Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
And when (Paul and Barnabas arrived in Antioch), they called the church together and related all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. And they stayed there with the disciples for some time. (Acts 14:27-28, NRSVCE)
Seleucia. Salamis. Paphos. Perga. Antioch. Iconium. Lystra.
Derbe. Attalia. Then back to Antioch.
It was a road show for Christ, Paul and Barnabas sharing the Good News to receptive and not so receptive audiences. It ran the gamut, from persecutions to conversions. And now, back in Antioch, they were among friends, new and old, fellow disciples of Christ. What joy! What relief, to be back with people who “got” them… and Him.
We don’t know for sure just how long they spent in Antioch. Paul and Barnabas would later part ways, not over doctrine, but over whether a companion who had deserted them at one point should accompany them on their next trip. Barnabas and that companion would head for Cyprus; Paul and Silas would go to Syria and Cilicia. But oh, how that time in Antioch in community must have fed and fortified them all for those future journeys.
In some ways, the twenty-first century AD isn’t a lot different from the first century AD. People quarrel. Friendships end. People die. People aren’t there when we most need them… or we aren’t there for them. But those God-filled moments when we can rest in Him and community together must be treasured and stored in our hearts and souls, for they provide us with food we need to evangelize on our own road shows.
