Readings:
Sermon:
Hello, I am Paul Lawlor, I’m the Area Dean of Redditch and Bromsgrove.
Today we take a look at the life and ministry of Barnabas. His name translates variously as: "son of encouragement" or "son of consolation".
What we have in the biblical narrative about Barnabas would indicate that he lived up to his name. In our reading from Acts today and elsewhere we are told, “he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. Not a bad epitaph! Ben Withington III points out[1] that Barnabas is the only person referred to as “Good” in the book of Acts. Full of the Holy Spirit and of faith he shares with St Stephen.
Our writer Luke, treats Barnabas with respect and it seems that he was well respected in many quarters.
It is not surprising that that he turns up a key moments in the life of the emerging Christian church. In our reading today Barnabas is “sent” by the church in Jerusalem to see what is happening in Antioch.
What has happened is that men from Cyprus and Cyrene have come to this bustling and important city and are preaching about Jesus to Greek speaking people there. So, unknown people are preaching to non-Jews and many are turning to Jesus.
So, the Church in Jerusalem send off their trusted man to investigate.
What is great here is, that Barnabas clearly, goes with an open mind and more importantly, goes with a desire to see what God is doing, to discern if the Spirit of God is at work in what is happening.
Moments when the Church is coming to terms with reaches out beyond the Synagogue.
We read that he “saw the grace of God, [and], he rejoiced”.
He doesn’t then go – “all is now well – the A Team is here, stand aside and make way for me.” Clearly, he could have done that, he came with the blessing of the Apostles – he has track record, he had authorisation!
But what we see is that Barnabas lives up to his name; he applauds what is happening and supports it and then reflects on who could add to the work, what could make to good, great?
In v25 Barnabas sets off for Tarsus to seek out Saul/Paul. Following his conversation from persecutor to apostle Saul was sent to Tarsus; probably to let the waters settle given his past. Here we have Barnabas, who must have seen God’s hand on Paul, goes off to find him and encourage him to come and work with the gentiles in Antioch.
Again, this has the sense of working with and alongside. They were there for a year and “taught a great many people”.
Can we look to how Barnabas went about his work as a leader and see how this can apply to us in our churches today? In our Gospel reading Jesus says, “you did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last…(John 15.16…)
Not everyone is a leader in the style of Barnabas or Paul, but, we all do play a part in how leadership functions in our churches.
Can we hold authority too tightly? Can we place too much authority onto others?
The relationship between Barnabas and Paul would have its ups and downs. There was a moment when they could not work together in partnership but do appear to have remained friends.[2] This relates to the words of Jesus in John 15v17 concludes., “I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Today is a good day, to reflect upon the leadership style of a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Barnabas, not a perfect leader, but one who focussed on Jesus and was willing to make space to allow others to flourish and grow and one who was willing to accept that God can be doing a new thing where others now need to take the lead.
Questions:
- How do we give and receive authority?
- Is God asking us to look at a situation in a fresh way?
- Are there situations where we might struggle to work in partnership but where God is still calling us to love one another?