So today is St. Barnabas Day. Saint who? Yeah, I know Barnabas is not all that well known. The only person named Barnabas I ever knew was the character Barnabas Collins in the old soap opera “Dark Shadows.”

Actually, Barnabas was not this saint’s real name. He was really called Joseph. He was Jewish-Christian from Cyprus who got nicknamed Barnabas which means son of encouragement. He is remembered as an evangelist to the Gentiles. He traveled with Paul in his first missionary journey and was a defender of the Gentile mission at the Council of Jerusalem. He had a falling out with Paul over whether to bring Barnabas’s cousin (or nephew) John Mark with them on another missionary journey. In the end, Barnabas took John Mark with him on a missionary trip to Cyprus. His ultimate fate is unknown, but there is a tradition that he was martyred in Cyprus around A.D. 61.

I know some people may react to this information with the thought, “Well, that’s sort of interesting, maybe, but so what?” The “so what” is that with out folks like Barnabas, Christianity might have remained tiny sect within Judaism. Some of the first Christians decided to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to people who were of different cultures. They didn’t just go to people who were just like them. The result is that people like most of us got the opportunity to follow Christ. 

We can’t let culture, race, language or even age get in the way of sharing the gospel with everyone.

Go! Make disciples!

Read Acts 4:36-37 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne