I WAS STONED.  THREE TIMES I HAVE BEEN SHIPWRECKED.  A NIGHT AND A DAY I HAVE BEEN ADRIFT AT SEA.  IN DANGER FROM RIVERS… ROBBERS… MY OWN PEOPLE… GENTILES… IN TOIL AND HARDSHIP, IN HUNGER AND THIRST… IN COLD AND EXPOSURE… (II CORINTHIANS 11:24-27).

HE WAS ALSO SICK OFF AND ON FOR MUCH OF HIS LIFE AND SPEAKS OF A “THORN IN THE FLESH” THAT GOD HAD GIVEN HIM “TO KEEP ME FROM BEING TOO ELATED” (II CORINTHIANS 12:7).

THIS THORN HAS BEEN VARIOUSLY GUESSED TO HAVE BEEN: A FACIAL TICK?  EPILEPSY?  BI-POLAR DISEASE?  WHO KNOWS?  THE WONDER OF IT IS THAT PAUL WAS ABLE TO GET AROUND AT ALL.

BUT GET AROUND HE DID!  CORINTH, EPHESUS, THESSALONICA, GALATIA, COLOSSAE, NOT TO MENTION SIDE TRIPS TO JERUSALEM, CYPRUS, CRETE, MALTA, ATHENS, SYRACUSE, ROME, MAYBE EVEN SPAIN – LOOK ‘EM UP ON A MAP, AND YOU’LL SEE HOW FAR HE TRAVELED.

THERE’S HARDLY A MAJOR CITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD THAT PAUL DIDN’T MAKE IT TO EVENTUALLY, AND HE WAS NO MERE SIGHTSEER EITHER.

THESE WERE BUSINESS TRIPS.  WORK TRIPS.  PAUL PLANTED CHURCHES LIKE JOHNNY APPLESEED PLANTED TREES.  AND WHENEVER HE WASN’T BUILDING A NEW CHURCH SOMEWHERE HE WAS WRITING TO THE OLD ONES.

MOST OF YOU HAVE READ HIS LETTERS AT ONE TIME OF ANOTHER; AND READING THEM YOU KNOW PAUL USED EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK TO GET PEOPLE TO LISTEN TO HIM.

HE BULLIED.  HE COAXED.  HE COMFORTED.  HE CURSED.  HE BARED HIS SOUL.  HE REMINISCED.  HE COMPLAINED.  HE CORRECTED.  HE THEOLOGIZED.  HE INSPIRED.  HE EXULTED.

PUNCH-DRUNK AND CHRIST-DRUNK, HE KEPT IN TOUCH WITH EVERYBODY.  THE POSTAGE ALONE MUST HAVE COST HIM A FORTUNE, NOT COUNTING ALL THE TIME AND ENERGY HE EXPENDED.

AND WHERE DID IT ALL START?  ON THE ROAD, AS WE MIGHT EXPECT.

HE WAS STILL IN CHARGE OF A PHARISEE GOON SQUAD IN THOSE DAYS HELL-BENT FOR DAMASCUS TO ROUND UP SOME TROUBLE-MAKING CHRISTIANS AND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE.  AND THEN IT HAPPENED.

IT WAS ABOUT NOON WHEN HE WAS KNOCKED FLAT BY A BLAZE OF LIGHT THAT MADE THE SUN LOOK LIKE A FORTY-WATT BULB, AND OUT THE LIGHT, A VOICE THAT CALLED HIM BY HIS HEBREW NAME:

“SAUL, SAUL, WHY ARE YOU OUT TO GET ME?” AND WHEN HE PULLED HIMSELF TOGETHER ENOUGH TO ASK WHO IT WAS HE HAD THE HONOR OF ADDRESSING, WHAT HE HEARS TO HIS HORROR WAS:

“I AM JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE ONE YOU’RE OUT TO GET.”

