Why Something Like Scales?

“…something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes…” ~ Acts 9:18

In Acts 9, we find Saul walking along the road to Damascus with a plan to put a violent stop to the Jesus movement. After a three-day encounter with physical blindness to match his spiritual impairment, Luke describes a poetic, if not stop-in-your-tracks verbiage that “something like scales” fell from Saul’s eyes. I’m immediately intrigued. Why scales? And what are they doing on his eyes?

When I was little, my grandpa Otto loved to take me out in his old metal fishing boat for a peaceful stroll around the small Indiana lake he called home. Upon returning to dock, we would take turns lugging the utility bucket with our small catch of fish up to his old picnic table on the front lawn, and he’d proudly show me how to prepare the fish for our dinner that evening.

After removing some parts I would rather not recall, he would start the skinning process by inserting the knife in just the right place where the fish’s body was most bowed. Then, he would slide the blade ever so delicately underneath the skin and scales down the length of the fish. With his skilled hands, he would successfully skin one side of the bluegill in one clean swipe, leaving a beautiful filet for cooking.

During the cleaning process, I vividly remember just a few stray scales would land on the wood of the picnic table. I would pick one up to investigate the shiny thing in my hand. It was silvery and iridescent—the individual scale so thin and dainty it appeared fragile.

After doing a little research, I learned that scales are far from fragile despite their appearance. In fact, in testing just how tough fish scales are, scientists are working to promote scales as a possible alternative to certain plastics typically used as protective material. In the study, these scientists compared fish scales to various plastics known for their sturdiness and protective factor. Using a steel needle to puncture each kind of plastic and the scales of a common striped bass, the strength of the scales won out.

So it should be no wonder that God used the imagery of scales to describe what was blocking Saul’s eyes from seeing God. The weight of the world is thick on our eyes and soul. We are permeated with ideas that blind us from the spiritual truths that can set us free. And even when we do see them, we often return to our bent that is not quite set on truth, habitually clinging to what is seen rather than what is unseen.

Let me put it this way: even though my grandpa may have mastered the art of skinning a fish, for the rest of us, removing the scales isn’t as easy as it looks. When anger, impatience, or shame sets in, something else is usually going on—a (spiritual) sight problem.

But after Saul meets Jesus for the very first time, Saul’s spiritual blindness is made abundantly clear. In God’s timing, his blinders are so removed that the Bible uses imagery that stops you in your tracks, just as Saul was stopped in his. Those stubborn scales are removed, and the unbelieving, hate crime-spewing Saul becomes the Jesus-following disciple Paul. He’s a new man whose eyes have been opened to the truth about Jesus—the truth about a God who loves him enough to pursue him.

It’s easy for us to think that this dramatic story happened overnight. That one day, Saul was vastly misunderstanding the plans of God and killing Christians in his wake; the next, he was writing chapters of Scripture.

But that’s the short end of the story: Saul meets Jesus, scales are removed.

Never mind the stumbling blind for three days. The falling to his knees. The humility of relying on friends. The vision given to a stranger. The reluctant stranger praying. The awkwardness of taking on new sight and a new identity. The underlying truth is that allowing scales to fall from our eyes is a process. And we are an active participant. Forever changed, yet always transforming. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

In Acts 18, we find Paul being instructed and reminded by the Lord, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you…” (v. 9-10). Even Paul, who has been preaching the gospel powerfully and helping entire communities come to know Jesus needs reminders and encouragement along the way.

Likewise, in Philippians 4, Paul reminds us our spiritual journey is a process when he says, ”I have learned what it means to be content” (v. 12, emphasis added). Paul’s transformation did not start and end in a day. It was not automatic. He learned. He grew with the Spirit’s help. And this admittance was written some 28 years after he met Jesus for the first time on the road to Damascus.

In my life, too, there is a gradual, if not daily, descaling that’s taking place. Even after Paul regains his physical sight, his (and my) experience indicates that gaining spiritual sight is continual—like choosing to put my contacts in every morning. Shedding the scales from my limited perspective, biased outlook, and flawed faith is a regular—we’re talking daily or sometimes several times a day—activity.

In this blog, I hope to share some of my light-shedding stories, no matter how much darkness, confusion, and chaos it took to get there. Join me on this journey of allowing the scales to be removed from our everyday lives as we open our hearts, minds, and eyes to more places where God exists.

Find God in a good movie! Visit the Disney Gospels section of the blog.