Acts 11:25, 26 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul:… The chronology of the period reaching from the martyrdom of Stephen to the mission of Barnabas to Antioch is obscure, and has at present indeed refused to yield up to us dates - as, for instance, leading dates affecting Saul - of the utmost interest. It is, however, exceedingly probable that six full years had now passed since the conversion of Saul. During the whole of this time he has been - we may say it without a doubt, though perhaps it were not easy to find actual chapter and verse for the statement - "preaching Christ." He has been removed from one station to another for safety's sake twice. He has latterly been for some time at Tarsus, his native place, and it is of his employment during his stay at Tarsus that we know least. While, as already said, there is scarcely room to doubt that there emphatically he would be preaching Christ, it would seem a little remarkable if he did so through a period of one or two years with impunity. Hither, however, Barnabas now comes, to seek a colleague and efficient help in his work at Antioch. Very brief are the touches of the pen which convey to us the situation here. But they portray, nevertheless, something so natural and almost homely, that it is not difficult, and is pleasant and instructive, to fill in the detail of the picture. I. BARNABAS FINDS AN UNEXPECTED AND A GRAND FIELD OF LABOR AT ANTIOCH. 1. He came on one errand; he stays on another, and that a great enterprise. He came to inquire about the justifiableness of certain goings on. He is forced to become part and parcel of them, and to embark in them heart and hand and voice. 2. He observes "that a great door and effectual is opened before him" (1 Corinthians 16:9). Antioch, for its situation, its buildings, and its very various and important people - for its Jewish population, for its Greek fashion, and its Roman military, and its business and commercial connections - cannot be surpassed as a place of importance for preaching Christ from the first moment that it is apparent that not Jews only, but Gentiles also, Greek and Roman, are to be embraced within the blessings of the covenant. 3. When already "much people was added unto the Lord," and "a great number had believed and turned unto the Lord," his heart is "touched with compassion '(as his Master's once and often was) when he saw "the sheep without a shepherd," and "the fields white to harvest," and the harvest one of superlative promise, "but the laborers few." And no doubt he "prayed the Lord of the harvest," and got his answer. II. BARNABAS CONSULTS AS TO ONE THING ALONE. 1. He wishes, if it be possible, to compass the work. 2. He knows no grain of envy or jealousy or selfish ambition. 3. He will lose a few weeks of time if he may return armed better by far for the work, for he bethinks himself (or otherwise in answer to his prayer has been reminded divinely) of one of remarkable conversion and of surpassing energy. He will be a likely helpmeet. Barnabas has already walked arm-in-arm with him in Jerusalem, and has been surety for him with the Church in Jerusalem. With this strong man, who has now been tried, been ripening in comparative retirement, and has borne the trial, would he wish to be associated in besieging, with a view to take, this tempting citadel Of Antioch. He is keeping up his character as given us in the preceding verses. He is "full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." His eye is single, his best reason and mental judgment are given to the question before him. His motives are pure and his conscience sensitive. 4. He is going to have his man. He will not miss of Saul. He journeys after him to seek him. He believes not in messages nor proxies. He finds him and brings him to Antioch. III. BARNABAS AND SAUL BELIEVE IN CO-OPERATION. 1. They believe in brotherly love. It was a somewhat new thing to believe in, in some aspects of it. Not a few natural kinds of love unite us together. But brotherly love came in largely with the followers of Jesus, viz. that kind of love which brought two men to work together for religious ends. 2. They believe in the practical advantages of two working together. (1) One sustains the purpose of the other. (2) The weak side of one character is compensated by the forte of the other. (3) Many an enterprise must pine for want of sufficient support at the hand of one alone, which may be easily compassed by two, and leave them still spare energy. 3. They disbelieve in unworthy rivalry, in comparisons, in personal ambition. Yet now, eighteen centuries later, these very things are occasionally heard as among the standard objections to two disciples of Jesus Christ being linked together in equal service for him. IV. BARNABAS AND SAUL GIVE THEMSELVES FOR A WHOLE YEAR TO BUILDING UP AND EDIFYING THE CHURCH AT ANTIOCH. 1. The importance of Church life begins to be recognized, both for itself and for its witness, in the midst of a great people outside. 2. Even nature itself "is vindicating the need and the advantage of teachers and pastors and examples." "They assembled themselves with the Church, and taught much people." It was not all evangelization, nor all missionary journeys, even in earliest days of Christianity. And this is more remarkable in the light of an example, when we remember that the good work at Antioch had sprung up of what in brief might be called "self-sown seed." Those of the dispersion whose hearts burned within them had been, under the Spirit, the beginning of the work. And it was on account of the proportions to which their work had grown, and the fame of it that traveled to Jerusalem, that Barnabas had been sent to visit Antioch. The flock only need to be hungry to look for a shepherd, and the hungry flock do not fail to look up to the shepherd that feeds it. 3. The love of Barnabas and Saul must have been met by much love on the part of those "in and out among whom" they went, teaching them many things. This is the Church love. This is the secret of Church harmony. This the humble beginning alike of the holiness and the happiness of the Church above. V. THE MINISTRY CONJOINT OF BARNABAS AND SAUL IS BLESSED. It is blessed in two directions. 1. It cannot be said to be a conclusion too remote or far-fetched when we assert that there is evidence of the witness that ministry was to the outside world. That "the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch" and at this time means nothing less than these two things. (1) They take a status in the world; and this has been verified by history. World-wide their name is known. (2) That status is given them, even if in partial ridicule, by the world. The Church of disciples, of saints, of brethren, of followers of Jesus, of Nazarenes, made its mark upon them of busy, prosperous, intelligent Antioch. They are not a ragged regiment, nor a rope of sand, nor a quarrelsome litigious clique. They have been doing work and have been living consistently. 2. That ministry has prepared those among whom it was exercised both to feel promptly compassion for their brethren who were to be visited by famine and poverty in Judaea, showing it also promptly by a practical charity and generosity, and also to convey that expression of love in a becoming and grateful manner. Great was the goodness of Barnabas, and great and good was the united ministry and work of him and his chosen, sought colleague, Saul. - B. Parallel Verses KJV: Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: |
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