In those days a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem,
and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch.
The apostolic leadership of the Church in Jerusalem was not entirely pleased with news from Antioch. The martyrdom of Stephen and subsequent terror had sent many of the Lord's disciples fleeing to distant places. Many Jews in Antioch, learning about the Lord, were converted and baptized. The Jewish enemies of Christ might have said his movement metastasized. However, some gentiles were also baptized and the Church in Jerusalem was not prepared for that.
And so they sent one of their best men to check it out. Even today, the Vatican occasionally sends officials to investigate what is happening in various dioceses of the world. They may approve or disapprove, but in either case Rome will be informed with first hand testimony.
Saint Barnabas was just the man. Well educated, familiar with gentile philosophy and literature, devoutly Jewish and intensely dedicated to the Resurrected Messiah, he brought a sceptical eye to Antioch. But he was not cynical and, remembering his own conversion, he could recognize the work of the Holy Spirit among strangers. If they knew little of Abraham, Moses, and David, they had a substantial knowledge of Jesus and they were on fire with his Spirit. Like it or not, they belonged.
Barnabas decided not to squelch this unexpected development, but he also saw that it needed careful guidance. And so he sent for another man who was equally well versed in Jewish tradition, gentile philosophy, and the Way -- Paul of Tarsus. Their catechesis was hugely successful, many more gentiles entered the Church and the Way acquired a new name, Christian.
Neither Jewish nor Greek, Christianity was a religion of converts, without nationality or language. They were Christian not by way of their human birth but by their birth in the Spirit. As Saint John said, they were "born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God." (John 1:13)
They would develop their own forms of worship, roughly like Jewish rituals but without the rigidity of more ancient religions; and their self-governance would resemble the synagogue. In time, the Church of Antioch trained and sent missionaries throughout the Roman empire.
As it happened, and certainly by God's plan, a prophet accurately predicted a coming famine in Jerusalem. Jews of the diaspora had always supported their Holy City with charitable donations; the famine gave the new Antiochene church the opportunity to show that they too belonged to this new religion by their sacrificial support of disciples in Jerusalem.
Perhaps, Barnabas and Paul -- remembering the words of Jesus, "Why do you persecute me? -- saw that the church in Antioch must support the church in Jerusalem because the Body of believers is One! Do not two hands work together, and don't legs need each other to walk? Doesn't blood flow from well-supplied tissue to needier parts of the human body? In the same way, money must flow to Jerusalem to help the Church survive the famine.
Like the Tuskegee airmen and the Japanese American soldiers of World War II, Antiochene Christians proved they belonged by their sacrificial support.
These lessons of Acts of the Apostles have never been lost on the Church. We must support our fellow Catholics within the United States and abroad. Our Spirit will not let us enjoy our excess without demanding at least a tithe. Nor will it allow us to go hungry without the support of the whole Church.
There is a story of a priest in 1952 who was sent to build a Catholic Church in North Carolina. The small town had no Church and only a few Catholics. So he obtained phone books from New York City and Chicago, and wrote appeal letters to every Murphy in both cities. He asked these Irish people, "Do you realize there is a Murphy North Carolina with no Catholic Church?" He soon built a Church, and a congregation formed rapidly. (The legend without the colorful details is verified by that church's website.)
On the feast of the Apostle Barnabas we celebrate the courage, fidelity, and ingenuity of our One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.