Ananias got it. According to the tradition of the Orthodox Church, he had been one of the 70 apostles sent out in pairs in mission to the surrounding areas. When they returned from their trip, they were filled with joy and said, (From Luke 10:17) "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!"
Not all Bible scholars agree that it is possible to name any of the 70 who were sent out, but the idea that Ananias had been with Jesus since before the crucifixion and resurrection makes sense in the context of this week’s reading from Acts 9:1-20.
Ananias, living as one of Jesus followers and missionaries in Damascus, had a vision from God. In it God instructed him to go find Saul of Tarsus and pray with him so that he would regain his sight.
“Are you kidding, God? This is one bad man! This is one powerful and bad man!”
“I’m going to use him to tell others about me.”
(likely a bit skeptical, but willing . . . ) “OK.”
Ananias found Saul, prayed, saw things like scales fall off of Saul’s eyes, baptized him (The Bible doesn’t say it was Ananias that did the baptism, but it would make sense that he did) and then helped Saul begin to be the one proclaiming Jesus as the son of God.
Have you ever had a sense God was calling you to do something or leading you in a certain direction and all you really could think of in that regard was. “Are you kidding?”
What’s been unexpected about your faith journey?
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