The Way
The Man Barnabas Took by the Hand
The one who stood beside him when everyone was afraid
Story
Saul came back to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples. But they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had really become a disciple. Only a few years before, he had been bursting into house after house and dragging believers away. The door would not open for him.
Then Barnabas, a generous disciple from Cyprus, took Saul by the hand and brought him to the apostles. Barnabas told them step by step how Saul had seen the Lord on the road to Damascus and heard him speak, and how in Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. After that, Saul went in and out among the disciples in Jerusalem.
Saul met Peter and stayed with him for fifteen days. He also met James, the Lord's brother, who later led the church in Jerusalem. When Saul argued boldly with the Greek-speaking Jews, they tried to kill him. When the brothers learned of it, they took Saul down to Caesarea and sent him off to his hometown of Tarsus.
Walk this scene on the map →Words of the Lord and of Paul
Barnabas brought Saul to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and how he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
I went up to Jerusalem to meet Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.
The man who once persecuted us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: Acts 9:26–30 · Gal 1:18–24
Background
Barnabas was a Levite born in Cyprus, and his given name was Joseph. The apostles called him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement.” He was the one who sold his field and laid the money at the apostles' feet. Cephas is Peter's name in Aramaic.
Pause and Reflect
Can I be the first to take the hand of someone everyone else avoids?