The church in Antioch has been prospering. We see in Acts 13:1-3 that it is a church comprised of a diverse group of people – diversity of race, of culture, of economy, and of gifts. The church is engaging in worship and service and the Holy Spirit stirs them to global missions.

“Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.“

This “setting apart” and “sending off” was to become the pattern for future international missions and, more specifically, would become known as Paul’s first missionary journey. The map below illustrates the route that Paul and Barnabas would follow. They brought along Barnabas’ cousin John Mark as well.

The video series In Pursuit of Paul, hosted by New Testament scholar Constantine Campbell and produced for Our Daily Bread ministries is very good. Episode through is linked below and the entire episode summarizes this journey and explores some of the archeological sites along the way as it describes the events of the journey. I highly recommend that you watch it!

Luke continues his narrative in Acts 13:4-5.

“So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.”

It makes sense that they would begin with Cyprus. Just as Paul returned to his home town of Tarsus and spent years there ministering and preaching during his preparation for further missions work, so Barnabas returns to his home place to begin the mission effort. Barnabas was from Cyprus, and Mark, being his cousin, probably had family ties there as well.

Salamis was located in a cove on the eastern shore of the island. The aerial view below is from the In Pursuit of Paul episode referenced above. It shows the submerged seawall that protected the now silted up harbor from the waves of the Mediterranean.

Luke tells us that Paul and Barnabas “proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.” This is the pattern that they would follow throughout their mission efforts. Even though he’d been called to be a missionary to the Gentiles, Paul still did not abandon his Jewish brothers, recognizing that God still has a covenant relationship with his people and Jesus is their promised Messiah. He would later write in Romans 9:2-5, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”

To my knowledge, no synagogues have been excavated yet in the ruins of Salamis, but there is still much work to be done there. The following aerial view from the video above shows the semi-circular Roman theater, the columns lining the gymnasium, and other ruins.

Also near here is a Monastery of Saint Barnabas, parts of which have been in existence since 477 A.D. The church serves as a museum today.

The team continued preaching their way across the island as Acts 13:6-12 tells us.

“When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.’ Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.“

This scene is depicted in the ninth fresco painting from the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls (and photographed by the Hermit’s Door) shows the proconsul Sergius dressed in white and seated on the left. Paul (with the obligatory halo) is gesturing toward Elymas the Jewish magician who has just been struck with blindness.

There are several “firsts” which occur in this passage. It is the first miracle attributed to Paul. It is the first opposition described on the first missionary journey. It is the first named convert to the faith on this journey. And Sergius Paulus is the first Roman government official identified as becoming a Christian.

There is an Archaeological Park of Kato Pafos which has a number of well-preserved Roman era sites. The aerial view from Google Earth below shows the grounds of this park.

The next thing that Luke tells us (Acts 13:13) is, “Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem.“

The oblique view from Google Earth below shows lower Duden Falls where they enter the Mediterranean near Perga. The Taurus Mountains loom in the distance. John Mark left Paul and Barnabas somewhere near here. We don’t know why, but it left a bad taste in Paul’s mouth which would lead to some tensions with Barnabas later.

It is my conjecture (and only conjecture here) that one of the shipwrecks that Paul identifies as happening to him in 2 Corinthians 11 may have happened during the voyage from Cyprus to the shore of Pamphylia (modern Turkey). A shipwreck, combined with the sight of the shoreline cliffs and the high mountains in the distance could have been sufficient to frighten off the young impressionable John Mark. At any rate, he decided to abandon the journey and return on his own to Jerusalem.

We’ll pick up the story here next time.