Acts 4:36 ...Barnabas( which means "One who Encourages").
and then in
Acts 9:27 Then Barnabas came to his help and took him to the apostles. He
explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord
had spoken to him. He also told them how boldly Saul had preached in the
name of Jesus in Damascus.
It struck me that someone had to reach out to people after Saul first
encountered the Christians in Jerusalem, which is where this took place.
Saul had been persecuting the Christians. They were meeting him for the
first time since his convesion and they didn't know anything it so they
were cautious. It took someone to make the introduction of Saul to the
Christians and that had to be a person who could reach out with kindness,
otherwise they wouldn't have trusted him.
Here in 2011 we have Barnabas' in our midst but they are few and far
between. I believe they are the thread that holds society together. People
seem to be to busy at trying to survive than to be able to reach out to
others. It's a cruel world. Need I go into it. There's no mistaking it.
It's the Barnabas' that make the first step, put out their hand and make
the first greeting.
Barnabas had sold his field and given the money to the church, probably
everything he owned. That in itself is a brave commitment. Here he was
escorting what appeared to be a dangerous man and having to convince
people that Saul had been converted and wasn't going to hurt them. Don't
forget: Saul was clever and he had probably fooled a lot of Christians and
then persecuted them with threats of violence and death with the authority
of a Roman.
