Meditation for 8 September 2010
From The Rev. Peter A. Munson
Acts 14:19-28
19 But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. Then they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city. The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.
21 After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, then on to Iconium and Antioch. 22There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, ‘It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.’ 23And after they had appointed elders for them in each church, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.
24 Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had completed. 27When they arrived, they called the church together and related all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. 28And they stayed there with the disciples for some time.
Keeping On for the Kingdom
As we pick up the story in Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas are on their first missionary journey to Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). They are bringing the gospel (the good news) of Jesus to the people they meet, and they are doing that primarily by teaching in the synagogue of each town. As you might imagine, they got a mixed reaction. Some became disciples, while others reacted with hostility. They didn’t seem to worry too much about the negative reactions. They were on a mission from God. (See Acts 13:2, where the worshiping and fasting community in Antioch, Syria heard the Holy Spirit say, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul [Paul] for the work to which I have called them.”)
They were on a mission, but still – don’t verses 19 and 20 make you stop and say, “Say what?” Luke, the author of Acts, writes in a very low key and matter-of-fact way. “Then they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city. The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.”
They stoned Paul to the point that they thought he was dead. Then he got up, went back into the city where they had stoned him, and the next day he walked on to the next town. After that, Paul and Barnabas retraced their steps to two cities where they had been a little earlier, to check up on the new believers and appoint elders to be the leaders in each new church (verses 21-23) And they said to them, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.” (verse 22)
What a witness! I imagine that as Paul and Barnabas said this, they could still see the bruises all over Paul’s body. “Paul, what happened to you?” He replies, “I was stoned in Lystra.”
While many in our day look forward to the next time that they can get stoned, Paul was being stoned with rocks – for telling others about Jesus. And after it happened, he got up and kept proclaiming Jesus, even returning to the city where he had almost been killed.
If we ask no other question upon reading this story, it seems we must ask this one: How does my faith stack up to the faith of Paul? If I am honest, I must say that I am just a child in the faith, compared to Paul. And yet, I am also inspired by Paul’s faith. And I know that God calls you and me, also, to spread the good news of Christ, to proclaim God’s grace, to be the light of the world, and to live and love in such a way that we help usher in the kingdom of God.
We have times when we get discouraged or feel overwhelmed with the challenges that come our way. We have times when we look at all the bad things that happen in the world and we might be tempted to say, with the writer of Ecclesiastes, “all is vanity and a chasing after wind.” But then we are brought back to our senses by the Holy Spirit, who points to the life of Jesus, to the life of Paul, and to the life of many other people we have known in our own lifetime, and says, “Look how they remained faithful, no matter what happened to them. You have fallen, but get up, and keep on going. Start again – follow Christ, proclaim God’s love and grace, love your neighbor, forgive your enemies, speak the truth. These are the things that matter. Start again, and keep going.”
Paul was stoned by his enemies and thought to be dead. He got up, and kept on proclaiming the love of God and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And when he and Barnabas returned to Antioch, they called the church together and told them all that God had done with them, and how God had opened up a door of faith for the Gentiles (verse 27).
And then they had to go to Jerusalem to fight it out in a church council about what this new development meant, that Gentiles were now following Jesus. And it wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t always fun, but they kept on going, because they had come to know the One who brings new life. They had found the “pearl of great price”, and this changed everything.