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The headline said "Blasts Rattle Cricket Fans in South India" by Jim
Yardley. At least 15 people were wounded yesterday by two explosions
near a crowded cricket stadium in Bangalore as thousands of spectators
were arriving for a match in India's popular professional league.
The police told Indian news media that the low-intensity explosives
detonated near an outer wall of the stadium. The blasts took place
less than an hour before the scheduled 4 p.m. match in India's Premier
League, during a week when the authorities had warned about a rising
threat of terrorist attacks in India.
By Saturday night, the police had not yet determined whether the
explosions were acts of terrorism, and no one had claimed
responsibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/world/asia/18india.html
We hear alot about terrorists these days. We wonder what motivates
these individuals to commit such violence. What we don't hear much
about in the media is how governments may also use terrorist acts
against their own citizens. For instance, crucifixion was a state
sponsored terrorist activity in the day of Jesus and the early church.
Crucifixion was a way for the Roman state to use a human body as a
poster that they would nail to a wall and leave there. Attached to the
body of the crucified victim would be a sign saying what crime he or
she had committed. There was no burial in a normal crucifixion. The
naked body of the crucified hanged there like a warning sign saying:
"Don't do this." Our reading this morning is about an individual
terrorist by the name of Saul.
We first meet the terrorist named Saul as he assists in the public
execution of a Christian disciple named Stephen (Acts 7). Stephen had
been commissioned by the apostles to a board of deacons who were
responsible for settling conflicts between the Jewish Christians and
the Greek Christians. The deacons were specifically in charge of
distributing groceries to the widows in the congregation. Stephen
became a sort of spokesman for the deacons and this led to Stephen
being singled out for termination by the leaders of a rival religious
group. Stephen was put on trial and after an eloquent speech against
the rival religious group a riot erupted.
Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned Stephen out. Now in full
stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The
ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to
watch them.
As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, "Master Jesus, take my
life." Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear,
"Master, don't blame them for this sin"—his last words. Then he died.
Saul was right there, congratulating the killers. (Acts 7:57-60)
Yes, I suppose we could say that Saul was a terrorist. Saul had a
contract against Christians in Damascus. He was on his way to deliver
the hit when he got hit by a blinding light that knocked him to the
ground and blinded him. Then a voice from heaven says, "I'm Jesus, the
one whose disciples you are terrorizing." Saul wasn't waving his
finger and threatening anyone now. In fact, he was so blind his
compatriots had to lead by the hand into Damascus.
In the next scene we see a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The
Lord spoke to Ananias in a dream and said to him: "Get up." "Get up
and go to Straight Street and find a man named Saul." That sounds like
an easy request the Lord placed on Ananias. But it was not easy
because Ananias knew that Saul was a terrorist. Ananias knew Saul
threatened murder to the disciples of the Lord. Ananias could picture
Saul wagging his finger and threatening both women and men who
followed Jesus saying he would put arrest them and bring to Jerusalem
to face trial. We all know how such trials can end — recall Jesus
trial by Pilate in Jerusalem — they could end in the crucifixion of
the accused. Ananias was terrified to confront the terrorist named
Saul. But God told Ananias in a dream to get up and go confront Saul
for the Lord had chosen Saul for a special mission to the Gentiles and
kings and Saul would learn the true meaning of what it meant to suffer
for the Lord. The Lord said get and go and Ananias got up and went.
Ananias found Saul the terrorist laying blind in a bed in a house in
Damascus. Ananias placed his hands on the terrorist named Saul not to
kill him but to pray for him and said to him: "Brother Saul, the Lord
Jesus, the one who blinded you on the road, sent me so you may see
again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something
like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he saw again and he got up and
was baptized. The Lord Jesus had knocked down and blinded the
terrorist Saul and now the Lord Jesus restored his sight and Saul got
up and was baptized. So was the transformation of a terrorist named
Saul into a Christian apostle named Paul. Paul was baptized and ate a
meal and regained his strength.
The Greek verb anastos which is translated as "get up" or "arise"
occurs three times in the story of Saul's conversion on the road to
Damascus. The third time is when Saul's eyes are healed and he gets us
and is baptized. The second time is when Ananias overcomes his fear
and gets up and goes to meet Saul face to face. The first time anastos
appears is in verse 6 when the voice from heaven, the voice of Jesus,
tells Saul to get up off the ground and enter into the city of
Damascus and listen there for further instructions. Saul was laying on
the ground after getting knocked down to the ground by a heavenly
light that blinded him. Saul fell to the ground — knocked down by
heaven light — and heard Jesus voice say to him: "Get up." And Saul
got up and went into the city of Damascus where he would be
transformed from an anti-Christian terrorist into an apostle of
Christ.
Christ's light struck down Saul and Paul rose up a different person.
He was no longer an anti-Christian terrorist. Now he was ready to
become an apostle of Christ.
Thirty years ago I played quarterback on a high school football team.
I hear Brad Urquhart played wingback for the Princeton University
football team back in the day. The secret to playing football is to
get back up off the ground after you've been knocked down. When you
get knocked down you have to get back up on your feet as quickly as
you can. You can't play football when you are laying on the ground.
You've got to be standing up on your feet to play football. And the
same is true in life. Our challenge in life is to get back up after we
get knocked down. Throughout our lives we will find ourselves over and
again getting knocked down by illness, financial trouble, relational
irritations or any number of challenges. But after we get knocked down
we have to get back up again. You may have noticed that "getting back
up" is a recurring theme in the story of Paul's conversion. "Getting
back up" is an underlying theme in this story.
But friends, there will come a day when we will get knocked down in
such a way that we will not be able to get back up. That day came for
Jesus when he was crucified in a state sponsored Roman terrorist act.
Jesus died on the cross and he could not get back up. They buried him
in a tomb. But on the third day God did for Jesus what he could not do
for himself: God raised him up from the dead! And the good news for us
is that when the time comes that we get knocked down in such a way
that we cannot get up — when the day comes for us that we die — then
God will get us back up and lead us into the kingdom of heaven. Then
we will be received into the arms of God's mercy, into the blessed
rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints
in light. So you and I will one day be able to sing with the apostle
Paul — "I saw the light, I saw the light. No more darkness. No more
night. Now I am so happy. No sorrow is in sight. Praise the Lord. I
saw the light." And so have you. Let's go share God's light with a
terrified world this week.
Hide it under bushel, no! I'm gonna let it shine. Hide it under a
bushel, no! I'm gonna let it shine. Hide it under a bushel, no! I'm
gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.
