Sermon for 4 August 2002, 6.30pm Evensong, St Mary Magdalen, Sheet, published on www.trikeshed.com

Bible readings: 1 Kings 10:1-13, Acts 13:1-13

Our two readings today are both quite spectacular encounters, though spectacular in very different ways. The meeting between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon reads like a script or (I can imagine) the running order for an elaborate and expensive firework display. This is a point at which the reader of the history of the kingdom of Israel is reminded that this kingdom has taken its place on the world stage and can be seen to deserve unbelievable quantities of gold. But it’s also a very human encounter, the Queen of Sheba is overwhelmed not just by material things but by Solomon’s wisdom, and she recognizes that it is God’s love for Israel that has led to him being king. And in return the king gives the queen all that she desires and has asked for.

And our second encounter is between Paul, a sorcerer and a Roman proconsul. Not quite in the same league as a set piece display of opulence, but nevertheless the story I’m actually going to talk about because I can’t really cope with all that wisdom and wealth. Paul and Barnabas set sail for Cyprus, they proclaim the word of God in the Jewish synagogues, and then follows this meeting between the proconsul or governor, Paul who gives the good news to him, and a sorcerer called Elymas Bar-Jesus who tries to put him off, for which Paul makes him go blind, which somewhat convinces the governnor. OK, so it’s not the entry of the Queen of Sheba, but this story is really quite special and has a lot to teach us, and I’m going to pick out three things we might learn especially if we’re thinking about the mission of the church, how to share our faith with others.

The first important thing about this story is that Saul and Barnabas are sent by the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus said, his last words before he ascended to heaven:

Ripples moving further and further out. And they have indeed been witnesses in Jerusalem and been up through Judea and Samaria, and now they are in Antioch. And the Holy Spirit sends Saul and Barnabas on what was to be known as Paul’s first missionary journey. They are sent by the Holy Spirit – so what does this really mean? Well, and this is the first point really, the Holy Spirit’s guidance came not out of the blue but in quite a deliberate way, following what we would recognize as the activities of a church. They assembled together, prophets and teachers. They worshipped the Lord, they fasted. And they listened. And as they heard the prompting of the Holy Spirit, they heard as it were the names of Barnabas and Saul, so they fasted some more, and prayed for them, and laid their hands on them, and sent them off. That’s what a journalist would see, a bunch of people laying their hands on two men and sending them off. But what was actually going on was the Holy Spirit sending them off. Not by chance, but because of the attitude of that church at Antioch. What a wonderful example for us, in our church, at this particular point in our growth and history, as we seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Well, they were sent out and the very first place they come to is the island of Cyprus. And certainly if you look at that island now you’ll see that it’s a pretty good example of going away from the Jewish lands to the "ends of the earth". I was given a taste of the richness of the history of this divided island when I saw the name Cyprus up in the list of participants in the Commonwealth Games. By the way, which is the other Commonwealth country that Paul visited? (No, it didn’t have to be in the Commonwealth at the time!).

And now we come to the second point. We have Paul and Barnabas bringing the gospel to Cyprus, and they are sent by the Holy Spirit. And here we have one of the best things about the book of Acts. Because a less honest tract might make more of this first call on the first great missionary journey of the great apostle Paul. Perhaps hundreds of people being baptized? Thousands hearing the word of the Lord? Well it was all much more individual than that, more petty even. By the way, it wasn’t even the first time the Gospel had been preached in Cyprus. But quite apart from that, what do we actually get to read about? It’s basically an encounter involving three people, and at the end we have someone who might not even have been completely converted, just someone amazed at the teaching of the Lord. It was actually quite messy and complex. The Roman governor or proconsul, also confusingly called Paul, was an intelligent man and he sent for Barnabas and Paul because he wanted to hear the word of God. A good start, surely all Paul had to do was to tell him this good news. But the complex twist comes from this third person, a false prophet, a sorcerer, but someone the governor obviously listens to because he has him on his staff, not an unusual thing by the way. And this sorcerer tries to turn the governor away from the faith. So a tug-of-war develops. The lesson here is that the mission of the church is not like some relentless march where everything in our path is swept up, not even under the guidance and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Sharing the Gospel comes down to meetings between twos and threes, messy encounters, opposition on a personal level. The mission field is human relationships.

So those are our first two lessons. Mission involves being sent by the Holy Spirit, which is something we can take part in. It involves close, complex, personal encounters. And what’s the third point? Well, this is the awkward bit of the story. It’s all to do with what Paul does, when filled with the Holy Spirit, when this sorcerer called Elymas Bar-Jesus tries to oppose him. Does he simply work harder on the governor? Does he try to tell the sorcerer of the great love of Christ for him? These would surely be how the Holy Spirit should work, how the missionaries could demonstrate God’s love in action. But Paul doesn’t do any of those things! He denounces the man and utters what is to all intents and purposes a curse, and the man becomes so blind and has to grope around to find someone who will lead him. All this to impress the governor with the outcome of some show of strength? What’s going on? It’s not the way we would expect God to want us to work. Well, just a few things about this incident because I don’t think we should duck the issue.

• First of all, we are talking about overt opposition to the good news. Not just an unbeliever, but someone who perhaps saw his livelihood threatened if this Christian Gospel were taken too seriously. Even with the power of the Holy Spirit, we too might take direct action if we met deliberate opposition. Think about it, under what circumstances would we use the power we’ve been given to meet a direct attack on the gospel?
• Second, it was not so harsh, what was done. We are told that it is "for a time". A temporary inconvenience, which in time will become but a memory.
• Third, it involved suffering, but that is right at the heart of the Gospel. Turning from sin was never going to be painless. The man was blind in a very real sense to the goodness of the good news of Jesus, and he would have to lose his spiritual blindness just as surely as he should lose his temporary physical blindness.
• Fourth, it happened so that a greater good would come from it. We don’t know the final outcome, but we have a hint of it in that the proconsul, watching all this happen, believed the gospel
• Finally, it reminds us of what happened to Paul himself. He too was made blind for a time. It was his preparation for one of the greatest Christian ministries of all time.

I hope these points help move this incident from being a quirky, rather distasteful example of how Paul used his spiritual powers to being something we can begin to understand. What remains is that we in our mission should not be surprised if our message has harsh consequences. The Christian faith we celebrate and proclaim is not a fairy story. The suffering and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has consequences. There’s a terrible tendency in our society to want to anaesthetize everything, I don’t mean physical pain but somehow everything. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that the Christain faith is not "nice". It’s a challenge I find hard to face: if we believe the Gospel, if we want to obey Jesus’ call to be witnesses that ripple out from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth, then we have to oppose those who oppose us. We may not be called upon to denounce people as Paul did (and I wouldn’t expect many to do that) but we should not be surprised if bringing people into God’s kingdom involves surprise, suffering and powerful events in people’s lives that cannot be ignored but have to be faced.

Those are my lessons from this little story in Acts. Whether to Cyprus or to Sheet, we are sent by the Holy Spirit through prayer and touch. We are sent to encounter people in real complex situations, it’s not an abstract exercise. And we should expect it to be a serious business and not just nice. This is the price and the privilege of being, as Paul said later from the prophetic words of Isiah, of being made

© Mike Knee, 2002

[The "other Commonwealth country" that Paul visited was Malta]

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