Chapter 14 starts predictably enough - Paul and Barnabas go to the synagogue and speak effectively, such that a number of Jews and Gentiles come to faith in Christ (v. 1). Beginning in verse 2, things begin to get wild as opponents rise up and bring trouble for our heroes.
In a new city, Lystra (v. 8), a miraculous and kind act of healing ends up with Paul and Barnabas first having to passionately work to convince a mob they are not gods worthy of worship, followed by the crowd being turned against them and dragging Paul out of the city to be stoned to death. The same crowd that was bent on worshiping Paul is now pelting him with rocks. Crazy. Paul survives and the group moves on, ending back where they started in Antioch of Syria, but stopping along the way to encourage and appoint church leaders in other towns they had visited earlier on the journey (including Lystra, the site of the stoning!). Back in Antioch the chapter ends with the apostles reporting on their travels and presumably getting some well deserved rest.
I heard a sermon once by Nathan Miller of Christ Community Church in which he talked some about how the Book of Acts, while absolutely the inspired Word of God, at the same time reads like a great adventure story. The past two chapters 13 and 14 are a great example of that. In fact, I'd love for someone to make this stuff into a movie. I remember when I was probably 9 years old, that NBC made a miniseries about some of Acts, called "A.D". I had no idea what I was watching at the time so I have no idea if it was any good or not. I wonder if you can find it on DVD.
No comments:
Post a Comment