The situation that unfolded in Lystra was pretty amazing. Paul and Barnabas found a man who had never walked since he was born. He saw the man while he was preaching and teaching and so Paul told him to stand, and he did. It was truly a miracle!
The people that were listening to Paul speak suddenly decided that he and Barnabas were Greek gods. That was their context. That was what they knew, it was their culture, the religious context in which they lived every day, and so they set about bringing bulls and wreaths out to the city gates to offer sacrifices to them. They were sure that the “gods” had come down to them in human form, which is ironic because that is exactly what Paul and Barnabas were attempting to turn them away from as they spoke to them about the one true God, the creator of all things, and how the people of Lystra can know him.
Yet now, the Jews from Pisidian Antioch and Iconium, those whom Paul and Barnabas had been in trouble with previously, show up in Lystra looking to continue to make trouble for the men as they preached and taught the people about Christ. The crowd, who were just about to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas as a result of the miracle that they had seen, now get angry as a result of what the Jews say about them, and stone Paul, dragging him outside of the city to leave him for dead.
They stoned him and left him for dead!
They were just about to offer bulls as sacrifices and wreaths and throw a big party because they thought that the gods had come to them, and now they go on to stone him. They try to kill him.
Was the miracle that they had seen not real? Was the guy who hadn’t been able to walk since birth now walking? Or was he not?
It was an amazing reversal, and it is certainly an important lesson for us with regard to the crowds of people that may form around us. No one should think that just because they have a crowd of people around them that they have agreement with their message and what they are doing. Numbers of people, crowds themselves, really mean nothing. What counts is what they are doing. How they are living. That which is changing within the community. If you have a crowd that is changing their way of living, in our case, changing to follow Christ, then you have a situation that is going well! Otherwise, you just have a crowd of people, and that crowd of people can turn on you at any moment.
Now, the point that struck me today in this story is what Paul does after he was stoned and dragged outside of the city. Check this out…
Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
Acts 14:19-20
First of all, I’m not sure why Paul wasn’t dead. The crowd was throwing stones at him. They were intent upon killing him. Did he lay down and pretend that he had died? Maybe he was knocked unconscious and then woke back up later after he had been dragged outside of the city? It is hard to say what precisely happened here.
But now, what does Paul do?
He gets back up and goes into the city!
What is the matter with this guy? Why would he go back into the city where they had just nearly killed him?
There is really only one reason that I can think of to explain Paul’s actions. He has been persecuted and chased out of both Pisidian Antioch and Iconium. Now he is nearly killed in Lystra. The only explanation for not having given up a long time ago is that he knows that the message that he is bringing to these people – for which they are now trying to kill him – is worth all of the punishment and abuse that he is receiving. He is willing to take it. He is willing to receive that punishment because there is nothing that is worth more than the message of eternal life that God offers to us through Jesus Christ.
Not the pain that he is feeling. Not riches. Not his fame. Not even his very life. Nothing is worth more than this message. It is crucial – truly a matter of life and death – for them to receive, to understand, and to live out this message of Christ.
Paul’s hope is that there will be some who will accept his message, and in fact, we see that there are some who believed his message. There were some that came and gathered around Paul after he had been left for dead, to care for him after the crowd had attempted to kill him. Paul had found a few people through his preaching and teaching that would believe and would go on to teach others. Maybe there were even be some one day in the future, amongst those who tried to kill him, believe themselves.
What great glory would be given to God for his love and mercy toward those that had tried to kill Paul, that they might one day know Christ! Paul himself had experienced this grace and mercy as he himself persecuted and killed Christians prior to knowing Christ. Now, Paul’s hope is that this same love and grace would come to the people of Lystra, and for this reason, he stands back up and walks back into the city, single-mindedly persevering for the hope of Christ for the people that he is teaching, and ultimately for the glory of God.