Acts 13:1-12 “Filling Up for the Trip”

Last year at this time my wife and I were on a ship on the Mediterranean Sea heading first to the island of Mykonos, and then on to Crete, to the port city of Heraklion. I have always loved taking ships on the Mediterranean! It is not like taking the ferry across the English Channel. The waters are warm and light blue. The dolphins come to swim with the ships. People are drinking Metaxa and eating tiropita. The blue and white Greek flag flies behind with its Christian Cross in the canton. Today we join Paul and Barnabas on their mission cruise across the Mediterranean Sea to the island of Cyprus (also a Greek Island). We should all be a little envious of Paul and Barnabas. This is their summer cruise away from home.

They are commissioned to take the Word of God to Cyprus, but this is also where Barnabas is from, so we see that it is a homecoming too. They are commissioned at the church in Antioch, where many believers have come to know Christ. In fact, Antioch is where Christians are first called Chrisstians. Some people will say that Antioch is therefore really the very first church as we know it today. (Acts 11:25-26)

Paul and Barnabas have been there about one year when they hear the call from the Holy Spirit to move on to a new mission field on the Island of Cypress. So they leave the church in Antioch in the hands of Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen, who first lay hands on Paul and Barnabas in an act of commissioning. They pray over them and set them on a ship.

As we read this, however, we might have noticed that the text does not say that they were prepared for the journey by the church leaders but rather by the “Holy Spirit.” Verse 4 says that they were sent out by the Spirit. In verse 9 we read that Paul was actually filled by the Holy Spirit. I like to make sure that I put on a couple of pounds before a journey. I always burn off the calories during travel. Naturally I fill up to have the extra fat to burn when the time comes. Yet, here we experience a different kind of filling up. Here we see a spiritual fattening up–if you will. Saint Paul is filled up with the Spirit of God for the journey.

They arrive at the town of Salamis. (It sounds like salami) Please know that even though the spelling is the same, this is not where salamis come from! The town was the former capital of the island but lost that distinction when the Romans moved the capital to Paphos. In this way, it has something in common with us Waimea folks who also once enjoyed being the political center of the island until Kauai lost its independence. We won’t talk about that!

Just as another pastoral, tangential, aside, Salamis is the town where Saint Barnabas will be martyred at the end of his ministry. Of course, he does not know this when he arrives for the first time with Paul on his mission to the people of Cypress. Yes, Barnabas will become the bishop of Cypress, but that does not end well for him.

They travel around the island and finally come to the capital of Paphos. The Proconsul Sergius Paulus ruled the island on behalf of Rome from his administrative seat in Paphos. Just so we are sure what a “proconsul” is, this position is assigned by the Senate in Rome to one of its senior senators. So, a proconsul is a senator, governor, and ambassador all rolled into one position of authority. Sergius Paulus was a very powerful man. The Bible also tells us that he had heard that Paul and Barnabas were on the Island of Cypress, and so he summoned them to himself in order to hear the Word of God being preached by them.

There was just one problem: among the proconsul’s staff was a fellow who called himself “Bar-Jesus.” The bible says that he was a magician whose real name was Elymas. The name “Bar-Jesus” means of course “Son of Jesus.” We all but have to assume that this is a name that he made up for himself since he is obviously a Greek and has an original Greek name that is “Elymas.” Why would a Greek man, serving a Roman proconsul, take on a Jewish name such as “Bar-Jesus”? I believe that he was trying to associate himself with Jesus because the story of the power of that name had already spread around Cypress.

Now we come back to another question: Is Bar-Jesus a follower of Jesus? Is he a true prophet of the Lord? After all, Paul himself later writes in his letter to the Romans 8:16-17, “It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” Therefore, can it be wrong to call yourself “Son of Jesus”? I will let you decide on your own.

The real issue is not the name, it is that while Paul, Barnabas and John (John has joined them) are telling of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, this Bar-Jesus fellow is telling the proconsul that it is all not true. And, the proconsul Sergius Paulus is trying to figure out for himself what is true or false in this matter. He has to decide who is the true apostle and who is not. He has already placed a lot of his trust in Bar-Jesus and perhaps he is leaning in thought towards Bar-Jesus when Paul starts railing against Bar-Jesus with very strong words.

