Why Ananias?

Reference:      Acts 9:10--16

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. 

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. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” 

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the nations and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” 

Acts 22:12

“A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there.”

The story that emerges:

My question, “Why Ananias?” takes us behind the scenes to find out about this man whom God chose to be His messenger to the stricken Paul. What do these references show about the spiritual character of this man? What reasons can we discern for God choosing him for this unique role?

From the texts quoted above we learn several things about Ananias.  1. He lived in Damascus. 2. He was a highly respected disciple.  3. He knew of Paul and the intentions of Paul’s visit. 4. He had a vision of God when he received these instructions. 5. His message to Paul would be the first revelation of God’s mission for his life. 6. The Lord had already given his name to Paul as the one God would send. 

To address the man and his role, we should first recall the events of Paul’s arrival in Damascus and what preceded the visit of Ananias. When Paul was blinded by his vision of the Lord, the instructions he received were few but specific. “Go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:6). His companions then took him to the street called Straight, to the rooming house owned by a man named Judas. There for three days he ate nothing, sat in his darkness, and waited.

Before Ananias arrived, in his contemplation Paul could reach five indisputable conclusions: 1. Jesus had in fact been resurrected from the grave. 2. This Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. 3. Jesus knew Paul and his violent persecution of His followers. 4. Absent the Lord’s condemnation, Paul knew he had  the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. 5. Finally, in a few days the Lord would bring his specific calling. 

This was the holy drama into which God called Ananias. It had the undeniable marks of sovereign orchestration, attested by the least expected and most unpredicted turn of events. The intransigent opponent of Christ, his hostility toward His followers whom he dragged into prisons and forced to deny their faith – this man God brought to his knees from abject weakness into beams of light.  Only God could have set these events in action, only God could change the heart of Paul.

To this man God sent Ananias to lay his hands on Paul, to declare forgiveness, to heal his blindness, to baptize, and to lay before him the assignment from Jesus. The requirements for this messenger now become clear:

* The man sent could be no new disciple; there must be no possibility of intimidation by the presence of Paul, even a repentant Paul.

* He would need to have evidence of a faith that was deeply informed and matured.

* He would need the unquestioned respect of the believers to whom he would later introduce Paul. 

* He must have demonstrated the unswerving trust and willingness that would enable him to fulfill this role. 

Such was the spiritual character of Ananias. 

I was eager to make acquaintance with Ananias and sit beside him on my bench in heaven.  When he sat down, I observed a respectful silence. This was, after all, the man who experienced proximity with the Almighty and represented Him to Paul. After a while I gave him an opening which I hoped he would take. “Ananias, sir, Luke tells the tale of Paul in Damascus once and Paul relates it twice. Clearly the readers are directed to Paul and his commission to lead the church to all the nations. In each of these recountings, your part is essential though briefly stated.”

He didn’t pick up as I had hoped, so I gave it another try, this time being pretty explicit. “What was it like to go to Judas’ house, up to his room, and then tell this blinded man what God had told you?”

My question took him back to the time and place that were holy ground. His reply, as I expected, was measured, thoughtful, and subdued. He answered with these few observations.

“Never have I seen a man so humbled, humiliated, and broken. Surely a reflection of the pride that was shattered. But also never a man so astounded by mercy. He knew the depth of the darkness of his sin, but as he later wrote, he knew all was outweighed by “the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God.”