Reading: Acts 13-14, Psalm 125

So imagine you are walking down the road to Damascus, intending to carry out the work of God by laying the smack down on a bunch of these Jesus people who are making such a fuss. Then God shows up. He speaks directly to you. He tells you that you are persecuting him. Persecuting God. Then he says that he is Jesus. Yikes. He blinds you, and then tells you to go listen to a dude named Ananias. You go to this guy, who heals your sight and tells you that you are to be an apostle to the gentiles. What a day. After some adventures involving a basket, a murder plot, and some night time escape escapades, you end up in Antioch with another guy named Barnabas, who everyone seems to trust. So you are hanging out in Antioch, and you have been told you will be the apostle to the gentiles. What do you do?

The start of today’s reading is the start of the second half of the book of Acts, and in many ways the beginning of the church age. Peter’s speech at Pentecost caused a revolution in Jerusalem. Saul, or as he will be called, Paul, will trigger another great revolution throughout the Roman world with his itinerant missionary work. But first, we get this little story of his commissioning by the church in Antioch. This is significant for a couple of reasons. First of all, this commissioning is not done by any of the original twelve apostles. In fact, it is a gathering of an odd bunch, including a personal friend of king Herod! Not exactly what you would call the obvious crowd for God to speak through. The Holy Spirit speaks to a gathering of Christians who are not in Jerusalem and who do not have one of the twelve among them. The promise made through Joel is ongoing: the Spirit is coming on all flesh. Second, Saul of Tarsus, proclaimed by God as the apostle to the gentiles, waits for the confirmation of the elders of the church before carrying on his mission. He did not put himself forward, but waited for the Spirit to speak through the elders of a church while they prayed. It is only when God has revealed to them that Saul and Barnabas are set apart that he takes up the mission predicted for him.

A note about the names Saul and Paul. These are actually the same name, the first the Hebrew and Aramaic name carried by the ancient king of Israel, and the second the Latin transliteration of the same. The distinction is simply one of language, not meaning. Still, Luke does seem to make some use of it by referring to him by his Latin name after he undertakes his mission to the gentiles.

Okay. So once they are set apart for mission, Paul and Barnabas take off. And I mean take off. They embark on a tour of the eastern Roman empire, preaching the gospel wherever they go. Also, doing things like striking manipulative magicians blind, healing crippled men, being mistaken for the gods Zeus and Hermes, and getting stoned to death but somehow surviving. Not a low key beginning for these guys. Paul and Barnabas are not easily defeated. After being stoned, they get up and get on with their business. No big deal.

This will be the pattern for Paul for the rest of Acts. When he suffers setbacks, he just gets right back up and keeps doing what he was set apart to do. He proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. Which in case we have forgotten he tells us again right here using the story of the Scriptures. Jesus was the fulfillment of the Story of the people of God, and for those who repent and believe in his name, all things are made new.

After their roundabout tour of the eastern Mediterranean, Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch, where they were sent from, and give a report to the church. Again, Paul appears to put himself in submission to the community of faith in Jesus. These little behaviors from Paul, who had such a dramatic experience from God, flies in the face of what one might expect such an important character to do. Paul is intelligent, persuasive, determined, but ultimately submitted to the will of God as expressed through his people.