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Acts 13:1-52

Grace

To proclaim God’s good news in word, deed and sign.

Readings

Reading deeper…

Jim Reiher, The Book of Acts: A Social Justice Commentary, Chapter 13.

Devotion 1

Wait: Take time to sit in silence together, allowing space for God’s voice to be heard.

Read: Acts 13:1-3

Ask:

Share:

Pray:

Devotion 2

Take time to sit in silence, aware of the presence of God’s Spirit

Read: Acts 13:4-12

This story has a number of curious comparisons between the false prophet Bar-Jesus and Paul. Firstly, we are told that the false prophet’s name is ‘Elymas’ (though we are not told what this means)1. We are then told for the first time that Saul is also called Paul, inviting a comparison between the two figures.

Secondly, just as Paul was struck with temporary blindness, now Elymas is also. The difference between the two is that, while Paul had others with him to lead him by the hand (9:8), Elymas has no one (13:11). Elymas is a picture of someone who has no one alongside him, and has become “full of all deceit” (13:9). Paul, on the other hand, is “full” of the Holy Spirit.

Even so, Paul’s words in striking Elymas blind need to be read carefully. We could ask, with Reiher, “Does God strike bad people blind when it is called out for by faithful missionaries?”2 At times we need to ask some hard questions of ourselves and scripture, acknowledging that the Christian scriptures (as well as those of other faiths) has all too often been used to promote death instead of life, hate instead of love. We do well, I believe, to measure stories such as this against the words of Jesus, which Luke recorded in his first volume:

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you (Luke 6:27-28).

Ask:

Share: Communion

Pray:

1.  Some suggestions are “wise” or “interpreter of dreams”. See Witherington, Ben, The Acts of the Apostles: A Social Rhetorical Commentary, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998, 401.

2.  Jim Reiher, The Book of Acts: A Social Justice Commentary. Dandenong: UNOH, 2014, 126. Emphasis in original.

Devotion 3

Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of repentance together, acknowledging the ways you have benefitted from the mistreatment of others.

Read: Acts 13:13-43

We now find Paul and his companions (minus John Mark) in the urban centre of Antioch in Pisidia, where they are invited to speak at the synagogue. Life was tough for non-elite peoples in the urban centres of the Roman Empire. Carter descibes it:

“Those with no power or skills, having only their labor to sell, occupied the geographical margins of cities in cramped and unhygienic conditions. Often these people included peasants dispossessed of land through foreclosure or forced into the city because the small family landholding could no longer sustain the household. Multistoried buildings provided a vertical form of these power arrangements with the poorest and unskilled in top floors.”3

The Jewish communities dispersed throughout the empire were, alongside other ethnic minorities, subjugated communities. But they had cultivated a hope, passed down through the generations, that God would act so that once more they would be a free people. Texts like Isaiah 40 spoke of God dealing with sins and liberating them from foreign powers:

“Comfort, O comfort my people,

says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and cry to her

that she has served her term,

that her penalty is paid,

that she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-3)

Now Paul, standing firmly in this Jewish tradition, announces in the synagogue that this hope is being fulfilled in Jesus: “Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses (13:38-39).

Ask:

Share: Communion

Pray:

3. Warren Carter, The Roman Empire and the New Testament: An Essential Guide. Abingdon: Nashville, 2006, 47.

Devotion 4

Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of thanksgiving together, aware of God’s loving kindness toward us.

Read: Acts 13:44-52

After an initial positive response from his hearers in the synagogue, Paul and Barnabas’ message is sharply rejected the following week. What’s going on here? Why the turnaround? Luke tells us that the change is about who is in the audience. No longer are Paul and Barnabas talking of God’s liberation to predominantly Jews—this time “the whole city” has gathered. And, with Paul’s message of liberation for all, the Jews self understanding as the exclusive people of God is challenged beyond what they can bear.

Ask:

Share: Communion

Pray:

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    purebuds

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