Stoned - Acts 14:19-28

Satan doesn’t just let go when someone he does like leaves, he follows them, and in this case, “certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium” followed Paul and Barnabas to Lystra, and despite having just healed a man crippled form birth, “persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.” That is a pretty significant escalation in such a short period of time. What probably happened was that these Jews came into to town and found the few others in the town who were against Paul and Barnabas as well and then were louder than everyone else. I think that the verse implies that it was these visiting Jewish leadership who stoned Paul and thought he was dead and carried him out of the city.

The citizens of Lystra were so diverse that the standard operating procedure was probably that people didn’t mess with each other’s cultures and religions. Like if one religious group considered cows sacred, they probably wouldn’t interfere with the sacrifice of a bull in a different religion’s ceremony. So when these outside Jews showed us and probably accused Paul and Barnabas of blasphemy and then carried out their religious punishment for said crime, even though they might have been impressed by their teachings, they probably didn’t get involved to stop them out of respect for the state and a desire to keep the peace. Because my question was, “if all these people thought that Paul and Barnabas were their gods, then why would they let these outside Jewish leaders take them and try to bludgeon them to death with big frickin rocks?”
Even though it had probably been several months since he was whipped by Elymas in Paphos, I’m sure that those wounds probably still plagued Paul, and now with him being almost stoned to death, it’s been a pretty rough ride on this mission. We expect to our missionaries today, a certain level of divine protection, but even though sometimes God allows problems for missionaries, what happened to Paul seemed kind of extreme. The IM quotes Elder Robert D. Hales as teaching, “There is meaning and purpose in our earthly challenges. Consider the Prophet Joseph Smith: throughout his life he faced daunting opposition- illness, accident, poverty, misunderstanding, false accusation, and even persecution. One might be tempted to ask, ‘Why didn’t the Lord protect His prophet from such obstacles, provide him with unlimited resources, and stop up the mouths of his accusers?’ The answer is, Each of us must go through certain experiences to become more like our Savior. In the school of mortality, the tutor is often pain and tribulation, but the lessons are meant to refine and bless us and strengthen us, not to destroy us.”
While this is a painful truth to be sure, I know that in my life it has been true, not always, but whenever I allow my trials to bring me closer to God, it always does. For instance, the guy that was healed by Paul that we just talked about a couple of days ago, he had struggled since he was born and the life that he had been forced to live that whole time made him open to the gospel when he finally heard it. Looking back, as painful as it is, trial and struggle are meant to bring us closer to Christ, which begs the question, does Jesus manufacture these trials simply so that we will look to him for hope? Maybe sometimes, like in the case of my nephews dying, but I don’t think he made them die just to make us hurt so that we will come closer to him, I think it was part of the plan all along and he provided a way for us to be comforted.
We live in a fallen world where pain and heart break are more the standard than the exception, but we know that turning to Jesus can be our only way into peace and comfort. I know that there has been several times in my most recent life where I had literally no one, all my family had their own problems, all my friends had moved on to their own things and I remember sitting there thinking, “Jesus is literally the one person I have now,” and it was tough, but it helped me learn how to turn to him when I needed him and how to turn to him even when I didn’t. The story of Paul’s conversion had already been so deep and intense, I don’t think that attempted murder would dissuade him from his purpose. In fact, I believe that nothing cements loyalty like a betrayal, and everything Paul endures for the Savior’s name from the time of his conversion has to feel like repentance for what he had done before.
Fortuneatly for Paul, “as the disciples stodd round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departs with Barnabas to Derbe.” Some sources have portrayed it that Paul was raised from the dead, and the IM simply says that Paul survived his ordeal, so I’m not exactly sure which one it is, and I guess ultimately it doesn’t matter. After teaching the gospel in Derbe, Paul and Barnabas backtracked all the way through “Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
The Savior needed this first generation of Christians to be strong in their conversion, to be committed to live and teach the gospel even if it meant their lives. Otherwise there would have been many people who thought “Christianity sounds interesting, but I’m not changing my ways or going to be uncomfortable if it requires that.” The ancient church wouldn’t have survived to grow and flourish the way that it did if most of the members were half-heartedly committed. Just like the early Church, so much persecution and heart ache lead to a small but committed group dedicated to living and sharing the gospel no matter what the costs. Paul and Barnabas strengthened the new members and “ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.” To me this means that they set up priesthood leadership structures for the church to thrive in these newly established neighborhoods.
As they went back through their previous path, organizing wards and branches, ordaining and teaching and strengthening, they eventually “sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.” They went right back where they started and debriefed “the church” on what they had done on their mission but it wasn’t with a sense of pride or accomplishment because from their perspective this was “all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” This was God’s work and they were just fortunate enough to be along for the ride. Paul and Barnabas ended their 2 year mission right back where they started, Antioch in Syria, and there “they abode long time with the disciples.”