Stories · Acts 9:1–25 · About 15 minutes to read aloud
Saul, the Light, and the Basket
Part 1 · Saul on a mission
Long ago, a young man named Saul lived in Jerusalem. He had grown up in Tarsus, a busy city far to the north, and then he came to Jerusalem to study God’s law with Gamaliel, the most respected teacher of his day. Saul memorized huge parts of the Scriptures. He kept every rule he was taught, more carefully than almost anyone his age.
Saul was also sure that the followers of Jesus were wrong. They said Jesus had risen from the dead and was the Lord, and they called their new life “the Way.” Not long before, an angry crowd had killed a follower of Jesus named Stephen, and Saul agreed with what they did. After that, Saul went from house to house and put the followers of Jesus in prison. Many of them ran away to other cities.
Some of the believers had gone north to the city of Damascus. Saul wasn’t going to let them get away. He went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogues in Damascus. The letters said that if Saul found anyone there who belonged to the Way, men or women, he could bring them back to Jerusalem as prisoners.
Part 2 · A light brighter than the sun
Saul gathered some men to travel with him, and they set out on the long road north. Damascus was about a week’s walk away, through rocky hills and dry fields.
At last, near noon one day, they could see Damascus ahead, green with gardens and orchards. Then suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around Saul. It was the middle of the day, when the sun is brightest, and this light was even brighter than the sun. Saul fell to the ground.
Then Saul heard a voice speaking to him in his own language.
Saul didn’t know who was speaking, but he knew it had to be Someone very great.
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice, but they didn’t see anyone.
Saul got up from the ground and opened his eyes, but he couldn’t see a thing. So his friends took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. Saul had come to Damascus to drag people away as prisoners. Now he walked through the city gate holding someone’s hand, like a little child.
Part 3 · Three dark days
They took Saul to the house of a man named Judas, on a long road called Straight Street. For three days Saul couldn’t see, and he didn’t eat or drink anything. He prayed.
Part 4 · Ananias argues with the Lord
Across the city lived a follower of Jesus named Ananias. Everyone knew him as a good and godly man. One day the Lord spoke to him in a vision.
The Lord told Ananias that Saul had seen him in a vision, coming to put his hands on him so he could see again.
Ananias could hardly believe his ears. He knew exactly who Saul was.
The Lord also said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”
So Ananias went. He picked up his walking stick and walked down Straight Street, past the market stalls, all the way to the house of Judas.
He went inside, and there was Saul. Ananias put his hands on him. The very first word he said was “Brother.”
At that very moment, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again! The first face he saw was the face of a follower of Jesus, smiling at him.
Saul got up and was baptized. Then he ate some food, and his strength came back. He stayed with the followers of Jesus in Damascus for some days.
Part 5 · “Jesus is the Son of God!”
Saul didn’t wait. Right away he went into the synagogues of Damascus, the same places where he had planned to hunt for believers, and he began to tell everyone about Jesus.
Saul grew stronger and stronger. He knew the Scriptures so well that he could show from them, again and again, that Jesus is the Christ, the One God chose and sent to carry out His plan. Nobody could argue with him. Many people believed in Jesus, and soon Saul even had disciples of his own.
Part 6 · Watching the gates
Many days went by. Some of the leaders in Damascus got so angry that they made a plan to kill Saul. Even the governor of the city sent men to catch him. Day and night they watched the city gates, so Saul couldn’t get out. But Saul found out about their plan.
Damascus had a thick, tall wall all the way around it, and some houses were built right into the wall, with windows looking out over the outside. Saul’s disciples had an idea.
Part 7 · Down the wall in a basket
One dark night, they brought Saul to the window. Saul climbed into the basket and folded himself up, knees to his chin. His friends tied ropes to it and lifted it out through the window.
Slowly and quietly, hand over hand, they let the basket down the outside of the wall. The ropes creaked. The basket swayed and bumped against the stones. Down, down, down it went in the dark.
At last the basket touched the ground. Saul climbed out, waved up at his friends, and slipped away into the night.
Next time
Saul headed for Jerusalem to meet the other disciples. But the believers there still remembered the old Saul, and they were all afraid of him. Who would be brave enough to stand beside him?
Key verse
“This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.”Acts 9:15 · BSB
Short version to memorize: “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name.” (Acts 9:15)
Things to remember
1. When Saul hurt Jesus’s people, he was hurting Jesus
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”Acts 9:4 · BSB
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.”1 Corinthians 12:27 · BSB
When your sister gives your hand a high five, she is giving you a high five. When she pinches your arm, she is pinching you. Your hand and your arm aren’t separate people. They’re part of you. Jesus is like the head, up in heaven, and everyone who believes in Him is part of His body here on earth. That’s why He said “Me.” When someone is unkind to a believer, Jesus feels it. And when we are kind to a believer, we are being kind to Jesus too.