SO POWERFUL WAS THE UTTER AND COMPLETE TURN AROUND OF HIS LIFE THAT DAY, THAT THE TERM “A DAMASCUS ROAD EXPERIENCE” IS USED BY BOTH BELIEVERS AND NON-BELIEVERS TO DESCRIBE A COMPLETE CHANGE IN SOMEONE.

IF JESUS HAD WHAT IT TOOK TO BURST OUT OF THE GRAVE, PAUL THOUGHT, THEN HE COULD POLISH OFF A BOWLEGGED CHRISTIAN-HATER WITHOUT EVEN NOTICING IT, AND HE WAITED FOR THE AXE TO FALL.

ONLY IT WASN’T AN AXE THAT FELL.  “THOSE FOLKS IN DAMASCUS,” JESUS SAID, “DON’T FIGHT THEM, JOIN THEM.  I WANT YOU ON MY SIDE.”

PAUL NEVER FORGOT THE SHEER LUNATIC JOY AND ASTONISHMENT OF THAT MOMENT.

HE WAS BLIND AS A BAT FOR THREE DAY AFTERWARDS, BUT HE MADE IT TO DAMASCUS ANYWAY AND WAS BAPTIZED ON THE SPOT.  HE WAS NEVER THE SAME AGAIN, AND NEITHER, IN A WAY, WAS THE WORLD.

EVERYTHING PAUL EVER SAID OR WROTE OR DID FROM THAT DAY FORWARD WAS AN ATTEMPT TO BOWL OVER THE HUMAN RACE AS HE HAD BEEN BOWLED OVER HIMSELF THAT DAY ON THE DAMASCUS ROAD.

“DON’T FIGHT THEM, JOIN THEM.  HE WANTS YOU ON HIS SIDE.”

YOU, OF ALL PEOPLE.  ME?  WHO IN THE WORLD WOULD WANT ME?

THE ONE WHO CAN MAKE SILK PURSES OUT OF SOW’S EARS.

THERE ARE TWO WORDS BY WHICH WE CAN BEST DEFINE THE APOSTLE PAUL, AND AGAIN, EVERYTHING HE EVER SAID, WROTE, OR DID.

THEY ARE HIS TWO WORDS; TWO WORDS HE USES OVER AND OVER AGAIN; TWO WORDS THAT ARE INSEPARABLE FOR HIM, FOR US: GRACE AND CHRIST.

“BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED,” PAUL WROTE TO THE EPHESIANS, AND GRACE WAS HIS KEY WORD.  GRACE.  SALVATION IS FREE, GRATIS.

THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO TO EARN IT.  IT IS NOT OF OUR OWN DOING, IT IS A GIFT FROM GOD, AND NOT BECAUSE OF ANY WORKS WE MIGHT PERFORM, LEST ANY OF US SHOULD BOAST.

THERE’S PLENTY OF WORK TO BE DONE, OF COURSE, LOOK AT PAUL, BUT THE WORKS COME AFTER THE GRACE; THE WORKS COME IN RESPONSE TO THE GRACE; THE WORKS DON’T SEEM LIKE WORK AT ALL, WHEN YOU DO THEM FOR THE ONE YOU LOVE, AND WHO LOVES YOU.

AND ITS GRACE THAT CAN TURN A SOW’S EAR INTO A SILK PURSE.

YOU SEE LITTLE BY LITTLE THE FORGIVEN PERSON BECOMES THE FORGIVING PERSON;

THE PERSON WHO FINDS THEY ARE LOVED BECOMES CAPABLE OF LOVE;

THE SLOB THAT GOD HAD FAITH IN ANYWAY BECOMES UN-SLOBBED, FAITHFUL, AND GOOD WORKS BLOSSOM FROM HIS/HER BRANCHES, LIKE FRUIT FROM A WELL WATERED TREE.

AND WHAT FRUITS WOULD THOSE BE?

