Gobsmacked

Have you ever been so surprised by something that you had to completely reconsider what you thought you knew? Paul had that experience on the road to Damascus. If that makes no sense to you, read my sermon. It may well have happened to you, too!

What comes to mind when I say the name “Saint Paul”? You might think of a couple of things. You might think of Paul as the great missionary to the gentiles – all those people in the Roman Empire who were not Jews – and so, was one of the founders of the Christian church. You see that represented on the picture of Paul by his holding the Church in one hand. Or you might think of Paul as a letter writer. After all, his letters comprise almost half of the New Testament. One of them, the letter to the Romans, influenced Martin Luther so much that he started what became known as the Protestant Reformation. In Paul’s picture, the church in his hand rests on the Bible. You might even recall that Paul wasn’t much to look at. We have found mosaics from the first century that picture Paul. They show him as short and balding with eyes that are a little bit googly, just like he looks in the picture. There is even evidence that he might have stuttered when he preached. Missionary to the Gentiles; letter writer; very ordinary looking. That’s how we usually think about Paul. But few people think of Paul as a man who struggled with his faith. After all, in his New Testament letters, he seems to have everything worked out: who Jesus was, what the resurrection means, and how we are saved. But Paul didn’t come by those insights easily. In fact, it took a dramatic event for him to reevaluate what he thought he knew. He had to be gobsmacked first.

Now, unless you’re from Great Britain, you may not know what “gobsmacked” means. Your mouth is your “gob,” and when you get a real surprised, you “smack” it. (You look a little bit like the boy in the movie Home Alone.) That’s what happens when you’re gobsmacked. Now, little surprises like an unexpected letter don’t gobsmack us. But we are gobsmacked if that letter turns out to be from Publisher’s Clearing House and it says that we just won $7 million! Yeah, that would qualify as a real gobsmack! Paul’s experience of meeting the risen Christ on the road to Damascus was a gobsmack something like that. It quite literally knocked him off his feet! Paul was headed to Damascus to arrest followers of Jesus, and he ended up becoming one of them instead (Acts 9:1-18). That encounter really pulled the rug out from under him! Paul tells us in his own words how it affected him, in his letter to the Galatians (Galatians 1:11-18). After he met the risen Christ, he went to Arabia for some time alone to think things out. It took him three whole years to get his ducks in a row. After all, his faith has been upended and thrown topsy turvy. In the blink of an eye, Paul had to reevaluate everything he thought he knew!

Paul was like lots of people who have a sudden insight and then have to rethink all kinds of things. For example, consider the pastor who had spent his 30 years in ministry preaching that gays are abnormal and perverted – maybe even evil. And then he discovered that his own son was gay. That was a gobsmack! His son was one of the kindest, gentlest people on the face of the earth. Why, he visited nursing homes and sang to the residents who lived there. He was a faithful church member, and had always been one. He even carried plastic bags in his car that were filled with bars of soap, little bottles of shampoo, energy bars, and even a $10 bill in case he met someone who was homeless and needy. That pastor had to completely reevaluate his opinion of gays; because he realized that what he thought he knew was all wrong. That’s what can happen after you’ve been gobsmacked.

Now, I don’t know exactly what Paul did while he was in Arabia. What I do know is that he did a whole lot of thinking. Paul was a very good Jew; and he was a very educated one. Paul was convinced that following the Law was the only way to salvation. He was also convinced that this Jesus fellow who had healed on the Sabbath and condemned Paul’s fellow Pharisees was the worst kind of a scoundrel. Paul had to rethink all of that. He had to wrestle with questions like “What does God want from us?” “How are we acceptable to God if not by following the Law?” and “How does Jesus fit into our lives?” And through it all, Paul’s thinking changed, and he grew in his faith. Even though I don’t know all the details, I can guarantee that it was not a comfortable process. I saw a cartoon recently that hits the nail on the head. A character labelled “Growth” is sitting on one side of the table while another character labelled “Comfort” is sitting on the other. “This relationship,” says Growth, “is just not going to work out.” There’s a lot of truth to that. Growth and comfort rarely go hand in hand. Whenever we are gobsmacked by a reality that we haven’t recognized before, we have two options. We can ignore it, and stay in our comfort zone. But if we want to grow, we can’t stay fat and happy; it just doesn’t work that way. We have to step out of our comfort zone and do some hard thinking.

Maybe you’ve heard the story of the mule who simply couldn’t be trained. His owner had tried everything, and that mule was dumber than a box of rocks! Then one day, his owner heard of a new trainer in the area who guaranteed success with any animal. The mule’s owner packed him up and took him to the new trainer. “Are you positive that you want me to work with him?” the trainer asked. “Oh, yes,” the owner replied, “Whatever it takes. Go right ahead.” “OK,” said the trainer; and he picked up a length of 2x4 and hit the mule square between the eyes. “Wait a minute!” roared the mule’s owner. “I want you to train him, not kill him!” The trainer replied, “I can’t do anything with him until I get his attention.” Do we need for God to get our attention? I’m pretty sure that all of us – me included – need to be gobsmacked about something. Every one of us needs to be pulled out of our comfort zone so that the Spirit can help us to grow in our faith. Now, what that looks like is different for each one of us. And most of us won’t be struck blind by the spirit of Jesus while we are driving over to the Pearson House for lunch. (At least, I hope we won’t be!) But we may well experience a sudden insight that sends us reeling! If you do, don’t worry. It just might be God giving you a gobsmack. And that’s not something to be afraid of; it’s something to celebrate! After all, Paul became the great missionary to the gentiles. Imagine what God might do with you!