Acts 14:19-20 (NIV)
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.
Paul and Barnabas had prevented the people of Lystra from offering sacrifices to them, but they had not had the same kind of evangelistic success in Lystra that they had had in Antioch and Iconium. A big part of this was that there was not a strong Jewish base to start from. Paul did have a small group of people who had received Jesus, so he gathered them together and taught them.
That’s when trouble began. Jews from Antioch and Iconium heard that Paul and Barnabas had gone to Lystra. So, they came to town and denounced Paul and Barnabas as dangerous men who divided towns and disturbed the public peace. They denounced them as heretics who preached lies to gain a following for themselves.
That was all that was needed to set public opinion solidly against the evangelists. The townspeople quickly became a mob that stoned Paul. When they were sure he was dead, they dragged his body outside the city gates and left him there.
Paul’s disciples were heartbroken. First, they were ashamed that their fellow citizens had behaved that way, casting aside any semblance of legal process. But they were also heartbroken that they had lost their spiritual father and teacher. They gathered around Paul, figuring that they had better find someplace to bury him.
Imagine their surprise when Paul opened his eyes and spoke. A two-thousand-year-long debate was sparked over whether Paul had just been knocked unconscious, or if he had really been killed and God raised him from the dead. Many believe that Paul really died, and that he had his “third heaven” experience at this time (2 Corinthians 12:1-6) before God sent him back to his body.
But however it happened, Paul was alive. He went back into the city with the disciples and taught them more that they needed to know. The next morning, he and Barnabas left for Derbe, about ninety miles to the east.
Father, I find two things amazing in this account. The first is that You apparently were not done with Paul yet. Whether You preserved his life or restored it, the mob of Lystrans didn’t succeed in snuffing him out. The second is the fact that Paul went back to spend the night in the town again after all this had happened! His disciples, it seems, were that important to him. He wasn’t just going to disappear before he knew that they were going to be okay in his absence, even though his own life was clearly in danger. Such love for his disciples is a reflection of Your own sacrificial love and watchcase over those who serve You. Thank You for this illustration. Amen.
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