Acts 13:46-49 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
The Epiphany of Our Lord Sunday, January 2, 2022 “What Child Is This? A Light for All People”
How could anyone be upset about a crowded church service? It really is a wonderful blessing to be able to gather in a large group to listen to God’s Word and to sing God’s praises. There is something special about a full church on Christmas Eve or for a special Reformation Service or on an Easter Sunday morning. We haven’t had those sorts of services a lot lately. We’ve added services so that the church would be less full for each service, and we have had people stay home and watch online because they’re not certain that they are up for any sort of a crowd based on what they are seeing and hearing. And I understand that we are in a unique situation, and that I often get a unique vantage point from up here that’s not so crowded at all. But thankfully, I don’t recall really ever hearing someone upset about the fact that a worship service was full. I’ve had people acknowledge it in conversation, we’ve had to run off extra copies of worship folders, and yes, there have been times when we’ve needed to squeeze just a little more tightly into the pews. In the Scripture reading in front of us this morning, we hear just the last portion of what was taking place in a crowded church service in a town called Pisidian Antioch. People really were upset when they saw what the book of Acts tells us was almost the whole town gathered together to be a part of this special service. Let’s consider a little more context to help us understand the verses on which we are focusing today. Paul and Barnabas were making their way from place to place on their missionary journey. That journey brought them to Antioch, a town in the region of Pisidia, on a Sabbath Day. Recall that the Jewish law said that people couldn’t work on the Sabbath, but they could gather around God’s Word, and that is what many people of that town did. Recognizing that they had some special guests with them, the people invited Paul and Barnabas to offer a word of encouragement, what we might call a sermon. And Paul did. He told them about Jesus, introducing his message by reminding the people of God’s history in making promises to and taking a special interest in the Jewish people. But at the time when Jesus came, many of the Jews and their leaders did not listen to him. They opposed him, and they did not recognize who he was. And they had him killed. And Paul explained that even Jesus’ death was what had been foretold and prophesied about him, along with his resurrection from the dead. He, Jesus, was fulfilling prophecies that the even great Jewish King David could never live up to. The people listened to these missionaries, and many wanted to know more. That was one week before the words that have our attention this morning. That next week, the synagogue, the Jewish church, was packed with people. Nearly the whole town had come, as we mentioned earlier. And many of the Jews were jealous. They were filled with envy. They slandered Paul and contradicted what he was saying. And that’s where today’s reading picks up: Then Paul and Barnabas responded fearlessly, “It was necessary that God’s word be spoken to you first. But since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, look: We are now turning to the Gentiles!” Those Jews had rejected what Paul and Barnabas brought. They had rejected the message. They had rejected Jesus. They had rejected eternal life itself because they were so upset about a crowded church service. They were upset that these traveling missionaries had filled the synagogue in a way that they never had before. And I can at least relate to that, can’t you? I am sure I would be at least a little jealous if the next time we mention that a guest preacher is joining us, suddenly this building is packed wall-to-wall. And as strange as it is to think about being upset over a full church, how would you feel if someone had taken your seat? How would you feel if so many people had crowded in that you couldn’t even get a seat? I am confident that you know the feeling of jealousy and envy, and that in some circumstance or another, you have been in a place where your own selfishness blinded you to the good that was going on around you. You know what it is to be so focused on yourself that you have zero concern for anyone else and even zero concern for what God might have to say about it. That was the Jews who rejected Jesus. And the Jews here in our account from Acts were not the first to do so. We gather today under the theme, “What Child Is This? A Light for All People.” This is a continuation of our series that began with that child