Today’s Scripture Reading (October
31, 2014): Acts 4
A recent
article exposed some of the plot holes in the Star Wars Saga. The plot holes
that the article described included the idea that the Millennium Falcon was at
once the fastest bucket of bolts around and yet was also way too slow for
interstellar travel (the posted speed of .5 past light speed would not allow
the ship to make any of the trips that the movie says it made), the curious
idea that while Luke’s Jedi training is supposed to take “a long time,” when
that story line is placed alongside the other story lines in the saga it
appears that it happened in an afternoon, and the curious idea that Princess
Leia, Luke Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi are all in hiding from the empire and
the evil megalomaniac Darth Vader (Leia’s and Luke’s Dad) and yet they don’t
seem to be hidden very well. In fact, it would seem that dear old Dad could
probably find all of them without the use of the force. Leia is a high profile
princess, Luke is living with an Uncle and has retained the family name of
Darth Vader – Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi (also known as Old Ben Kenobi) apparently
travels around wearing what amounts to the Jedi Knight Uniform (at least it is
the same type of clothing as the other Jedi Knight wear in the first three
movies) even though the Jedi had apparently been outlawed by the Empire. It
would seem that if the empire was really looking for them, they would have been
found.
Part of the
problem is that the writers of the later movies were attempting to write a backstory
that was over six hours long to explain what we saw in the first three movies.
And in providing the backstory, some cohesion in the events of the story is
lost (another example of this is that we find that Leia remembers her mother in
Episodes four to six, yet according to the back story provided in episode 3,
mom died giving birth to Leia and Luke. And if that is true then there is no
way that Leia could have remembered her mom.) Confused yet? So are the rest of
us.
Barnabas appears
on the scene at the tail end of Acts 4. We are simply told the he sold a field
and brought the money to the apostles. Luke simply sets Barnabas up as an
example of the kind of things that the followers of Christ were doing in the
days following Pentecost. But Barnabas also becomes an important figure in the
new church. He is the one who, at great expense to himself, seeks out Paul who
has been hiding out at home in Tarsus and convinces him that he needs to use
his all of the talents and knowledge that made him a great Pharisee in defense
of the Christian Church. Barnabas defended Paul to the disciples (indicating
that he had some sort of status or reputation among the disciples) and he went
on the first Missionary Journey with Paul. After Paul and Barnabas had a bit of
a falling out (a very minor one over Barnabas’ cousin John Mark), Barnabas
continued on his own Missionary Journeys, and according to church tradition was
stoned to death because of the faith. Barnabas has also been suggested as a
possible author of the anonymous canonical “Letter to the Hebrews,” although
that is strictly conjecture and there is no proof that this is true.
But we have also
been tempted to add a backstory for Barnabas. It has been suggested that he was
likely one of the extended group of disciples, the seventy or seventy-two that
Jesus sent out. And that is probable, but we don’t really know. But the
backstory that I like the best for Barnabas would indicate that he wasn’t one
of this extended group of disciples. In this backstory, Barnabas is the Rich
Young Man who came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do in order to be
saved. And Jesus told him to go and sell all that he had and give it to the
poor. The Bible says that Jesus loved this man, but he left Jesus broken
hearted, because he possessed much. We have no idea really whether the young
man and Barnabas were the same individual, but there is something incredibly
satisfying in believing that finally the young man, a little older and more
seasoned, followed what Jesus had taught and became the encourager of young Jesus
movement. I don’t know that this is true, but deep down I hope that it is.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 5
No comments:
Post a Comment