Acts 4:32-37
June 14, 2009
Patrick Preheim
Children of Encouragement
Joseph, a Cypriot Jew of Levitical lineage, has come to Jerusalem for the Pentecost celebration. Like others of his faith he wants to give thanks to God for the gift of the spring harvest and the gift of the Torah. Even though Levites had been dedicated to the spiritual well-being of Israel rather than cultivation of the land, Joseph had a bit of property (Robert W. Wall, New Interpreters Bible Commentary; entry on Acts 4:36-37, p. 97). Taken with the testimony of word and deed by a group following one named Jesus, Joseph decides to sell a parcel of land and give this money to the group. He was inspired by the way God was truly reaching out through these Christians. They collected money and food for distribution to the needy of their community—a type of MCC people. They preached a simple life so that others might simply live. They told people that Jesus can help them leave their shame and guilt behind. When Joseph laid the money down the leaders gave him a new name: Barnabas. This change of name is significant, but what is the meaning behind the name? All agree that “Bar” means son, but “Nabas” (or “Nebua”) is less clear. Some say say it is an Aramaic phrase whose meaning is no longer known (Charles Faw of the Believers Bible Commentary on Acts p. 69). Others believe it means “Son of Nebo” (Robert W. Wall, p. 97). Personally, I think “son of Nebo” makes sense because Mount Nebo in the Old Testament is a very important place.
Mt Nebo appears in the final chapter of Deuteronomy. It was the place where Moses died-- Moses represented the Torah. It was the place Joshua began to lead the people of God-- Joshua is the Hebrew name of Jesus. It was the place where the chosen people could for the first time see the Promised Land. What does it mean to be a “Son of Nebo”? It means letting the bondage of the past wilderness go. It means seeing the Promised Land. It means following Jesus. Luke, author of Acts, knew that the Jewish readers of the letter would get the connection, but for Gentiles unfamiliar with the Hebrew Scriptures he translates Barnabas as “encouragement”. It is an encouragement to let the past go. It is an encouragement to see the Promised Land. It is an encouragement to follow Jesus. Encouragement is how the church starts. And it is how the Spirit continues to sustain the people of the church.
Encouragement is how the most wayward among us come to faith and come to be leaders of the church. In chapter 9 of Acts a tormentor of Christians named Saul has a spiritual conversation and also a change of name. Now Paul wants to preach Christ rather than persecute Christians, but guess what-- the Christians of Jerusalem do not want to hear from Paul. No surprise here. Who would want to let the fox into the chicken house? Who would want to meet the man who had imprisoned family members and who had overseen the execution of friends? Who wants to let the anger and grudges of past conflict go? Not the early church, our text says, so God once again calls upon the Son of Nebo otherwise known as the Son of Encouragement. Barnabas advocates on behalf of Paul. He encourages the church to let the past go. The Spirit encourages us to let past wrongs go. Healing, ministry, and church growth happen when we forgive others as we have been forgiven.
Encouragement is how lives are saved. Some weeks back I received an inspirational story of encouragement in an e-mail from an attender of this congregation.
“A teacher in New York City decided to honour each of her seniors in High School by telling them the difference each of them had made. She called each student to the front of the class one at a time. First, she told each of them how they had made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon, imprinted with gold letters, which read, “Who I Am makes a Difference.” The teacher decided to do a class project, to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community. She gave each student three more blue ribbons, and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgement ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honoured whom, and report to the class in about a week. One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company, and honoured him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon, and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him two extra ribbons and said, “We’re doing a class project on recognition, and we’d like for you to go out, find someone to honour, and give them a blue ribbon”. Later that day, the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had a reputation of being a kind of grouchy fellow. He told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised...The junior executive took one of the blue ribbons and placed it right on his boss’s jacket... And then he asked, offering him the last ribbon, “would you take this extra ribbon, and pass it on by honouring somebody else? The teenager who gave me these is doing a school project, and we want to keep this ribbon ceremony going and see how it affects people. That night, the boss came home and sat down with his 14 year old son. He said, “The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office, and one of my employees came in and told me he admired me, and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine! He thinks I am a creative genius! Then he put a blue ribbon on me that says, “Who I Am Makes a Difference.” He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honour. As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about who I would honour with this ribbon, and I thought about you. I want to honour you. My days are hectic and when I come home, I don’t pay a lot of attention to you...Somehow, tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You’re a great kid, and I love you.” The startled boy started to sob and sob... He looked up at his father and said through tears, “Dad, earlier tonight I sat in my room and wrote a letter to you and Mom, explaining why I had took my life, and I asked you to forgive me. I was going to commit suicide tonight after you were asleep. I just didn’t think that you cared at all. The letter is upstairs. I don’t think I’ll need it after all.” His father walked upstairs and found a heartfelt letter full of anguish and pain. The boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch, but made sure to let all his employees know that they made a difference. The junior executive helped many other young people with career planning, one being the boss’ son, and never forgot to let them know that they made a difference in his life. And the young man and his classmates learned an important lesson.”
The way of Jesus is the way of encouragement. Lives are saved when we allow the Spirit to encourage others through us.
The Spirit’s work of encouragement flows through us regardless of age. I heard a story recently about an entire 8th grade church class that made a difference. This story comes from a retired pastor that I met at the MC Canada assembly. Fresh out of seminary the pastor felt overwhelmed by the tasks of preaching, marrying, burying, and baptizing. Privately, he gave God a one year probation to discern if he should continue in pastoral ministry. The 8th graders that summer were children of encouragement. The Spirit motivated group embraced the new pastor, took initiative to write a play based on a biblical text, and generally reflected the joy of being church. The minister was encouraged. He continued pastoring and has been a blessing to the Mennonite Church in Canada and Saskatchewan. And it started with 8th graders allowing themselves to be used by God’s Spirit. Even in the Promised Land we need encouragement. The prophets, priests and kings of our land need our encouragement to do the right thing or continue with a difficult task. We can do this if we are an 8th grader or a retiree.
The Spirit continues to encourage others around us and others through us. The remainder of this service will be given over to stories of the Spirit’s encouragement that we have witnessed among us. The Spirit will encourage us as we listen to the message of the children’s time. The Spirit will encourage us as we hear about our transitioning youth. The Spirit will encourage us as we hear about Colombians coming to Canada. The Spirit will encourage us as we hear an encounter Jack Driedger has had with God’s Spirit. The Spirit will encourage us as we hear music from the choir and as we sing hymns. May we be encouraged and in turn become the Holy Spirit’s children of encouragement. Amen.
Patrick Preheim, co-pastor Nutana Park Mennonite Church