There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias: and Jesus called to him in a vision and instructed him to go and pray for Saul, waiting in the house of a man named Judas on Straight Street for someone to come pray for him to restore his sight (Acts 9:10-12). Ananias had some hesitation about this; he took the time to explain to Jesus about how Saul had done severe damage to the people of the church in Jerusalem, and how he intended to arrest Christians in Damascus (9:13-14).

I have a lot of sympathy for Ananias; like him, I sometimes feel the need to be sure that Jesus has all the facts about something. Especially when the something is Jesus sending me to do a job that might be difficult or dangerous – like Jesus sending Ananias to get so close to this persecutor. (We might also note that Ananias did not express any hesitation about going to some stranger’s house to pray for a miracle to heal someone of blindness; apparently he did not feel any anxiety about that.)

As it turns out, Jesus already knew all about Saul. Jesus explained to to Ananias that he had chosen Saul to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, knowing that Saul would experience a great deal of suffering for the sake of Jesus’ name (9:15-16). So Ananias went, laid his hands on Saul, and “prayed” – actually, he just declared that Jesus had sent him so that he would regain his sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And it was so (9:17-19).

That’s all the story we have about Ananias, a disciple in the church in Damascus: called by God, stepping forward into a scary situation, praying for healing, seeing the miracle: and then the rest of the story, all the renown and all the narrative, ended up being about somebody else: Saul the persecutor who became Paul the apostle. I suspect there are a lot of stories like that: people who act in faithful obedience, moving the mission of Jesus forward, even though hardly anyone remembers what they did. Yet the kingdom of God advances on the courage and faith of people like that.

* * * * *

We can tell we’re not going to be famous, O Lord: but we do want to be faithful. We pray that we’ll have the courage to believe that you will heal our enemies, and transform them; we pray that you will enable us to live as missionaries, for the sake of your mission, throughout all the world.