Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning is lengthy – we will consider both the First Lesson and the Gospel reading, from a broader perspective. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- No one likes surprises, especially when they are really significant and threaten a lot of what we take for granted. To a large degree, this is exactly what Jesus did when He confronted Saul of Tarsus as he was on his way to Damascus to arrest and persecute Christians. This was also the effect on the early church – when Jesus foisted the converted Saul, who became the apostle Paul, on the church as one of its leaders, and one of its most influential leaders at that!
- In just the opposite way, Jesus “revealed Himself” to His disciples in a most surprising way following His resurrection. He came to them in a quiet, unspectacular manner, so that they at first didn’t even know that it was Him. We would expect that once the Lord was resurrected and glorified, that His entrances and revelations of Himself would be glorious and astonishing. But it wasn’t so.
- I’m certain that the Lord knew exactly what He was doing in both of these instances – and the effect that it was going to have on His dear people of faith. Knowing how surprising and unsettling these things would be, how challenging and shocking, I’m certain that there must also have been some humor and amusement with the Lord – along with a very serious purpose. These were, after all, life and death matters. Paul would be executed for his faith in Christ and his ministry. Peter also would be executed for his discipleship and faithfulness to Jesus. Some of the other disciples would face the same – and all of them would face persecution, hardships, perils, and poverty for their faith and discipleship to Jesus.
- We have had it easy so far in our life of faith and our discipleship to Jesus. In the past, it was not only socially acceptable to be a Christian, it was expected and lauded as a matter of being a decent and respectable person. This made it much “easier” to be a Christian and to live a Christian life! Much has changed in this regard over the past few decades, and it appears that the trend is accelerating. We need to consider seriously the challenges and costs to being disciples of Jesus today, servants of God’s kingdom. And frankly, God’s humor, and understanding how He often surprises His people, helps us in this!
I. Surely There Is Humor In The Unlikely Call Of Saul Of Tarsus
A. Though The Experience Of A Vision Of Jesus Was Shocking To Paul – Who Was Expecting To Persecute Jesus By Abusing His Followers – There Was Humorous Irony In Jesus’ Actions, Which Gives Us Great Joy, In How It All Turned Out For Great Good
B. There Is Also Great Ironic Humor That Saul, A Useful Tool Of Satan In Persecuting The Church, A Great And Effective Instrument Of Wickedness And Opposition To Christ And His Church, Could Be Turned To The Side Of Christ And His Church
C. There Is Even Greater Ironic Humor That This Same Saul Would Become The Apostle Paul, Ultimately The Chief Apostle Of Christ To The Gentiles
D. But All Of This Is Also Very Serious – Knowing What This Meant For Paul, All That He Would Ultimately Suffer For Christ
Statement: I’m sure that the Christians of Damascus, especially Ananias who was instrumental in the transformation of Saul into the great apostle Paul, were not initially very happy with God’s irony and humor. He expressed as much to the Lord: “I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to Your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your Name.”
Think for minute about Ananias having to introduce Paul to the disciples at Damascus, and their thoughts and feelings about him – and their shock to hear him proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God in the synagogues! Think for a minute about the shock of the “chief priests” back in Jerusalem, when news of all of this came back to them! All of this is in many respects hilarious – and I’m sure the Lord had a good laugh about it!
Application: Now the shock and surprise to God’s people was not all that pleasant – at least not initially. But obviously they got over it, got used to the new Paul, and rejoiced in gaining a new and powerful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. They had to get past their “gut-reactions” and personal feelings – and get used to God’s humor.
Does God still have such humor? Does He still take great delight in irony? Your presence here is evidence of that – as also certainly my standing here in this pulpit is! How remarkable that in spite of all of the sin and wickedness in our sinful nature, all of our sinful and evil thoughts and deeds, that God has forgiven us, and instilled in our hearts and minds faith and knowledge of His great love for us in Christ Jesus, so that we too are His children and servants of His kingdom! It’s a miracle.
And Satan, even though he has placed all kinds of temptations in front of us – prosperity and the accumulation of wealth, and an education steeped in lies, delusions, and animosity against God, and all of the promiscuity of the sexual revolution, and alcohol and drugs – he hasn’t been able to snatch us away from God and the love of Jesus Christ! Don’t you think that God is chuckling about this right now? I assure you that He is – with great joy and delight!
Transition: But all of this is also quite serious – as Satan well knows, for he is still out to get us, to persecute us and make life as difficult and dangerous for us as he can. And so we must also be keenly aware that:
II. There Is Also Humor In The Manner Of God’s Ongoing And Gracious Presence And Blessings In Our Lives
A. There Is Ironic Humor In How Jesus Continues To Come To Us Humbly, Almost Unrecognizably – In His Word, In The Gathering Of His Children Of Faith, And In The Sacrament of His Body And Blood
Luke 10:16 “He who hears you, hears Me.”
Matt. 18;20 “For wherever two or three are gathered in My Name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Matt. 26:26-28 “Take eat; this is My body. . . . Drink of it all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
B. There Is Also Ironic Humor In How Jesus Continues To Pour Astonishingly Unnatural Blessings Upon Us To Serve All Our Needs
[haven’t you ever wondered how you have miraculously accumulated such amazing blessings – your wealth, talents, abilities, influence, place in life?]
C. There Is Also Ironic Humor In How God Continues To Commission Us And Use Us To Build His Church, And To Do Much Good In This World
Eph. 2:8-10 “By grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He has beforeordained that we should be walking in them.”
Statement: There are so many other things that we are interested in, that we pursue, that it is really rather remarkable that we do anything at all for God’s kingdom and for others – but God has already “foreordained” the good works we are to be doing when He gave us the gift of faith and salvation, and somehow, usually ironically, in spite of ourselves, He gets His way with us. Just so He continues to provide us with just the right amount of earthly blessings to best serve us. And here – within this sanctuary, in our gathering together in His Name to worship Him, He comes to us just as He promised, granting us forgiveness and mercy in His body and blood, and speaking to us in His Word.
Application: It may seem ironic to us, and we may struggle to “recognize” Him – just as His disciples did when He came to them at the Sea of Tiberias, but He is here. We may struggle to “hear” His voice – as Saul did when he heard the Lord Jesus speaking through Stephen, when Saul participated in his murder – but this is how Saul recognized the Lord’s voice when He spoke to him in the vision. We may not appreciate the Lord’s humor and irony – as we are threatened by many wicked and evil things today, and as we see so many around us drown in the darkness of unbelief, ignorance of God, and brutal immorality. But we can be sure that God remains in control – and that He is going to continue to surprise us with the ironic and humorous ways in which He works all things together for the good of His dear people of faith.
Conclusion: We may not always see His humor today. We certainly don’t always appreciate His “surprises” and His ironic humor in our lives today. But the time is coming when we will see Him first at a distance, coming on the clouds with great glory. Then we will recognize Him and cry out – “It’s the Lord!” And then we will see Him as He is, and we will be transformed, and be like Him. And then we will also clearly see the beauty, joy, and wonderment of His glorious humor, His goodness and blessing! The evidence will be before us, plain and clear as day – “CHRIST’S HUMOR IN BUILDING HIS KINGDOM” – and we too will rejoice forever! Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.