Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, May 2, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
The word that comes to mind when I read this verse is: Surrender. Saul was absolutely convinced he was right to be persecuting this upstart sect within Judaism that was undermining the faith he’d practiced all his life. Then he’s thrown to the ground and hears the voice of Jesus and in an instant, he is utterly transformed. So much so that when Jesus tells him to get up and go into Damascus and wait for further instructions, he simply says, “Okay.”
I can’t imagine the vulnerability of having everything you believed in ripped out from under you and losing your sight in the process. But I do have experience that comes somewhat close: the experience of going into recovery for food addiction. In my 12-Step recovery program, I had to confront everything I believed about the world, everything that drove me to think and act the way I did, and accept the fact that I was pretty much wrong about almost everything. I had to accept that I was basically blind and put myself into the hands of a trust advisor (sponsor) and do what I was instructed to do. I had to surrender absolutely everything to God, who acted through my fellows, much as Saul’s companions led him to Damascus, and Ananias educated him and worked to solidify his transformation.
You don’t have to be an addict and go into recovery to experience the kind of essential change that Saul did. All that is required is surrender to God and the fierce and unwavering willingness to be honest with yourself. It helps to have some sort of advisor or at least fellow travelers (a pastor, community members, a close friend and confidant) with whom to express this honesty and willingness to change.
As someone who once believed that people were incapable of changing on a fundamental level, I can now tell you that change is possible. I know, because I’ve experienced it. Saul experienced it. You can, too.
Have I experienced true change in who I am over the course of my life? What events were the catalysts for change?
