GOSPEL MEDITATION # 39

Acts 13:1-12

Barnabas & Saul Sent Off & Barnabas & Saul on Cyprus

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. Barnabas and Saul, having completed their mission to Jerusalem (relief from the famine), are back at their home base, Antioch.
7. Luke lists the “prophets and teachers” at the church at Antioch: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,, Nanaen, and Saul.
8. While “worshipping and fasting” the Holy Spirit directs the church to set Barnabas and Saul aside for a “work” they have been “called” to.
9. After prayer and fasting then, these two first to be designated as missionaries are sent off.
10. From Antioch they set off for Seleucia, the port city of Antioch, 10 miles to the east, from which they board a ship for Cyprus. Barnabas is from this Mediterranean island.
11. They arrive at Salamis, a major city, and go directly to the Jewish synagogue where they “proclaimed the word of God.” (We note “word” is from the Greek Logos.)
12. Luke is careful to point out that John, otherwise known as John Mark, is with the missionaries.
13. In Paphos the trio come across a sorcerer or magician name Bar-Jesus, a Jewish false prophet, who had somehow connected with the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulos, who wanted to hear their “word of God” message.
14. Elymas (name means magician), or Bar-Jesus, oppose the preachers. Saul, empowered by the Holy Spirit, causes Elymas to go blind. Seeing the miracle, the proconsul becomes a believer.