2. God turned off Saul’s eyes so Saul could see Him
“I am sending you to them to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light.”Acts 26:17–18 · BSB
Imagine you’re watching TV and Mom calls you for dinner. You don’t even hear her. Then she turns off the TV, and suddenly you hear her just fine. Saul was so busy with everything he knew and everything he was planning that he couldn’t hear Jesus. So for three days God turned everything off. In the dark, Saul finally listened, and he saw who Jesus really is. Then Jesus sent him out to open other people’s eyes. The man who couldn’t see became the one who helped others see.
3. Jesus chose Saul to be a container for Himself
“This man is My chosen instrument.”Acts 9:15 · BSB
“Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.”2 Corinthians 4:7 · BSB
A pitcher in our kitchen is made to hold lemonade. We fill it up, and then we pour from it into everyone’s cups. Jesus didn’t only want to use Saul. He wanted to fill Saul with Himself, and then pour Himself out through Saul to people all over the world.
And look who Jesus chose: His worst enemy. Paul later wrote that this was on purpose, so that everyone would know there is no one Jesus can’t save (1 Timothy 1:15-16). The best doctors at a children’s hospital take the hardest cases. Jesus took the hardest case first.
4. Jesus brings us into His family through each other
“Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”Acts 9:17 · BSB
Jesus could have done everything Himself. But He sent Ananias, an ordinary believer who was scared, to put his hands on Saul and welcome him. When a new baby is born, the family is right there to hold it. Nobody leaves a baby alone. In the same way, Jesus wants every new believer to be held and welcomed by His people. We need each other.
5. God’s care sometimes comes in a basket
“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”2 Corinthians 11:30 · BSB
When you fall asleep in the car on the way home, Dad carries you into the house. You don’t look strong or grown-up, all floppy in his arms, but you are safe. Saul left Damascus folded up in a basket in the dark, with his friends holding the ropes. It didn’t look impressive, but God was taking care of him through his friends. Later Saul was glad about it, because it showed that he was weak and God was strong. We don’t have to look impressive for God to take care of us.
Go deeper
When Saul started preaching, he said two things about Jesus. First, “He is the Son of God” (9:20). Second, He “is the Christ” (9:22).
“Son of God” tells us who Jesus is. He is God Himself, who came and became a real man. “Christ” tells us what Jesus does. The word means “the anointed One,” the One God chose and sent to carry out His plan: to die for us, rise again, and give us His life.
Your dad is your dad. That’s who he is to you, and nothing changes that. He also goes to work and has a job to do. Jesus is like that too, but infinitely more. Peter said both things about Jesus (Matthew 16:16). The Gospel of John was written so we would believe both (John 20:31).
Ask: Why do you think people who were fine with Jesus being a good man got so angry when Saul said He is the Son of God?
Talk about it
- What was Saul planning to do when he got to Damascus?
- Saul had never even met Jesus. So why did Jesus say, “Why do you persecute Me?”
- What do you think Saul thought about during those three dark days?
- Ananias argued with the Lord. What was he worried about, and what made him go anyway?
- What was the very first word Ananias said to Saul? Why do you think that word mattered so much?
- What’s the difference between a hammer and a cup? Which one did Jesus say Saul was?
- How do you think Saul felt in the basket going down the wall? Why would he want to “boast” about that later?
- Is there someone you think could never believe in Jesus? What does Saul’s story tell us about that person?
Do something
- Lead me by the hand (5 minutes). Take turns closing your eyes tight while someone else leads you by the hand from one room to another. Talk about it afterwards. How did it feel to need someone’s hand? Saul, the most determined man on the road, had to be led like that.
- Hammer and cup. Put a hammer and an empty cup on the table. Ask which one is like Saul. Then fill the cup from a pitcher and pour it into everyone’s cups.
- Basket rescue. Tie a string to a small basket, put a toy “Saul” inside, and lower him from the stair landing or the top bunk. (Toys only!) Then draw your own comic panel of the basket going down the wall, with a thought bubble for the owl.
Pray
Lord Jesus, thank You that You came to Saul when he was against You, and You changed him. Thank You that we are part of You, and that You put us together with Your people. Fill us with Yourself like a cup. And please save the people we think could never believe in You. Amen.