UNOH

Grace

To learn how to pray.

Readings

• Acts 9:1-9
• Acts 9:10-19a
• Acts 9:19b-31
• Acts 9:32-43

Reading deeper…

Jim Reiher, The Book of Acts: A Social Justice Commentary, Chapter 9.

Devotion 1

Wait: Take time to sit in silence together, allowing space for God’s voice to be heard.

Read: Acts 9:1-9

Reflection:

What strikes you in this text?

Paul’s transition from persecutor to apostle must be understood in light of the political experience of Judeans under Roman rule… He probably did not oppose the Judeans believers in Jesus because they had abandoned the Torah (there is no evidence that they had), or because they had initiated common meals with non-Judeans (those were common enough among Judeans in the Diaspora). What alarmed Paul was that some Judeans had begun to proclaim publicly that a man crucified by Rome was in fact God’s chosen king, who would soon return to rule the peoples. That would inevitably have sounded subversive in Roman ears. And Paul could reasonably expect that such a message would bring repercussions against vulnerable Judean communities throughout the Empire…

What caused the change in Paul’s direction was his realization that God had raised the crucified Jesus (Gal 1:11, 15-16)… If God had in fact vindicated Jesus as the one who would “rise to rule the nations” (Rom 15:12, Isa 11:10), then God’s redemption and vindication of Israel against an ungodly empire would soon and inevitably follow.1

Ask:

• How does Jesus’ resurrection change the way you relate to the powers that be?
• How might we live out Jesus’ resurrection this week?

Share:

• Communion

Pray:

• Share in a time of prayer
• The Lord’s Prayer

 1. Neil Elliott, “The Apostle Paul and Empire,” in In the Shadow of Empire: Reclaiming the Bible as a History of Faithful Resistance, ed. Richard A. Horsley. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008. Kindle loc. 1349.

Devotion 2

Take time to sit in silence, aware of the presence of God’s Spirit

Read: Acts 9:10-19a

Listen: Something Like Scales, by Tom Wuest

Ask:

• In what ways can we be blind?
• In what ways have you experienced others helping you to “see”?

Share: Communion

Pray:

• Pray for ourselves and others—that we might see through God’s eyes
• End with the Lord’s prayer

Devotion 3

Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of thanksgiving together, aware of God’s loving kindness toward us.

Read: Acts 9:19b-31

Ask:

• How do you see God’s Spirit active in this story?
• How might this story shape the way we live this week?

Share: Communion

Pray:

• Share in a time of prayer
• End with the Lord’s prayer

Devotion 4

Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of repentance together, aware of our inadequacy and God’s grace.

Read: Acts 9:32-43

Where do you hear God’s voice in this story?

The smell in a tanner’s home in the first century would be offensive. Tanners dealt with dead animals, skinned them, cured them, and worked with them. The reason Simon the Tanner was living “by the sea” would have been because the rest of the town of Joppa did not want to live near him. He was not the richest man in the town with the best sea view! He was the rejected man of the town, who had a dirty smelly job that also made him ceremonially unclean to good Jews.2

Ask:

• How might we spend time with those on the margins this week?

Share: Communion

Pray:

• Share in a time of prayer
• End with the Lord’s prayer

2. Jim Reiher, The Book of Acts: A Social Justice Commentary. Dandenong: UNOH, 2014. 99