I did some quick “back of the napkin” calculations about Pauls’ first missionary journey, and here’s what I found out.
I went to Google Earth and measured out the distance between Pauls starting place and the approximate route he took. I didn’t look for the exact cities, so my calculations could be off by several hundred miles. From my estimate, Paul and Barnabus traveled around 1300 miles and were on the road about 30 months. That equals approximately 11 miles a week of travel for the two and one half years they journeyed. There are 10 towns listed that Paul visited, but we don’t know how many stops he made between towns for a couple of days. For instance, Acts 13:6 tells us they ministered “all across” the isle of Cyprus going from town to town until they reached the city of Paphos, where they encountered the sorcerer. So they made many stops, and only the larger towns are mentioned.
I envision Paul staying in one town for about 2=4 days, and then traveling on. In larger towns he would stay much longer, until those who didn’t agree with his message drove him from town. It seems like Paul stayed until he felt he had shared enough, or he was driven out of town. And when he was stoned and left for dead in one town, he got up and went back! Wow.
Ironically, in one instance the people are ready to crown them as gods. And if Paul and Barnabus would have gone along with it, they would be heroes in town…no one could have challenged them. But since they denied they were gods, the Jews were able to stir up the people to kill them. Think of it, they went from being gods to being threatened with death in a very short time. What a roller coaster ride it must have been to be with Paul!
As a minister, this is actually comforting in a strange way. It tells me that there will always be resistance to the message, and that the messenger can expect to be unpopular with a certain group no matter what he/she says. As I mentioned yesterday, I generally want people to like me, and I want to like them. Having enemies is exhausting, and I am too lazy for that.
But my message, (and the message of every Christian) is going to set you at odds with some who refuse to believe. Our faith should steer us away from trying to get our point across using violence, but that doesn’t hold true for the other side. When persecuted, we should emulate Paul, who got back on his feet and went back into town. Or, he went to another town where the people would listen. What Paul never did was compromise the message so he could stay in one place where it was comfortable. If we ever compromise the message, we disqualify ourselves as missionaries.
In fact, if Paul had fought back, “thrown his own stones back at them” he would disqualified himself to talk about God’s love.
I wonder if Paul thought about Stephen being stoned to death while he was being stoned himself. I wonder if he saw any young boys in the crowd holding the coats of others. And, I wonder if while he was being stoned…Stephen was given the ability to recognize Paul. That would really be something. Even if he wasn’t, it tells us that when we think things are out of control and falling apart, God is not alarmed at all. He has the whole situation well in hand, and is preparing his next disciples and missionaries even as we wonder if He knows what struggles we are going through.
Enjoying the journey,
PR