Barnabas 3. Disciple of Gamaliel with Saul?
It is important for us as Christians to learn from our Christian and Jewish ancestors in the faith, so we are exploring the life of St. Barnabas mentioned in the New Testament. We’ve seen the likely possibilities that St. Barnabas (Joseph) and St. Paul (Saul) were born around the same time (about 5 AD) and were trained together as disciples under Rabban Gamaliel the Elder in Jerusalem. What might their companionship have been like?
In his novel titled, The Apostle [1], the
Jewish Polish American novelist Sholem Asch (1880-1957) imagines both Joseph
and Saul as hearing some of St. Peter’s preaching during the Pentecost
festival, seven weeks after Jesus’ crucifixion.
These Galileans, Asch writes, typically
wear “a robe of sackcloth [with] bony, protruding arms and legs, high heads
thickly covered with black curls, tangled beards, flashing eyes” and speak with
“wild and eager gestures, as if they were feeling the story with their fingers
while they told it with their lips.”
The principal speaker (St. Peter, per Ac2:14) “told them an incredible thing: that Yeshua [Jesus], whom Pontius Pilate
had crucified on the Passover before this Pentecost, was none other than the
promised Messiah; that he, the crucified one, had risen from death and had
revealed himself to his followers and disciples on the Mount of Olives, where
they had hidden themselves after his death that they might not be swallowed by
the storm.”
“‘So early in the morning, and already so
full of sweet wine,’ said one man….
“‘Not only with sweet wine, but likewise
with the poison of the Evil One,’ said another.”
As discussion about throwing the Galileans
out of the Temple arose, Saul thrust himself forward and asserted: “‘No, it is
not for their belief in the resurrection that these men should be driven from
the Temple court. It is only you unhappy Sadduceans who deny the
resurrection.... No! They should be thrust forth from this sacred place because
they take a hanged man and exalt him as the holy person of the Messiah, whereas
it is written in the sacred script: “The curse of God rests on him that has
been hanged.”’”
Saul was going on but felt a plucking at
his elbow. Joseph. He was sedate and quiet.
“‘Saul!’ he said, gently. ‘We shall be
late for the morning dissertation of Rabban Gamaliel.’
“‘Right, Joseph! You are right!’ answered
Saul, convulsively. ‘The babblings of these Galileans will rob us even of our
Rabbi’s discourse.’ And as abruptly as he had thrust his way forward, he now
turned and thrust his way out of the throng.”
As they rapidly walk along together, Saul
exclaims, “‘A Messiah who has been crucified, who was buried, and who has risen
from the dead! ... Where have they learned such things if not from the
heathen?” He went on about Canaanite and Babylonian beliefs, exclaiming, “These
are the abominations which they would plant in the garden of Israel. Tear them
out by the roots, I say!’”
“‘But, Saul,’” Joseph interjects, “‘how
can you compare those heathen beliefs with what the men of Galilee were
preaching? They based themselves on our Prophets. They do not deny our God,
neither do they turn from the Jewish way. On the contrary, they call men to
repentance, and they prepare for the great day to come....’
“‘Joseph! ... The hope of Israel, the
anointed Messiah, one that was hanged!’”
Saul, hot-tempered, authoritarian. Saul
would have none of it.
Joseph, mild, reflective, musing on the prophecies of Isaiah: “‘He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.’ And, ‘for the sins of my people was he stricken, and he made his grave with the wicked.’” Joseph wondered. “‘He bore our sickness, and was smitten with our transgressions.’” [Is. 53.]
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.
Dibby Allan Green has a BA in Religious Studies (Westmont College, 1978) and MA in Theology (Augustine Institute, 2019), is a lay Catholic hermit, and a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.