Scripture Daily

Context No. 1763 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 11:25-30: in context

25Barnabas went out to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they were gathered together with the assembly, and taught many people. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. 27Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28One of them named Agabus stood up and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius. 29As any of the disciples had plenty, each determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea; 30which they also did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

The church at Antioch is growing, and Barnabas goes to Tarsus to look for Saul, the former persecutor whom many still feared. He finds him, brings him to Antioch, and for a whole year the two teach the people together; it is there the disciples are first called Christians. When a prophet foretells a coming famine, the disciples, each according to his ability, send relief to the believers in Judea, entrusting it to Barnabas and Saul.

There is a quiet ministry in this passage that is easy to overlook: Barnabas went and found Saul. Saul had been converted, but he was still on the margins, in Tarsus, not yet drawn into the work, a man the church at large still regarded with wariness because of his past. And Barnabas, whose very name means son of encouragement, sought him out, brought him in, and worked alongside him for a year, drawing out his gifts and giving him a place. Much of what Saul, who became Paul, would go on to do began with a Barnabas who believed in him and fetched him from obscurity. This is a ministry worth imitating, the ministry of a Barnabas. It is the work of seeing potential in someone others overlook or distrust, of seeking them out, drawing them in, encouraging their gifts, and giving them a place to serve. Not everyone is a Paul, the one out front; but the church needs its Barnabases, the encouragers who notice the overlooked, believe in the untried, and invest in others without needing the credit. Barnabas did not become as famous as the man he fetched; but without him, there might have been no Paul in Antioch. We can each do something of this: notice the person on the margins whose gifts are going unused, believe in the one others have written off, seek them out and draw them in, encourage rather than compete. The kingdom advances not only through its Pauls but through its Barnabases, who go and find them, and bring them in.

Am I willing to be a Barnabas, noticing the person on the margins whose gifts are unused, seeking them out and drawing them in, encouraging and investing in others without needing the credit, as Barnabas fetched Saul from obscurity and gave him a place to serve?

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