Father Donald Senior, CP

April 29: Fifth Sunday of Easter

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Thankful for Barnabas

Acts 9:26-31; Ps 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32; 1 Jn 3:18-24; Jn 15:1-8

The great New Testament historian Martin Hengel said that the rapid spread of early Christianity was not simply the result of a compelling message but the witness of compelling people.  

I recall Hengel’s comment whenever I think of the great character who appears in our first reading for this Sunday. Barnabas is probably not as well-known as other giants such as Paul, Peter and James. His real name was Joseph and he was a Jewish Christian from Cyprus living in Jerusalem.  

The apostles called him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement.” This nickname tells us how Barnabas was appreciated by the early church. In his first appearance in Acts he is seen selling a piece of property he owned and donating it to the Jerusalem Christian community — an act of generosity that seems to have been a strong characteristic of his.

In today’s reading, Barnabas performs a mediating role he will repeat at several key moments in the turbulent life of the early church. When Paul, suddenly converted from being a fierce persecutor of the church to one of its most vocal proponents, visits Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians there are understandably wary of him. It is Barnabas who takes charge of Paul and introduces him to the apostles. When Paul stirs up trouble in Jerusalem, he is sent to cool off in his home city of Tarsus in southern Asia Minor.  

In the meantime, when the Jerusalem apostles heard that Gentiles were being incorporated into the Christian community in Antioch, they trusted Barnabas to go to check things out. The “son of encouragement” visited Antioch and was open to seeing that this bold step of reaching out to the Gentile world was the work of God’s Spirit.  

As Acts notes, “he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart” — a response characteristic of Barnabas because, as the text notes, “he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.” Later, it is Barnabas who takes the initiative to search for Paul in Tarsus and bring him to Antioch where he will be more deeply schooled in the Christian way and later begin, with Barnabas as a companion, his first missionary journey. Without Barnabas, there would have been no Paul the Apostle.

Later, when a famine broke out in the region of Jerusalem, it is Barnabas and Paul who are asked to bring financial relief from the church of Antioch to their fellow Christians in Judea. And when the leadership of the church would later gather in Jerusalem for the first council of the apostolic church, it is Barnabas again, along with Paul, who pleads for the inclusion of the Gentiles within the church’s embrace.

Navigating things with Paul was not always easy, even for someone as generous and considerate as Barnabas. The Acts of the Apostles also tell us that at the beginning of their second missionary journey together, Paul, for a reason that is not entirely clear, balks at having John Mark on their missionary team. As a result, Barnabas and Paul go their separate ways.

Barnabas’ contribution to the life of the early church is remarkable and characterized by a spirit not only of encouragement but of reconciliation. Without Barnabas’ patience and goodness, Paul might have remained a firebrand burned out in Tarsus. Without Barnabas, the Jerusalem Jewish Christian leaders might have suppressed the outbreak of the Spirit among the Gentiles of Antioch. Without Barnabas, the entire mission of the church to Gentile world might have faltered.

The Gospel for today is the famous segment of Jesus’ final discourse to his disciples where he compares his relationship to them as the vine and branches: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” 

Followers of Jesus, like Barnabas, take on the life and manner of Jesus — generous, encouraging, reconciling, rejoicing in the goodness of others. Such disciples are found today in the men and women of our families, parishes and communities who live in that same spirit of Jesus.

 

 

Topics:

  • scripture

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