Paul exclaims for all to hear that Bar-Jesus should not be called the “son of Jesus” but rather the “son of the Devil.” We read that in verse 10. And, Paul goes on to exclaim that “The hand of the Lord is against” Bar-Jesus. These are amazingly powerful words. I want to share with you that I believe that when Paul is saying these things that it is not really Paul but rather the Holy Spirit interceding and using Paul as an instrument to get the point across. This reminds me of when Jesus casts out the demons at Gerasa, sending them into the pigs. Saint Peter is exercising that same kind of spiritual power to get rid of evil. He recognizes evil by the power of the Spirit, and then gets rid of it. That is a great power to have!

Let’s turn for a moment to what Peter says about this intercession of the Holy Spirit when we speak: 2 Peter 1:20-21, “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke by God.” So we must understand that the Holy Spirit is speaking through Paul and making this shocking statement that the hand of God is against Bar-Jesus. Know that you and I have no right to make such judgments as to whom God may be against, but the Holy Spirit may speak through us and make it plain before all! This is in fact the very essence of the Pentecost experience, isn’t it?! God blessed the people with the gift of the Holy Spirit and all people’s speech was made plain to all who were there!

Now, Paul just does not stop by telling Bar-Jesus that the “hand of the Lord is against [him].” He also, through the power of the Holy Spirit, makes a proclamation that seems amazingly familiar to us and must have been even more so to Paul himself. He tells Bar-Jesus that he will be made blind. Immediately the mist and darkness fell over him, and he went about groping for help from others. Wow! Doesn’t that sound exactly like Paul’s conversion experience on the Road to Damascus? Paul is walking on the road and is blinded by the glory of the risen Christ before him. He then goes to Damascus to have his normal sight healed by a believer named Ananias.

Will Bar-Jesus also be healed? We do not have that story in the Bible, but look carefully at the text in Acts 13:11 where it says that Bar-Jesus will be blind “for a while.” That means that he was to gain his sight back. Alleluia! He was made blind in order to show the absolute power of God. He is given his sight back to show the incredible mercy of God, too.

I will just put it out to you all that Bar-Jesus is very fortunate indeed. When we look at the stories of false prophets in the Bible, we usually see God totally eradicating them! Remember Jezebel and Elisha? Jezebel did not fare so well with those dogs licking her corpse! Hananiah and Jeremiah? Reading from Jeremiah 28:15-16, “The prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah, ‘The Lord has not sent you and you made this people believe in a lie. . . .Within this year you will be dead because you have spoken against the Lord.’” That very year Hananiah died. You see, by only making Bar-Jesus blind, the Lord was actually showing a fair amount of mercy.

All this time, we have been focusing on this man Bar-Jesus. Perhaps we have missed a major point of the story in Acts 13! The last line of our Scripture says that Sergius Paulus saw all that had happened and believed! It does not say that Bar-Jesus believed but that the proconsul did!

We should follow the course thus far as to how the Holy Spirit is moving up the Roman hierarchy: Philip converted a Eunuch on the road to Gaza who brought the faith back to Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia. Peter converted Cornelius, the centurion of the Italian cohort who is presumed to bring the faith back to Rome. Now Paul and Barnabas convert the proconsul to Cypress. One gets the idea that the movement of the Holy Spirit is becoming much bigger than the church! There are some major Roman players involved now. This is the beginning of not just the church but of Christendom itself. These are the beginnings of the Christian world, the Christian culture, we know today.

From that point on, Barnabas, Paul and John are given the freedom to travel anywhere in Cypress. The proconsul is on their side. The light of God’s love spreads unabated over the people.

Jesus is what is true. He is the Truth. Carry that Truth with you on every journey. Build the Kingdom for God. Do miracles of faith so that the world may witness the strength and mercy of the Lord. Amen.