THE SEND: Luke & ActsSample

Who’s the least likely person in your life to accept the Gospel?

I think Saul would top Ananias’s list. And I think Philip would never have expected a non-Jew like the Ethiopian eunuch he met to start following Jesus, much less the crowds of Samaritans that believed in the Good News.

In Acts 8, Philip is forced to flee Jerusalem because of persecution. And he does what Jesus and the apostles modeled to him - he preaches the gospel. People are healed, demons are cast out, and there is great joy (Acts 8:6-8). But did you notice that this is the first time that the Gospel is shared outside of Jerusalem? Jesus said that the disciples would be witnesses “in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” (Acts 1:8), and in these chapters we see Philip doing what Jesus said.

You may know already that at this time Jews hated Samaritans and Samaritans hated Jews. Jews thought that the Samaritans were unclean heretics who didn’t belong among God’s people. Similarly, the Ethiopian eunuch was a foreigner to Philip, and he could not have taken part in temple worship (Deuteronomy 23:1). But I am provoked by Philip’s example. For Philip, Jesus’ command spoke louder than any racial or theological differences.

What about Saul? Agreeing with Stephen’s murder in Acts 8:1, eager to kill followers of Jesus in Acts 9:1, and even asking for permission to imprison Christians in Acts 9:2, who would have expected Saul to become God’s “chosen instrument” (Acts 9:15)? But when Saul the persecutor has a vision of the one he’s been persecuting, everything changes. He is speechless. He becomes physically blind. And he doesn’t eat or drink (Acts 9:8-9).

Now it’s entirely possible that Jesus could have just appeared to Saul in another vision. But I find it fascinating that Jesus chose instead to work through Ananias to heal and commission Saul. I wonder how Ananias felt when he walked to the house Saul was staying in. And I wonder how he felt when he walked home. He had prayed for Saul, watched him receive the Holy Spirit, saw his sight restored, baptized him, and then watched him immediately preaching the Gospel (Acts 9:17-20). There’s nothing so rewarding as a life of obedience.

There’s one last detail that really moved me as I read these stories. I’m convinced that God prepares the unlikely for the Gospel. The eunuch just ‘happened’ to be reading from Isaiah 53 (one of the most significant Old Testament passages about Jesus) on the day that Philip met him. And look at how Saul is prepared before Ananias meets him. It took courage for both men, but both Philip and Ananias trusted that God was working in the lives of unlikely people, preparing them to respond to the Gospel.

You’ll see as you read Acts that there are no guarantees people will respond to the Gospel—many don’t. But the apostles kept preaching, convinced that God was always working behind the scenes, preparing hearts before the message was ever shared.

Who’s the least likely person in your life to accept the Gospel? Do you believe that God is working in their lives?