PAUL ANSWERS THE QUESTION IN WRITING THE CHURCH IN GALATIA: “LOVE IS THE SWEETEST AND MOST TENDER.  THEN JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, SELF-CONTROL.”  (GALATIANS 5:22-23)

IF GRACE IS PAUL’S FIRST WORD, THEN CHRIST IS HIS LAST WORD.  CHRIST IS THE KEY – TO EVERYTHING.

PAUL NEVER FORGOT HOW CHRIST HAD CALLED HIM BY NAME – TWICE, TO MAKE SURE IT GOT THROUGH, “SAUL, SAUL…”

“WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US…” PAUL WRITES IN ROMANS 5;

AND FOR THE GALATIANS: “I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”

– ALL THAT WAS DRIED UP IN HIM, FULL OF HATE AND SELF-HATING, SELF-SERVING AND SICK, ALL OF IT WAS BEHIND HIM NOW, DEAD AS A DOORNAIL – SO THAT “IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE BUT CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME.” (GALATIANS 2:20)

AND THEN TO THE PHILIPPIANS, BY REGISTERED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED: “FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST…” (PHILIPPIANS 1:21)

AND LEST THE EPHESIANS FEEL LEFT OUT, THERE’S SOMETHING IN PAUL’S MAILBAG FOR THEM AS WELL: “YOU CHRIST MADE ALIVE WHEN YOU WERE DEAD.” (EPHESIANS 2:1) ALIVE LIKE HIM.

AND YET, FOR ALL HIS FAITH, FOR ALL HIS TURNING IT AROUND, OR CHRIST’S TURNING HIM AROUND, THERE WERE OTHER TIMES FOR PAUL THAT WERE DARK… AS DARK AS THE BLINDNESS HE EXPERIENCED THE HOUR HE FIRST BELIEVED.

SOMETIMES THE DEPRESSION WAS SO GREAT THAT HE COULD HARDLY MOVE THE PENCIL ACROSS THE PAGE.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND MY OWN ACTIONS,” HE SAID, “FOR I DON’T DO WHAT I WANT, BUT I DO THE VERY THING I HATE… I CAN WILL WHAT IS RIGHT, BUT I CAN’T DO IT.  FOR I DON’T DO THE GOOD I WANT BUT THE EVIL I DON’T WANT IS WHAT I DO…

FOR I DELIGHT IN THE LAW OF GOD IN MY INMOST SELF, BUT I SEE IN MY MEMBERS ANOTHER LAW AT WAR WITH THE LAW IN MY MIND AND MAKING ME CAPTIVE TO THE LAW OF SIN…

WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM!  WHO WILL DELIVER ME FROM THIS BODY OF DEATH?”

HE WOULD YELL THESE QUESTIONS AT THE WALL, AT HIMSELF, FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG?  TEN MINUTES?  TEN YEARS?  BUT SOMEHOW HE FINALLY FOUND THE HEART TO SCRATCH OUT THE ANSWER:

“THANKS BE TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD,” HE SAID.  (ROMANS 7:15-25)

IT GOT HIM GOING AGAIN, BACK TO HIS OLD SELF, BACK TO HIS FAITH, BACK TO SPEAKING, AND WRITING, AND DOING, AND IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME, READ ROMANS 8.

“IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?”  AND THEN PAUL LISTS EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN, AND ABOVE IT TOO, AS POSSIBLE SUSPECTS, OF WHAT COULD POSSIBLY SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD.

“SHALL TRIBULATION, OR DISTRESS, OR PERSECUTION, OR FAMINE, OR NAKEDNESS, OR PERIL, OR SWORD?”

IT WAS HIS LIFE’S STORY, OUR LIFE STORY, PERHAPS.

“NO!” HE WROTE SO HARD THAT THE TIP OF HIS PENCIL BROKE OFF.

“IN ALL OF THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US.  FOR I AM SURE THAT NEITHER DEATH, NOR LIFE, NOT ANGELS, NOR PRINCIPALITIES, NOR THINGS PRESENT, NOR THINGS TO COME, NOR POWERS, NOR HEIGHT, NOR DEPTH, NOR ANYTHING ELSE IN ALL CREATION WILL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.”

