Jesus Freaks: Revolutionaries (by dc talk & The Voice of the Martyrs)

The Son of Consolation

Barnabas

Salamina, Cyprus

A.D. 64

"Don't be a fool, Joses. The man is a murderer and a spy! He only wants to come to us so that he can gather names to give to the council and bring us all to trial as he did Stephen. He will stop at nothing to see that every person who preaches in the name of Jesus is executed. No, we cannot let him come here, no matter what he claims. Brother Barnabas, we know you mean well as always, but you must see the reason in protecting ourselves. We cannot let Saul come to meet with us. Brother Peter, I turn to your leadership as always in this matter; please tell Barnabas that we would be exposing ourselves to unnecessary risk."

Peter looked from the speaker to Joses, whom the members of the first church had nicknamed Barnabas, the "son of consolation," because of his constant encouragement to the brethren. Barnabas looked troubled by the words, but Peter could tell he wasn't finished pleading his case. "Brother Barnabas, you have something else to add?"

"Only that I know the change that came to my life from accepting Jesus as the Messiah. And I know the change that came to your life, Brother Peter. And yours, Brother Isaac, and the change that came to the rest of you here today. Didn't Jesus preach that all who call upon His name would be saved? Well, Saul has called on that name. He also met with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. I know the man who held the coats of those who stoned Stephen as we stood by helplessly, and I know the man who reasoned with the Jewish brethren and Greeks in Damascus that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the same man on the outside, but not the same man on the inside. Saul is no longer a persecutor, but a brother in Christ. In fact, he left Damascus in fear for his own life because of the boldness of his testimony. What good is Jesus' sacrifice and Stephen's forgiveness of those who killed him if we cannot look past the flesh of a man and accept what Jesus has done to change his heart?"

Those in the room grew quiet for a moment, then Peter spoke for all of them. "As always, Barnabas, your words have spoken straight to my heart. I cannot refuse fellowship to any who will call upon His name, as Jesus himself said He would not. Can any of the rest of you?"

As Peter looked around the room, no eyes met his gaze, but many nodded their heads in agreement with him. They knew the danger of rejecting Jesus' words was greater than any threat to their lives.

It was in such a way that Saul, who was destined to become Paul the apostle, was admitted as a brother to the church in Jerusalem by Barnabas, "the encourager."

Barnabas continued to travel with and encourage Saul for some time after that. They journeyed together to Antioch in Syria, where they taught and argued the cause of Christ so well that the members of the church in Antioch were the first to call themselves "Christians." He also supported Paul as he returned to Jerusalem to persuade the brethren there that Christianity was not to be a sect of Judaism-following all the laws of the Old Testament and just adding Jesus-but it was a transformation of their covenant with God into something new through Christ, surpassing the law to a life in the Spirit made possible by Jesus' death and resurrection.

Barnabas was such an eloquent speaker and preached with such passion and convincing doctrine that he was the chosen speaker over Paul on their first missionary journey. However, when God began to bring Paul to the forefront, Barnabas the encourager took the lesser place without complaint. He was not worried about position as much as seeing the call of God fulfilled in Paul's life.

John Mark, Barnabas's nephew, had deserted Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey when things looked like they were getting rough, but he repented and asked to go along with them on their second journey to the north. Paul refused to let him come along because of his earlier desertion, but Barnabas stuck with John Mark much as he had stuck with Paul before the brethren in Jerusalem years earlier.

Thus Barnabas and Paul went separate ways. Paul took Silas and headed to Syria and Cilicia, and Barnabas and John Mark went to Cyprus. Barnabas eventually encouraged John Mark to travel with Peter.

Being originally from Cyprus, Barnabas stayed on there preaching Christ to all who came across his path. Such a following rose up that he fell into contention with a Jewish sorcerer who was losing business because the things Barnabas taught freed the people from their fear of him and what his "magic" could do to them. Because of this, the sorcerer stirred the non-Christians of the city against Barnabas. They soon falsely accused Barnabas of some crime and had him thrown into prison.

When a time was set for Barnabas to come before a judge in Salamina, fearing the judge would discover his innocence and release him, a mob led by the sorcerer raided the jail, put a rope around Barnabas's neck, dragged him outside the city, and burned him.

 • • •

Barnabas was not swayed by the views of the mainstream. When everyone else flowed idly with the currents of fear or popular opinion, he took his paddle in hand and fought hard to get their boat back into God's flow of love and acceptance, even if he was the only one paddling. He judged people by the confessions of their hearts and how they lined up with the Word of God, not by their pasts or what they looked like. Where others saw a lost cause or an enemy, Barnabas saw great potential and a brother or sister in the Lord that needed the support of an encourager. He stood by those others rejected, and by doing so he helped them to realize greater things in their own lives than he did in his own.

In a world where self-promotion seems to be a key to success, there are not too many like Barnabas. How many of us would be willing to help those around us go on to accomplish greater things than we do ourselves or befriend the unpopular because they claim they belong to Christ?

Now you can have sincere love for each other as brothers and sisters because you were cleansed from your sins when you accepted the truth of the Good News. So see to it that you really do love each other intensely with all your hearts.

Peter (1 Peter 1:22 NLT)

 Copyright © 2002 by Bethany House Publishers. Used with permission.