The good news on the move
Acts 13:4-12
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they met a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But the magician Elymas (for that is the translation of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now listen—the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind for a while, unable to see the sun.’ Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.
The ”they” in this passage is Paul and Barnabas. Having been sent to proclaim the good news about Jesus their first stop was Cyprus. Notice Paul already has established his mission plan – start with the synagogues in town, they were always on the lookout for new preachers among the Jews who passed through the communities of Cyprus. Paul and Barnabas fit the bill and so they preached in the synagogues.
Not just the Jews listened, the proconsul, the leading Roman official on the island, wanted to hear personally from Barnabas and Paul. They did speak to the proconsul describing who Jesus was and what God’s purpose in sending the Messiah was. Now there was an aide to the proconsul, a Jew who practiced magic and the dark arts in order to give advice the proconsul. This person saw the proconsul being drawn by the words of Barnabas and Paul to come a follower of Jesus. The magician recognized their place of power was at risk and they tried to convince the proconsul to not listen to Barnabas and Paul – to not choose to follow Jesus.
There was a spiritual conflict and Paul in the power of the Holy Spirit declared the magician would be unable to see. Paul when he was on the wrong path (See Acts 9) and in conflict with Jesus was also made unable to see. In both cases, Paul and the magician, being unable to see is a metaphor for their spiritual blindness. We don’t know how the magician’s story ended – hopefully he was able to receive spiritual sight to see who Jesus was.
This account reminds us that meeting Jesus and choosing to follow him is to have our lives turned upside down. Following Jesus is disorienting, for it is a new way of being, not like the old way. Turning from the old way to the new is dislocating and disorienting.
PRAYER:
God of grace and mercy, choosing to follow your Son Jesus, is a decision to have our lives turned into chaos, for a new way of life will come to replace the old way. By your Holy Spirit come and turn our lives upside down as we choose to follow you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.