Good Wednesday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
The word ABANDON is filled with emotion especially if that word is used with family or friends, right? Have you ever felt abandoned by someone who should have loved you?
Yesterday we witnessed a very powerful spiritual victory as the apostle Paul had confronted Jewish sorcerer Elymas calling him a “child of the devil and enemy of everything that is right.”(Acts 13:10) God struck Elymas blind, but meanwhile the proconsul of Paphos, Sergius Paulus, had been convinced of the Gospel truth and power which Paul had proclaimed. Sergius became the first high ranking Cypriot official to become a follower of Jesus Christ. (Acts 13:12)
That event concluded the first, and very significant phase, of this ‘missionary journey’ to which Barnabas and Saul had been commissioned by the leaders of the Christian movement in Syrian Antioch, remember? (Acts 13:1-3) It was here at Paphos, that Saul Paulus began using the name PAUL, a short version of his second name. (Acts 13:9)
After this powerful spiritual victory, in the palace of proconsul Sergius Paulus, it appears Paul and Barnabas spent some time in fervent prayer seeking to know from Jesus what they should do next. Was their mission complete? Should they return to Syrian Antioch and report what God had done on Cyprus Island, or did God want them to push out further, beyond Cyprus? If so, where?
Paphos was a port city on the south-western side of the island. From there ships went regularly north to modern day Turkey or west to Greece and even Europe. Dr. Luke records this major development: “From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.” (Acts 13:13) This is a very significant verse in the Bible. May I point out why?
First… while it may have been subtle, did you notice the leadership change?
Up to this point the order of this team has always been Barnabas first, then Saul and John Mark. Here, for the first time Paul is identified as the team leader and the others are called “his companions”. Clearly Paul was far more theologically educated and trained as a Jewish Pharisee, but Barnabas had been a follower of Jesus longer than Saul had been.
However, something significant happened here and from this moment forward the focus of the book of Acts and much of the remainder of the New Testament shifts. The Holy Spirit draws our focus to what God was doing in and through this one man, the apostle Paul, and his travels, his church planting, his discipleship of young men who travel with him, and his writings to those churches which his teams begin all across Central Asia. This is a very significant development in the story of the Bible.
Second… Pamphylia was the coastal province of what is today southern Turkey.
By ship, they would have traveled about 300 miles to one of the coastal ports of Pamphylia, perhaps Attalia or Magydos. Perga, where Luke reports they arrived, was a city inland about 12 miles from the Mediterranean coast. Like the other towns mentioned so far in this journey, Perga was a city with a sizable Jewish population and therefore a Synagogue where Paul could go to meet with the Jewish men of Perga.
Because of Paul’s Pharisee background and training, he would have been initially welcomed to visit and speak at any Synagogue in the entire Roman empire, at least until he began proclaiming Jesus as the Christ, the Jewish Messiah. Then, of course, things would change and often violence erupted as most Jews refused to hear Paul’s explanation of the Scriptures which were fulfilled in Jesus.
Third… did you notice the little phrase “where John left them to return to Jerusalem.”? (Acts 13:13) Do you hear “abandonment”?
What exactly happened here, we do not know, but clearly young John Mark had reached his limit for this adventure and wanted to go back home to Jerusalem. We don’t know John’s age, but I’m guessing he was not yet 25 years old. Also, I’m assuming John’s visit to Syrian Antioch was by far the furthest away from home he’d ever been, and therefore Cyprus Island would have been a very big step for John. Pamphylia, however, probably seemed to John to be the far end of the world. John longed for home.
Pause. What is your capacity for adventure? How willing are you to be stretched by God outside your comfort zone? I realize it’s because I was raised as the son of missionaries in a foreign country, but I have loved filling my passport with the stamps of foreign countries and I especially get excited when I can visit missionaries in faraway places who will show me what Jesus is doing in those remote places!
John Mark had not yet acquired that spiritual adventurous passion, so he bailed. He abandoned his cousin Barnabas and Paul the apostle, and evidently, he took the next available ship back probably to Joppa and then inland he hiked to Jerusalem. We have no record of what he said to his mother Mary when he finally got home about all he had experienced. He’d been gone at least a year, maybe two years or more. I imagine as soon as Peter and the other apostles heard John Mark was home they quickly brought him in for questioning about what he had experienced.
The Holy Spirit is silent regarding the results of this ‘abandonment’. We don’t know how it affected Paul and Barnabas in Perga or how long they remained there. We don’t know how John’s return to Jerusalem affected John or his mother or what God was doing in Jerusalem.
It’s not until Acts 15:36, perhaps 3 or even 4 years later, that finally the pain of this abandonment surfaces in the relationship between Paul and Barnabas and they end their partnership! Paul took Silas to launch out on another missionary journey while Barnabas gave his young cousin John Mark a second chance as they set out on their own journey. We’ll look at that more closely when our chronological journey brings us to that event.
For today, let’s pause here giving deeper reflection to what happened. Both in the decision Paul and Barnabas made to push further out into regions where the Gospel was not known, and secondly John’s decision to abandon them and return home.
The “lessons learned” notes below will help you dig more deeply into what the Holy Spirit wants you and me to learn here. Might there be some ‘abandonment healing’ God wants to do in your life? Might Jesus be challenging you to consider bigger faith steps with God?
Don Moen has written and sings a very powerful song about Jesus being our healer at the link below, and let’s meet here again tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: Acts 13:13.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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