Ananias - Acts 9:7-26

Saul’s humble question of the Savior demonstrated his pliable heart and his sensitivity to God’s will, and Jesus answered, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” The Savior doesn’t overwhelm Saul with too much information at this point, he gives him time to process his new world and prepare for it. Let’s remember that Saul is not alone on this trip, he has a group of other men with him, presumably other devout Jews. The group could have leaned in two different opinions, first they could have been other pious Jewish leaders who were accompanying Saul to Damascus to return the Christians to the correct way. It’s also possible that those who were with Saul were his own students and those who shared his devotion to God, but were also misdirected.

While Saul and Jesus were speaking, what the other men experienced is clarified by the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. During the appearance, “they who were journeying with him saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him who spake to him.” Saul was obviously the group’s leader and was probably highly respected among them, and to watch your respected leader fall to the ground, combined with a supernatural light appearing in front of him, then it would be a vey terrifying event. I’m not sure if we are going to find out what happened to them, if they join Saul in conversion or not, but this must have been an incredibly powerful experience for them.
After Jesus departs, “Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man… and he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.” This is reminiscent of Alma the younger’s three day coma. The IM comments, “Saul’s three days of blindness following his vision can represent his spiritual blindness prior to learning the truth about Jesus Christ; now he had to set aside his past and look to the future, trusting in the Lord and His earthly ministers for guidance.” Saul was kind of right back at square one with his spirituality, and while he’s used to being perceived as a higher authority, he now has to turn to others, maybe even those he doesn’t trust or care for, to learn from the beginning. But that’s not necessarily true, he does have his decades of Old Testament learning to act as a base, because he knows that the law of Moses is true. He just needs to learn the next level of the truth. And this is an excellent example of how sometimes it is the learned who are harder to convince of the truth, because they are so invested in their own knowledge.
The IM continues quoting Elder Bruce R. McConkie as comparing Saul to Alma the Younger, saying, “Alma remained in a trance for two days and two nights, during which time he received a marvelous spiritual manifestation and regeneration, was born again, and heard the voice of the Lord. Saul, similarly, during his three sightless days commenced the character transformation which in due course would change the history of Christianity. What anguish of soul he must have felt, what fires of conscience, what godly sorrow for sin, as he humbled himself preparatory to submitting to the direction of Ananias.”
While Saul was recovering in Damascus, “there was a certain disciples at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.” This man was so in tune to the Savior’s voice that he knew Him when he called. The Savior commands Ananias to go to a man’s house named Judas and ask for Saul of Tarsus and put his hands on Saul’s head “that he might receive his sight.”
Ananias is a little perplexed because he’s heard of Saul of Tarsus, and “how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem.” Ananias apparently already knows, too, that Saul has authority to arrest any of Christ’s disciples in Damascus as well. I wonder, if even just for a moment, Ananias thought that maybe this was a trap. I know that thought would have crossed my mind. Ananias had to really decide that if he was going to put himself into a seemingly crazy amount of danger in order to be obedient trusting that God would either keep him safe or allow him to become a martyr and receive him into His kingdom.
I would imagine that Ananias also had his own “Jonah” moment, where he was commanded to serve his enemy and he had to decide if he could forgive enough to help someone who had wronged him and his people. The IM says, “Ananias was likely the leader of the Church in Damascus, and he may have been one whom Saul had targeted for arrest. This would explain Ananias’s initial reluctance to seek out Saul after the Lord commanded him to do so. Nevertheless, Ananias was obedient to the Lord, and he helped place Saul, a future Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the path of faith and forgiveness.”
To Ananias’s question of “really, you want me to help that guy?” The Lord answers that yes, he does want him to help Saul “for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” I think that Ananias could understand the constant threat of violence because of his belief in Christ, and maybe he thought, “if he will suffer for Christ, well then, who am I to stop that privilege.” And maybe Jesus threw that part in there to help Ananias understand just how deep Saul’s commitment to the Savior would be, with his help.
Ananias was obedient, went and found Saul and “putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” Immediately “he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.” Saul stayed with the disciples in Damascus for several days “and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.” Not surprisingly, the people he preached to were skeptical, asking, “is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?”
Their hesitation to flock to him as a newly converted preacher of Christ, is understandable, but that wasn’t the cause of his lack of acceptance among the religious in Damascus. In fact, the reason that Saul was rejected for preaching Christ in Damascus is because he “confounded the Jews which dwelt in Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.” With his enemies watching the “gates day and night to kill him,” the other disciples in the city “took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.” Saul was safe now but effectively chased out of town for his zeal for the Savior.