Preached at the all age service 15 Nov 2014
Story
This all happened a very long time
ago.
Location
We live in the middle of nowhere,
well just outside the middle of nowhere actually. We live here
because it's a retirement home for old generals. My dad was a
general – legatei
is our word, and we moved around the empire when I was a kid, but
when he got too old to serve they sent us here. Now we live on a
huge estate just outside the city of Lystra. Well they call it a
city, but I've seen real cities. Anyway you know it as Kistraii
its in the province of Galatia – an area you call Turkey.
Language
You can tell its the back of beyond –
they even have their own language, they understand Latin – when
they want to, but they choose not to speak it. We've been here long
enough now to have learnt the basics of Lyconian, but we still speak
Latin at home.
Condition and lack of cure
You should know that when I was born
my ankles were not formed properly, so I never learnt to walk. I'm
OK now though, and that's what I'm going to tell you about today.
My brothers had to carry me
everywhere, and if it hadn't been for my mum I'd probably have been
dead before I'd got old enough to have a story to tell. All I ever
wanted to do as a child was run with my brothers, and though I was
more accepting by that time I still really wanted to be normal. Mum
had taken me everywhere – to all sorts of doctors, priests of who
knows what religions, representatives of every local god in every
place we stopped – all I got out of it was pain, nothing ever made
my ankles work. It was all mumbo jumbo and never made any sense.
Somehow we had upset the gods and they had to be paid some price to
calm them down, then I would get better, but like I said – all I
got was pain.
Jews from Iconium
One day we heard that some Jews had
come from Iconium. It's 20 miles north, and not an easy journey.
There are hardly any Jews here, so we didn't know why they'd come,
but mum would never miss an opportunity, so my brothers hauled me
down to the square in the centre of the city and we sat and listened
to them.
Odd couple
They were an odd couple, one was tall
and looked like he was a prince, he didn't say much. The other was
short and stocky with a bald head and spoke to the people. Once you
started to listen you were hooked – at least I was. A lot of the
locals had stopped to listen. He was talking about one God, one god
to rule them all. Just like all the others this God was angry about
the way we behaved, but unlike all the others He had done something
about it.
Stand up
I was paying close attention to
everything he said, almost getting lost in it. I noticed that he
kept looking at me. He spent more and more time facing in my
direction. Then he stared right at me and said “Stand up on your
feet”. My brothers and the crowd must have though he was mad, but
I just obeyed, once I was up the world was different, I started to
walk around. I was rather hesitant at first, but both my feet were
pointing in the right direction and my ankles were holding my weight.
I felt like jumping up and down and running around, but I didn't
know how to do either yet.
Gods have come
I was even more surprised when the
locals started shouting “The gods have come down to us in human
form”. They began to repeat it like a chant.
“The gods have come down to us in
human form”
“The gods have come down to us in
human form”
Then the penny dropped. They really
believed the old legend.
Lycaonian Legend
They had a story that said a long
time ago Zeus – the king of the gods in heaven, and Hermes – the
messenger, had come down from heaven disguised as humans to visit
them. They had gone from house to house looking for a place to stay,
but everywhere they went they were turned away. They kept going, and
they kept being turned away. They had visited a thousand households
when, nearly out of town they came upon an old couple who welcomed
them in, and even though they had almost nothing, provided Zeus and
Hermes with a meal and a place to stay. As a reward, they were the
only people left after the gods flooded the valley, and their house
was transformed into a marble pillared, gold roofed temple, and the
old couple became their priests.
Sacrifice, Party
So that was it, this time they were
determined not to be caught out like their ancestors had been. There
was a temple to Zeus just outside the city so the priests rushed to
it and brought back a bull, and they were prepared to sacrifice and
provide a feast for all present. These guys really do know how to put
on a party – loads of food, loads of wine, and loads of
questionable behaviour. They would have the square decorated in
minutes, and a fire built, and the bull sacrificed as Barnabas' feet.
