Antioch or Jerusalem

Fifth Saturday after the Epiphany

Lectionary texts for Sunday, February 7, Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

OT--Isaiah 40:21-31

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c. (United Methodist Hymnal #859)

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Gospel: Mark 1:29-39

Since many of you read the blog the day after I write it, I will give the lectionary texts one day ahead of my writing. Even if your church is not now using the lectionary, I think it's a good idea to read those Sunday texts, to be in touch with with what the majority of mainline Protestant and all Catholic Christians are hearing read in church that Sunday. The lectionary unites us.

For today's Bible study please read Acts 14:21-28.

This is another one of Luke's summary statements. He takes us quickly through Paul's and Barnabas's itinerary through the region called Galatia, in what is now central Turkey. There were doubtless a number of stories Luke could have told us about this journey. Historians always have much more material than they can write. They have to pick and choose what to include and what to leave out. Apparently nothing happened on the journey in these verses that was nearly as fascinating as the story of Paul's and Barnabas's being mistaken for gods in Lystra.  

In the journey of vv. 14-28 Paul and Barnabas revisit a number of cities where they have preached and started Christian communities before. Their intent is to firm up the work they have already started. They appoint elders in each of these churches to provide ongoing leadership for what they have started. They also very honestly tell these new Christians that they can expect persecution. Paul never preached anything remotely like the modern day "Prosperity Gospel." 

They then return to big Antioch, Antioch of Syria. One little puzzle I have pondered for years is what, if anywhere, is the center of Christianity at the time of the Apostles. We usually think of it as being Jerusalem. Color coded maps of Paul's missionary journeys usually show each of the first three missionary  journeys as beginning and ending in Jerusalem.  Although Jerusalem is the home for a good many Apostles, including Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, Paul seems more inclined to see Antioch as his home base. If you read Galatians 1-2, Paul emphasizes that he has been to Jerusalem only twice since his Damascus Road experience and that he does not take orders from the Jerusalem apostles. 

In our next Bible study we will move on to a pivotal event in the history of early Christianity, the Jerusalem council of 48 A.D., where the church grapples with its biggest decision of the first century, do gentiles have to become Jews in order to be Christians. 

God of all churches,

We marvel at the faith of the Apostles in the face of constant peril. Give us some greater measure of the faith that was theirs. In Christ. Amen.

Faithfully,

Christian