Chapter 13 is straight narrative about the beginning of their first missionary journey. It also contains a couple of curious moments which will become quite significant later.
The first thing to be noted is that the mission begins, not with Saul or Barnabas, nor even with the other elders at Antioch, but with the Holy Spirit Himself. We’re not told how God spoke to them – was it merely a feeling they shared? A voice? Particular scriptures one or more of them was reading? We’ll never know, but we do know that they are certain that this came from God directly.
I have found that Christians are quite often likely to make a particular “n00b error” – that is, they tend to get all excited about a particular course of action, then go at it like a bull at a gate, never asking whether God is as excited as they are. Now, God can certainly give you a call via your own areas of excitement (and in fact, I believe He often does). But it is critically important that we acknowledge God’s leadership in everything we do. I’m not saying we should, as some people suggest, “lay out a fleece” – the implication even when Gideon does this is that it’s not really something he should do! – but when we pray about a course of action, we need be listening to God’s voice. We need to be willing to accept God’s instruction however that may come, and in my experience that is really critical when you’re reading His word!
The first place where an incident is recorded (though they have spoken in synagogues all over the island of Cyprus) is in Paphos, where in an action-packed meeting, a Jewish sorcerer is blinded and the Governor (among others) accepts Christ[1].
Next they travel to Perga. At this point John Mark disappears from the group; this is something we shan’t hear the end of, but I’m not going to go into this right now. Psidian Antioch[2] is next, and here we read yet another excellent rendition of the Gospel, this time from Paul. We’re going to hear a few more of these over the next few chapters – Paul quite excelled at this particular form of speech!
In this particular case, knowing that he is speaking to a Jewish audience, Paul does what Stephen did a couple of chapters ago and grounds his sermon thoroughly in Jewish scriptural heritage. He identifies Jesus as the One, the messiah that Jews have been awaiting. You can see why the word “Gospel” is about “Good News”, because Paul is demonstrating that these people are privileged to be around at the time when the promise is fulfilled.
There is some enthusiasm among the Jews here, and a number of them invite the two apostles back the following Sabbath.
And here we get to see the first of many times that Paul and Barnabas would be involved in stirring a city up to riot! That said, this is probably more the fault of their opponents than either of them; though it is important to understand that with the Roman tendency to focus on peace (remember that the thing that the Romans were most proud of was the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace!), this would not have endeared the two to the authorities.
At any rate, Paul makes what would have been (to Jews of the time) a shocking statement – that if the Jews didn’t want to avail themselves of God’s salvation, then it was now the Gentiles’ turn! And of course the Gentiles are quite keen to accept that which the Jews rejected.
I want to pause here and reassure my readers (most of whom are in fact Gentiles!) – God loves you just as much as He loves Jews. He wasn’t saying that if the Jews had accepted Christ first up that you’d be left unreached. Rather, the whole objective was for the Jews to get out there and to preach the Gospel. And to be fair, the vast majority of people in the church at this time are in fact Jewish, so you can argue that they have done their part. But Paul (as can be seen in much of his later writing) is passionate about the Jews, and desperately wants ALL of them to take on the role for which God intended them.
So with all this narrative, is there room for a message to us?
I’d say yes, and there are two big messages here.
1) Once again we see how Paul tailors the Gospel to his audience. He never compromises on any points of the actual message itself, but every time he preaches it he’s looking for the “hot-buttons” of his audience. Here he’s speaking to Jews, and knowing their mania for the scriptures, he works with what they already know.
The general principle we can extract from this is to think about our conversations with non-Christians in terms of “What do they already know?”. Once we are aware of that, once we know what that person really feels they need, it’s a good idea to intentionally target that need. Everyone needs the salvation that Christ offers, but that doesn’t mean we’re all aware of our need. Many are not. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t preach the Gospel to them; we simply need to be listening for “hooks” where the felt need might connect with the real need. Paul was a master of this, and if we want to learn how it’s done, a study of Paul’s sermons could be a great place to start.
2) Hidden in here, almost invisible, are verses 47 – 49. The message of this passage is Earth-shattering – God cares about you even though you are not a Jew!
Now, you’re probably thinking “I know that, my name isn’t Yitzhak or Miriam!”
Sure. But let’s dig beneath that. The real point here is that God cares beyond those who are traditionally His people!
In other words, those people you think are unreachable? Maybe homosexuals, political radicals, political conservatives, atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Mormons, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses? Maybe, ironically, Jews? God loves them. All of them. To Him, they are worth saving. This message is for them as much as it’s for you and me.
You probably know that, intellectually. But do you really know it? How much effort have you made in the past week to share the Gospel with someone from your unreachable background? I know, it’s hard – but have you TRIED?
I can say that I haven’t, to my shame. And that’s a tragedy, because I’m sure some people I have met were people I could have shared God’s love with.
This is hard to write. But I have to say this – to God, in the presence of my readers – Lord, I’m so sorry. Please don’t allow my inaction to affect someone else’s eternal destiny.
More than that, Lord, let my repentance have physical form in my actions. Help me to see where I can rectify this grievous flaw.
[1] Worth noting that right here, with no fanfare, Saul suddenly starts being called Paul, and we never really hear from Saul again. Apparently everyone is okay with this.
[2] This is not to be confused with the Antioch from which they came. This is the Hellenistic world. Alexander the Great has been and gone, and left behind him dozens of cities named after him (Alexandria, in various forms) and his father Phillip (Phillipi). Not to be outdone, his successors went on similar city-founding binges, and one of those was Antiochus Epiphanes, source of all the “Antioch”s. He was very much not liked by the Jews of Jerusalem – but that particular story is for another time!
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Just a little note - this is post number 50 on Johno's Commentary. I'd just like to thank you all for helping me to get back into the habit of reading my Bible every day, and for giving me the opportunity to learn more by teaching you!
- Johno
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