Paul realises what's happening
It took Paul a while to realise what
was going on, he had finished speaking, because after my miracle –
wow that still sounds good - “my miracle” the crowd had been too
distracted to hear any more. So Paul and Barnabas had gone to the
house they were staying in. Someone had asked them to come out again
for the sacrifice, I supposed.
Tearing Cloths
Anyway, they both ran out of the
house tearing their cloths. That's a strange thing to do – but
then Jews have their strange customs just like everybody else. Why
would you tear your clothes? Specially when you're travelling in the
only clothes you own? I found out later that it means they are very
upset about what is happening, and they think it will offend God.
Paul said that only God should be worshipped, and that men and women
should never be worshipped.
Paul's Speech
So Paul shouted at them at the top of
his voice
“Men, why are you doing this? We
too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news,
telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God,
who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. In the
past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left
himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain
from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty
of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
Well, it was only a few words, but it
seemed to get through to them. They wanted their party, they wanted
an excuse to feast, but once they are told the reason for the party
is not the right reason they slowly went home, and the bull lived to
be sacrificed another day.
Jews causing trouble
Just as it was all quieting down some
more strangers appeared. They said they had come from Iconium and
that some of them had come from Antioch – now that's a real city.
Then the arguments really started – I think you say 'It all kicked
off'. There were people shouting and fighting and arguing for ages.
I didn't understand it all so I mostly just stood (just stood, what a
pleasure it was to just stand).
Then the crowd turned, as only crowds
can do, and picked up stones and started throwing them at Paul. This
wasn't a proper stoning. There are places set aside when a proper
stoning is done, places where you can't hit the wrong people with
your stones, and where the stones are big enough to cause death
reasonably quickly. Here they just grabbed whatever they could find
and threw it as hard as they could. He took a lot of stones to the
head and pretty much everywhere else. There was nothing we could do.
He stood there taking it for a while, then suddenly just collapsed
on the ground.
Reaction to Paul's death
I was shocked and very upset that the
man who had healed me was dead so quickly, before I had even got to
hear what he had to say. Some of the men dragged his body out of the
city.
Barnabas and the others who had come
with Paul followed them. A few of the crowd followed as well, I
walked slowly behind them.
Prayer for Paul
They surrounded his body and were
silent for what seemed like an age, then another miracle happened.
Paul wasn't dead, just unconscious, now, slowly he got up. Then
another miracle happened Paul and the others and the few from the
city walked back into the city. That was real bravery. I hoped the
crowd had dispersed, or it was likely they would have another go at
him.
Paul and Barnabas leave
The next day they all left. You
could see that Paul was not walking right, as he went. His
determination to tell people about his God and about Jesus, the
Christ was amazing.
Timothy
One of the people who followed Paul's
friends out to where he was dumped was Timothy – he was about my
age, and when they had gone he gathered us all together to talk and
pray about the things we had heard and seen. We began to meet
regularly to worship the God who loves us so much that He sent his
son as a sacrifice for us. The God who was angry at us for our
behaviour, but solved the problem for us because we can't do it for
ourselves. The God who gives us the Holy Spirit to connect with us
and gives us insight and courage in the face of all sorts of
problems. He encouraged us to start building a church, and that is
what I have been doing for the last 25 years. In that time hundreds
of people have joined us.
Paul and Barnabas back
A few months later we saw Paul and
Barnabas again retracing their steps. Paul still wasn't walking
right. This time, when they left, Timothy left with them. You may
know of Timothy – he's the Bishop of Ephesus now, and Paul wrote to
him reminding him of the troubles he had here and how God had rescued
him from all of them.
Conclusion
So that's my story, that's how I came
to know Jesus as my Lord and saviour.
Its been a struggle here, building
the church, there is still plenty of opposition, the people in the
temple of Zeus don't like us and take every opportunity to remind us
of what happened. We're OK, we have Jesus, and we have Paul's
example of bravery and determination to copy.
That's pretty much what I told Luke a
few years back, but I guess he will cut it down a bit when he writes
his book.
ihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legatus
iihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lystra
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