After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. – Acts 21:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 19, 2018): Acts 21

A couple of years ago, I wrote a monologue for a preaching class concerning the events of Pentecost Sunday from the point of view of the prophet Agabus. I dressed in a robe with sandals tied onto my feet and holding a staff in my hand, and I entered the class to talk to them with the words that I imagined that the prophet might speak to this group of students. One comment, admittedly muttered under his breath at the end of my presentation, was a question about whether or not Agabus even existed.

Not only did Agabus exist, but it is traditionally understood that he was one of the early adopters of Christianity and likely a major player in the early church. Just because we don’t know his name does not mean that he is not an important part of church history. He is only mentioned twice in the Bible, both times in the book of Acts, but both of his appearances are at key moments. In his first appearance, in Acts 11, he is among a group of prophets who have traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch, and it is Agabus who prophecies of a coming famine, which would hit the area in the mid-forties, during the reign of Claudius. His second appearance is in this passage, where he appears very much like an Old Testament Prophet, acting out his message of Paul’s arrest if Paul decided to continue to Jerusalem. This, too, would turn out to be true. Paul would go to Jerusalem and, there, he was arrested and sent to Rome in chains.

But according to the early church, these are not the only significant moments to which Agabus would be a witness. He is believed to have been a resident of Jerusalem who followed Jesus early on in his ministry. His name is listed among the seventy that Jesus sent out. He is believed to have been present with the Disciples at Pentecost. And, like Paul, Agabus was a missionary of the early church, going on his own missionary journeys, spreading the Gospel, and converting many. This missionary activity set him at odds with the Jews in Jerusalem. The set out to find Agabus and found him at Antioch. It was there that he was arrested, beat, and tortured before they finally placed a rope around his neck and dragged him out of the city and stoned him for his belief in Jesus.

Agabus shaped the early church with his teaching, his faith, and even his death. We may not recognize his name, but his story, like many other unknowns of the church, deserves to be told and celebrated.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 22