13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
Galatians 4:13-16
Following up on the previous devotional (#6) from Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas spent about three years on their first missionary journey. They spent a “long time” (Acts 14:3) in the Galatia area, despite Paul’s being stoned almost to death. While there, Paul was likely sick with some affliction, as indicated in the above passage from Galatians chapter 4.
Look at the Google maps of the first missionary journey to Lystra, once they reached modern-day Turkey. The missionary duo ascended up to nearly 6,000 feet elevation in the mountainous region (see left chart, showing the altitude, created from Google Earth). The grueling 350 miles travel by foot was only exasperated by Paul’s sickness, yet he remained faithful and bold.
It was also during this stay that another incident occurred which is not recorded in Acts. Peter (called “Cephas” in Galatians 2) along with men associated with the Lord’s half-brother James came from Jerusalem and demonstrated some legalism by their not sitting with non-Jewish believers.
11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
Galatians 2:11-14
Paul’s courageous stand in support of the Gentiles of Galatia, his tenacity despite physical sickness, and his being stoned by the people of Lystra, all of these things endeared Paul to the believers in this area.
It will be helpful to brush up on your Greek Mythology before we head over to Greece and Turkey. The Apostle Paul breathed and moved among the Greek god atmosphere, and while we think we live in increasingly pagan surroundings, imagine the boldness of Paul bringing Christianity to the Roman empire. He not only faced down historic and embedded Greek and Roman mythology, he also contended with the contemporary cult of forced worship of the Roman emperor. And still battled his own Jewish adversaries to boot.
Acts 14 is an excellent case in point of knowing Greek history. Indulge yourself to recall a lesser known mythological story, (taken verbatim from greekmythology.com)
Philemon and his wife Baucis were an old couple that appeared in a myth that is lesser known among those of Greek and Roman mythology. They lived in the region of Tyana, which may have been in Phrygia. The gods Zeus and Hermes (or Jupiter and Mercury in Roman mythology) had been disguised as peasants and asked for a place to spend the night; all the inhabitants of Tyana rejected them. They finally reached the poor cottage of the old couple, who unlike their rich neighbors accepted them graciously and offered them the best hospitality they could with their simple means.
While eating, Baucis saw that the wine pitcher was still full despite having served their guests numerous times, and realized that the two guests must have been gods. She mentioned it to her husband and the two of them started apologizing for not having anything better to serve them.
They then decided to kill the goose that they had as a guardian pet, but when Philemon tried to catch it, the goose ran in Zeus' lap. The god said that there was no need to slay the goose; instead they should pack up their few belongings and leave their cottage, because they would destroy the whole town for the lack of hospitality of its residents.
The couple followed the gods to the nearby mountain, from where they saw that the town had been destroyed by a flood; where their cottage once stood, now lay a glorious temple. The couple asked that they serve as guardians of the temple and Zeus accepted; they also asked that when it was time for one of them to die, that the other would die as well.
So, when their time was due, Zeus gave them their wish and transformed them into an intertwining pair of trees, an oak and a linden. .
The area of Tyana in Phrygia (the setting of the Greek Myth of Zeus and Hermes coming down) is only 150 miles from Lystra. What I find fascinating is not only did Paul and Barnabas become the objects of worship from the people, but how quickly it turned to a "lack of hospitality" of its residents. That was the very point of judgment according to the pagan myth!!
If there was a theme from today’s devotional, it would be stand strong despite physical affliction (Paul’s illness), Christian legalism (Cephas and those from James in Jerusalem), and pagan opposition (Greek mythology).
