Opening: Do you remember your first vacation? Maybe it was your first vacation
as a child? How about that first vacation after getting married, or with your
children, or after you retired?
Scripture: Read Acts 12:24-13:12.
Insights:
- There is a lot going on in today’s reading.
- Luke gives an account of the death of Herod Agrippa I. By inserting it so close to the martyrdom of James and the attempt on Peter’s life, Luke is not so subtly insinuating the reason for Herod’s death. Josephus, the Jewish historian, describes how, on the second day of a festival, Herod entered the theater clad in a robe of silver cloth. The sun glinted on the silver and the people cried out that this was a god come to them. At once, a sudden and terrible illness fell upon him from which he never recovered. But it’s not just that he accepts god-like accolades from the crowd; that may be what he or the people thought. What Luke is saying is that it was more than that. Herod died as punishment for his persecution of two of the three Inner Circle.
- During a worship time, the Holy Spirit directed the Gentile church at Antioch to dedicate Barnabas and Saul (note the order of the names) for a special evangelistic work to other Gentiles, which would become the First Missionary Journey.
- John Mark is mentioned twice in chapter 12 (verse 12 and 25). This is who we call Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark. His mother’s name was Mary (see Acts12:12). The home is spoken of as hers, so his father was probably dead. The description of the house (with its large room and porch) and the mention of the Greek slave, suggest a family of wealth. Mark was converted through Peter’s personal influence (see 1 Peter 5:13). Mark was “cousin” to Barnabas (see Colossians4:10), which explains how he becomes connected to Paul and begins the First Missionary Journey as their “assistant.” We will learn more about Mark later.
- The first stop on the journey is the Island of Cyprus. Look in your Bible for a map of Paul’s journeys, or go to this chart.
- Acts 13 marks a transition in Luke’s account. He now begins to focus on the ministry of the man who he now refers to as Paul (see verse 9).
Life
Questions:
- Consider the leaders of the Antioch church. Barnabas was a Jew from Cyprus; Lucius came from Cyrene in North Africa; Simeon was also a Jew but his other name Niger is given and, since this is a Roman name, it shows that he must have moved in Roman circles; Manaen was a man with aristocratic connections; and Paul himself was a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia and a trained rabbi. In that little band there is exemplified the unifying influence of Christianity. Men from many lands and many backgrounds had discovered the secret of “togetherness” because they had discovered the secret of Christ. Are there people in your life who, though you are different, can come with you in the work of Christ?
- The Christian Church was now poised to take the greatest of all steps. They had decided, quite deliberately, to take the gospel to all the world. It was a decision taken under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. The people of the Early Church never did what they wanted to do but always what God wanted them to do.[1] What is God calling you to do? What is God calling us to do as a church to further the Good News?
Prayer
Focus: That we would hear the voice of the Holy Spirit
calling us to a great journey.
