Acts of Barnabas

Today, we read of the story of Barnabas. Though he was not one of the Twelve and was often overshadowed by Paul, Barnabas must have occupied a prominent status in the early Church. We first met him in Acts 4.
Thus Joseph who was surnamed by the apostles Barnabas (which means, Son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
sold a field which belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet (Acts 4:36-37).
In this Joseph, we may envision a generous and outgoing man. His pleasant personality earned him a nickname Barnabas, Son of encouragement. From then on, we know Barnabas rather than Joseph.
We met Barnabas again when Saul, after his conversion on the road to Damascus, tried unsuccessfully to join the believers whom he had persecuted. Barnabas came to his aid.
But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus (Acts 9:27).
The story is a little bit simplified. According to Paul's own account in the Epistle to the Galatians, he went to Arabia before returning to Damascus (Galatians 1:17).
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days.
But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother (Galatians 1:18-19).
In Paul's account, he stayed in Damascus for three years before going to Jerusalem. He did not mention his being persecuted by the Jews in Damascus. He did not mention Barnabas introducing him to the apostles. Of course, not mentioning persecution does not mean there was no persecution against Paul. Not mentioning Barnabas does not mean Barnabas had not helped arranging Paul's meeting with the apostles. In Galatians, Paul was trying to show that his preaching did not come from the Twelve, but directly from Jesus. Barnabas was not his focus.
After meeting Peter, Paul left for Syria and Cilicia, whose capital city was Tarsus, the hometown of Paul (Acts 9:11, 21:39). Probably, Peter had advised him to return to his own hometown for a while. They had probably reached an understanding that Paul should preached to the Gentiles while Peter to the Jews.
So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem,
preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists; but they were seeking to kill him.
And when the brethren knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off to Tarsus (Acts 9:28-30).
Here, both Acts and the Galatians agree. Leaving Jerusalem, Paul did return to Tarsus.
Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
And I was still not known by sight to the churches of Christ in Judea;
they only heard it said, "He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." (Galatians 1:21-23)
After fourteen years, Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem with Titus (Galatians 2:1). Very likely, they went to attend the Jerusalem Council to settle matters arising from the admission of Gentiles into the Church Acts 15.
We have to rely on Acts to know the activities of Barnabas, especially the fourteen years between Paul's return to Tarsus and the Jerusalem Council. Here Luke brought in the second centre of evangelization --- Antioch.
Believers, probably from Jerusalem, fleeing persecutions reached Antioch and preached to the Jews. At the same time, men from Cyprus preached to Greeks.
Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to none except Jews.
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus (Acts 11:19-20).
Does Cyprus sound familiar? Yes, it was the hometown of Barnabas. Naturally, when the church in Jerusalem heard the news, they sent Barnabas over to strengthen them.
When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose;
for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large company was added to the Lord (Acts 11:23-24).
Seeing the rapid growth of the church in Antioch, Barnabas sensed that he and his Cyprus comrades were not capable enough to handle this piece of fertile ground. He remembered a Pharisee called Saul.
So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul;
and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church, and taught a large company of people; and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians (Acts 11:25-26).
Barnabas had a large heart. He did not take Antioch exclusively as his own turf. He was skilful in team building. Later, together with Paul, he embarked on the first missionary journey of the Christian church. Though he parted company with Paul over the issue of John Mark in the second missionary journey after the Jerusalem Council, his contribution to the spread of Christianity is no less important than that of Paul.

My Lord, You constantly call great and noble souls to work for You in bring salvation to the world. We have a lot to learn from them. Let us imitate the generosity of St. Barnabas, work as a team to spread Your good news of reconciliation to our neighbours. Amen.