Acts 9:1-19
Paul Meets Jesus on the Road to Damascus
1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Paul originally opposed Jesus and His followers...Paul did not and could not believe the fishermen and taxpayers and those who followed Jesus and knew Him, but knew little about the law and Scripture...Paul, a Pharisee, knew very much about the Law of Moses and the Bible...But he knew little of Jesus, who was written about in the Old Testament...Before Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he could not see who Jesus was...He was spiritually blind to Jesus...Paul's eyes and mind were covered by a disbelief...Paul when he meets Jesus, would wind up with scales on his eyes...To see again, and to see reality, he would need these scales removed from his eyes...Paul would have to use his eyes and mind to come to grips with a belief in Jesus, and the claims the He and His followers were making about Him...
I think many of us have scales on our eyes...Our jobs, our daily routines, consumerism, keeping busy, our life's experiences both current and past, and what we do have an impact on what we believe...The very things that we live around and do each day affect what we see and what we do...I wonder if we realize that in that sense of what we do has an impact on what we believe in...Do we not believe in Jesus because we have scales on our eyes and our minds?...Jesus came along for Paul and caused his scales to fall from his eyes and his mind...Then Saul, aka Paul, believed in Jesus after his Jesus experience...
So Paul who was living under the law of Moses, would change and now be living his faith under the Person of Jesus Christ...Paul would see Jesus as LORD...And when he boasted, He would boast in the LORD...He would teach the Gentiles, that Jesus was the Messiah, the One who was to come from the Old Testament...He would teach them that God had appointed Jesus as our future judge, and had proven this by raising Him from the dead...Paul's scales were removed...He could now see...
Sometimes we need our scales removed to believe...And what we do each and everyday and have been doing affects the scales in our eyes and our minds...