{"id":4592,"date":"2024-06-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-08T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/reading-plan\/june-8\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T15:16:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T20:16:24","slug":"june-8","status":"publish","type":"reading-plan","link":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/reading-plan\/june-8\/","title":{"rendered":"June 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hubannoo Hojii Ergamootaa irraa\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Acts 9:15, Ananias has been sent to Saul. And Ananias says, \u201cI\u2019ve heard what this man has done to those who call upon your name. How can I even go?\u201d And Jesus says, \u201cNo, you must go, for he is a chosen vessel to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And that sort of phrase\u2014of the Lord who chooses a vessel or a servant for himself\u2014is not a new sort of language. It has connections to Isaiah 42:1, where Yahweh says, \u201cBehold, my servant whom I have chosen.\u201d We even find the introduction of \u201cBehold\u201d in Acts 9:11: \u201cBehold, he is a chosen vessel to me.\u201d And so Ananias is, in that sense, led to recognize that there is someone Jesus has chosen for a task that he will now give.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a parallel in binding. Paul is blinded on the road as he heads to Damascus. And the text says that, there he was determined to bind those of the Way and bring them to Jerusalem into prisons, which is sort of like a reversal of Isaiah 42:7, where the Servant is supposed to be leading those who are bound out of prison. In Acts 9, what you have is Paul binding God\u2019s people into prison. It\u2019s a dramatic irony: It\u2019s on that road that he\u2019s confronted and, ironically, he thinks that he is honoring God. But when we read in light of Isaiah 9, he\u2019s actually doing the very opposite of what the servant is supposed to be doing. So even his blindness is an irony in that the task that he\u2019s supposed to be carrying out the mission as Jesus\u2019s servant to open the eyes of the blind. And we see that explicitly stated in Acts 26:16\u201318, where Jesus appears and says, \u201cI have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles\u2014to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.\u201d But in Acts 9, what we see is sort of like the opposite. He is blind. In fact, the text says when he tried to open his eyes, he could see nothing. He\u2019s trying to open his eyes, but he can see nothing. But pretty soon, what\u2019s going to happen is the true servant, meaning Christ, is going to open his eyes, and then he\u2019ll be sent on a mission to open up more eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

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