GRACE AND CHRIST, AMONG ALL HIS MANY WORDS – THESE WERE THE WORDS PAUL BELIEVED IN MOST AND USED MOST.

PAUL UNDERSTOOD THAT GOD WAS MAKING A NEW BODY FOR CHRIST.

CHRIST DIDN’T HAVE A BODY ANY MORE SO GOD WAS MAKING HIM A NEW ONE OUT OF ANYBODY HE COULD FIND WHO LOOKED LIKE THEY MIGHT POSSIBLY DO.

GOD WAS USING OTHER PEOPLE’S HANDS TO BE CHRIST’S HANDS; AND OTHER PEOPLE’S FEET TO BE CHRIST’S FEET;

AND WHEN THERE WAS SOME PLACE WHERE CHRIST WAS NEEDED IN A HURRY OR NEEDED BADLY, GOD PUT A FINGER ON SOME MAYBE-NOT-ALL-THAT-INNOCENT BYSTANDER AND GOT HIM TO GO AND BE CHRIST IN THAT PLACE FOR LACK OF ANYBODY BETTER.

SOW’S EARS INTO SILK PURSES, AS IT WERE.

AND HOW LONG WAS ALL OF THIS SUPPOSED TO LAST?

PAUL SAID, WHY, UNTIL WE ALL BECOME HUMAN BEINGS, UNTIL WE ALL “ATTAIN TO MATURE MANHOOD,” AS HE PUT IT;

AND SINCE THERE HAS ONLY EVER REALLY BEEN ONE HUMAN BEING TO PULL IT OFF – PERFECTLY – THEN IT’S TO LAST UNTIL WE’RE LIKE HIM – “TO THE MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST.” (EPHESIANS 4:11-13)

UNTIL WE ARE CHRISTS TO EACH OTHER.  UNTIL WE ARE CHRISTS TO GOD.  ALL OF US.  FINALLY; FULLY.

NOBODY IS SURE WHETHER OR NOT PAUL EVER MADE IT TO SPAIN THE WAY HE PLANNED, BUT AT SOME POINT HE ENDED UP IN ROME, ARRESTED YET AGAIN, MAKING DEFENSE OF HIS BELIEFS BEFORE THE POWERS THAT BE, AGAIN;

AND IN THE END, ACCORDING TO TRADITION, THE ROMANS EVENTUALLY TOOK PAUL OUT TO WIDE SPOT IN THE ROAD, ABOUT THREE MILES OUT OF ROME, AND LOPPED OFF HIS HEAD;

RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, WHERE HE HAD SPENT MOST OF HIS LIFE INCLUDING WHAT WAS IN A WAY THE BEGINNING OF HIS LIFE, THAT DAY ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS.

IN THAT APOCRYPHAL BOOK OF THE ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA I MENTIONED EARLIER, AT THE END OF THAT LESS THAN FLATTERING DESCRIPTION OF PAUL’S PERSONAL APPEARANCE WE READ, THE WRITER FINISHES BY SAYING:

“AT TIMES HE LOOKED LIKE A MAN, AND AT TIME S HE HAD THE FACE OF AN ANGEL.”

SOW’S EAR – SILK PURSE.

FOR PAUL, EVEN IN THOSE DARKEST OF PLACES IN HIS LIFE, THERE WAS NEVER A DOUBT IN HIS MIND THAT THERE WAS A GOD IN HEAVEN;

AND THAT THIS GOD, THROUGH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST, AND BY GOD’S GRACE, LOVED HIM WITH A LOVE BY WHICH NOTHING COULD SEPARATE THEM.

PERHAPS IT WAS THOSE TIMES WHEN HE BELIEVED BEST, THAT PAUL MOST HAD THE “FACE OF AN ANGEL.”