Focal Passage: Acts 14:11-23
Sometimes we may find ourselves in a position of miscommunication. This is especially true when we have different languages, cultures and social practices. Years ago, we ministered at a church that was close to a large university. The university would close a number of dormitories during long holidays to conserve energy and costs since most of the students would return home during this time.
The international students, however would either have to move to another dorm or go somewhere else if they could not go home. My wife and I thought it would be a wonderful way to share the love of God and the gospel message on a global venue. If you cannot go to the world, bring the world to you. We contacted the university’s international student relations department and offered to host a student, who could not return home for the holidays. It was a wonderful experience and we enjoyed doing it for many years.
Our first student was a young woman from Japan. She could barely speak English and communicated mostly by hand gestures and sounds along with facial expressions. She arrived at our home just before Thanksgiving.
Nimmo
As we shared with her why we celebrate the holiday, we mentioned that we would be eating a big fat turkey. She began to giggle and then laugh. In broken English, she asked us what was the turkey’s name.
Confused, we asked her what she meant. Being completely naïve about our culture, she explained that she had heard other students call one another “turkey” so much, that she thought we were being funny. Classic case of, “lost in translation.”
In our lesson today, we find something similarly happened with Paul and Barnabas. After leaving Iconium, they traveled to Lystra. Apparently, they began preaching the gospel on the streets because there is no mention of a synagogue by Luke. They encounter a man who had been crippled since birth.
After Paul pronounces God’s healing on the man, the crowd became ecstatic. They stopped speaking Greek and began shouting in their Lycaonian dialect which Paul and Barnabas did not understand. The crowd interpreted the miracle as a gift from the gods who had come down in human form. They thought Barnabas was Zeus and Paul was Hermes and began to they made plans to worship them.
Paul and Barnabas suddenly realized what was happening. They tore their robes in anguish and rushed into the crowd to stop them from offering sacrifices to them.
They quickly established the fact that they were just men, not gods. Then they proceeded to present the one true God, reminding them that they were only preaching the Good News they had been charged to do by the creator of all things. It was not their miracle. It was the one true God who had healed the man.
The passage ends with a group of Jews from Antioch and Iconium joining together and traveling to Lystra to stir up opposition to Paul and Barnabas. It culminated in Paul being stoned and left for dead. But he survives and he and Barnabas left the next day for Derbe.
From Derbe they returned by the way they had come to strengthen the believers and appoint church leadership. Upon returning to Perga, they sailed back to Syria Antioch where they shared all that God had done. B&R
