St. Barnabas 16. Reflection on Antioch Years.
Continuing the story of St. Barnabas’
life, the next recorded event in the Bible is the first missionary journey of
Barnabas, Saul, and Mark. But before we set on the journey with them we might
reflect on Barnabas’ years in Antioch (probably three, but could be about
five).
This mentoring task may well have been
through the influence of Barnabas’ goodness, gift of the Holy Spirit, and gift
of faith (Ac 11:24) – in contrast to Saul’s more fiery temperament and pride.
There also seems to have been a theological understanding which probably came
about both from the mentoring and the practical missionary work. We can imagine
many a conversation between Barnabas and Saul about Jewish practices and
Gentile ways: what is necessary to be a follower of Christ? What would Rabban
Gamaliel say? What did Jesus teach? And over time they discerned God’s will
and, as we saw during the famine visit, presented their understanding to the Apostles
in Jerusalem to verify (Gal 2:2-10). Historian Daniel-Ropes also writes, “So it
is abundantly clear that in the community at Antioch the fundamental problems
of the choice between Jewish particularism and Christian universalism had been
solved.” [2] Jew and Gentile in Antioch even ate their meals together! (cf., Gal 2:11-13.)
Canon Lucien Cerfaux has similar
observations: “There were times when Paul gained from the experience of others.
Barnabas, perhaps to his own surprise, discovered before Paul did the
possibilities of introducing Christianity to heathens who had not been prepared
in the synagogue. Paul profited both from Barnabas’ acumen and from the
audacity of the Hellenist Christians of Antioch who, after founding the pagan
church of Antioch, continued to lead their lives as prophets and teachers in
it. [Cf., Ac 13:1-3.] It was in Antioch that St. Paul came to realize clearly
the urgent necessity of freeing from all Jewish practices those Christians who
were converts from paganism.” [3]
Another interesting observation: William
S. Kurz, SJ, notes what may be the Apostles’ different missionary approach to
Jews and to Gentiles. He observed that when Peter is preaching to a Jewish
audience, his approach is to convince them that Jesus, resurrected from the
dead, is the Messiah (e.g., Ac 2:36), but when speaking to a Gentile audience,
his approach focuses on Jesus as the one appointed by God as judge of the
living and the dead and through whom forgiveness of sins may be received (e.g.,
Ac 10:42-43). We see this same approach to the Gentiles with St. Paul (e.g., in
Ac 17:31). [4] So this may well have been the manner of evangelization to Jews and
to Gentiles by the early Church, including Barnabas, who would have undoubtedly
learned it from Peter, and by Saul/St. Paul.
As a final note, Glanville Downey, a
historian on Antioch of Syria, points to the following contributions Antioch
made to the development of the Church: (1) The acceptance of Gentiles without
imposition of the entire Jewish law determined the ecumenical character of
Christianity. (2) Antioch’s financial resources, not limited to the famine in
Jerusalem, provided the finances for the early missionary journeys, something
the Jerusalem Church could not have afforded. (3) Antioch’s central location
with well-established communication network was a natural headquarters for
expansion of the Church in all directions. [5]
And next week we will follow the Holy Spirit’s new call upon St. Barnabas.
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.