Blind, But Now I See
Experiencing Resurrection: Part 6
March 17, 2026
Ananias went to the house. He placed his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see. He got up and was baptized. After eating, his strength returned.
~ Acts 9:17-19
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To my sisters and brothers who now share in Christ’s suffering and joy: I write to you concerning the hope of resurrection, a hope rooted in the traditions of our people and written on the pages of my own life.
I am a child of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin. A Pharisee, blameless according to the law. Like many of my people, I built my life on the conviction that God is righteous and just. Without resurrection, how can that be true? There must be hope for all who have suffered injustice.
I did not persecute the followers of Jesus for believing in resurrection. I shared in their hope. But resurrection had not yet come. Their proclamation was premature. One person cannot rise from the dead. Resurrection is a promise for all creation.
Yet on the road to Damascus, a light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” I asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus.”
I had never met him, yet he spoke with authority. I looked up but saw nothing. Darkness. They led me by the hand to Damascus. I sat as though dead. I refused food and drink. The darkness consumed me.
“All I could pray was: ‘Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.’” Everything I thought I knew was undone.
After three days, a man named Ananias came. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord sent me so that you could see again.” It was as though scales fell from my eyes. I was baptized—buried with Christ, raised to walk in new life.
Was this resurrection?
To live anew, here and now?
I went into the wilderness. I prayed. I wrestled with theScriptures. “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone… by his wounds we are healed.” I had been looking for power, but the prophets spoke of suffering.
What if the cross was not his curse, but God’s vindication? What if resurrection had already begun?
I returned and proclaimed that Jesus is the Son of God. Some believed; others plotted against me. I who once came with strength now fled in weakness, lowered in a basket.
Grace broke me and grace remade me.
For years I lived in obscurity. I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted God’s church. Yet my life is a testimony to grace. I died on that road to Damascus. And yet, in Christ, I live.
In Antioch I saw it: Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, one in Christ. This is new creation.
Resurrection is not merely hope for life after death. It is the power by which I now live.
“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
And so, I press on.
