April 24, 2016
Fifth Sunday of Easter
First Reading: Acts 14:21-27
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042416.cfm
When we finish a difficult project of some kind, it is tempting to put it behind us and never look back. This attitude is reflected in the way we go about many things: short-term mission trips, time-limited projects, or even the constant focus on this quarter’s numbers with no recollection of the past. While most of the time, this approach may be fine or at least neutral, it is very dangerous to think of our relationships with other people in the same way, especially people that we are trying to evangelize, help or mentor.
Revisiting the Mission Trail
In this Sunday’s first reading from the Book of Acts, we find the apostles Paul and Barnabas on the mission trail. They have just finished traveling through Cyprus, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. The whole time they have been preaching the gospel, making Jewish and Gentile converts. Yet they have also experienced their fair share of persecution. They were chased out of Antioch and Paul actually was stoned at Lystra. One would think that after such a tumultuous journey, they would be in a hurry to get home. And if you look at a map of their journey, they could get back to their home base at Syrian Antioch quickly by going through Tarsus, the town where Paul grew up. But they don’t. They dig in with manly courage and decide to retrace their steps. They return from Derbe, the endpoint of their mission, through Lystra, the very place where Paul was stoned! (Acts 14:21) Paul and Barnabas are proof that real evangelization takes bravery and tenacity. They stick to the mission despite the risks, and they are risking their lives.
Tribulations
Paul and Barnabas are no wimps. Neither is the message they bring back to the brand new Christians whom they had just converted. They encourage these new Christians, but they also warn them “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22 RSV). These people had seen the apostles suffer persecution at the hands of the secular and Jewish authorities. For them, to embrace Christ was to embrace a life of suffering, which involved risk and possibly even death. “Tribulations” of persecution were to be expected by every new Christian.
Appointing Elders
In addition to encouraging the new Christians to remain faithful in persecution, the apostles appoint elders (presbyteroi) in each of the new churches. Paul and Barnabas realize that for these little communities to grow and mature as believers, they need leadership and guidance, so these new presbyteroi are given the role of teaching and governing the new Christians. Solid leadership is essential to a healthy community and the apostles know that. As they appoint these elders, “with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord” (Acts 14:23 RSV). Just as Paul and Barnabas had been sent on their mission trip with prayer and fasting (13:2), now they re-engage in prayer and fasting to appoint new leaders. Fasting is a powerful spiritual practice that many of us avoid because of the discomfort it causes, yet as we can see from these episodes, it is a fitting exercise in times of life-transition.
“The Work Which They Had Fulfilled”
From Pisidian Antioch, the apostles trek south to the coastal towns of Perga and Attalia, continuing their public preaching. Eventually, they board a boat for home and sail back to Syrian Antioch. The text mentions “the work which they had fulfilled” (14:26). To me this little phrase has always been powerful. For sometimes, evangelization can seem like an endless, hopeless endeavor—so many people, so few who listen, so little changes. It sometimes feels that our task will never be accomplished and there will always be more work to do, an endless cycle of evangelizing effort without much fruit. Yet here Paul and Barnabas return from their trip successful: they did it, they completed the mission, they achieved its objectives. Now in the eyes of the world, they might look like failures—getting stoned while preaching isn’t what most preachers would consider Sunday-morning success! But in fact, in the eyes of the Lord, they are successful, actually accomplishing what they were sent out to do. In that, they can enjoy some level of satisfaction with their apostolic labor, but that doesn’t make them lazy. Instead, they just get geared up for the next mission trip.
Back Home
Once they get back to Antioch, we can imagine that they rest and recharge, but they also report to the community what happened on their mission trip. They get everybody together and tell them stories about all the things that God did through them out on the mission trail. In particular they point to the “door of faith to the Gentiles” (14:27), a hint that the plan of salvation is expanding further, beyond the borders of the Jewish community, to those who have not known God at all before. The example of Paul and Barnabas offers us a few lessons. First, their tenacity should inspire us. They retraced their steps and went back to the churches they had planted to make sure that they would continue in the faith. Second, their bravery in the face of persecution is a profound example for us. They counted the mission itself as more important than their own comfort, even their own lives, and pursued the project of evangelization against fierce obstacles. Lastly, they go full circle, return to their home community to report back, and allow their supporters to share in their success. Paul and Barnabas don’t leave the new believers to their own devices, but return to strengthen them. We have reason to believe that they stayed in touch via letter (e.g. Galatians was likely written to these communities) and that these communities grew into strong churches. Paul and Barnabas show us that a little Holy Spirit inspired courage, along with a willing heart and a bit of commitment, can break through the toughest hindrances to deliver the Good News.
