Acts 14:8-23
I hate to tell you all this, in case you haven’t figured it out already. Speaking the Good News is as likely to get you into trouble as bring you unalloyed happiness. First, Paul and Barnabas, find a simple healing to be the source of a huge misunderstanding. When they make it clear to the locals in Lystra that they’re not Zeus and Hermes, they only bring suspicion on themselves. Remember that scene in Return of the Jedi, when the Ewoks are about to cook our heroes as an offering to the newfound god, C-3PO? Even when the robot tells the Ewoks to cease, they are still intent on their celebration of a god among them. And they don’t much care what their “God” thinks.
The pagans in Lystra could understand the Greek Gods visiting them. But mere men healing people? What’s these guys’ game? And then, here come some zealous Jews from Antioch, intent on undermining Paul’s and Barnabas’s mission. And so, this mob seizes Paul and throws him out of their town, stoning him as he goes. This wasn’t a trial and execution, just a passionate mob that, thankfully, had enough before actually killing Paul.
Letting the Word of God speak through you is as likely to make you enemies as friends. And even your friends are as likely to hurt your cause as your enemies. So what do you do? In a sense, Paul followed the advice of General Oliver Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division in the Korean War. When they were forced to retreat during the Chinese offensive in 1950. “We’re not retreating, we’re just advancing in a different direction” (It wasn’t MacArthur who said this, contra Sarah Palin).
Notice that after some time away, Paul and Barnabas make their way back to Lystra, and Antioch, where the seeds they plated under duress have blossomed, and just require a little more work. So, 2000 years later, where do we need to speak boldly, in such a way as to risk misunderstanding, even by those who would be our friends? Where do you fear making enemies? That’s probably where Jesus is.
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