Acts of the Apostles 13: 44-52

Acts of the Apostles 13: 44-52

Antioch was part of the Seleucid kingdom until 64 BC but then it was taken over by  Rome, becoming the capital of the Roman province of Syria. It was a very large city and the headquarters of the Roman garrison in Syria. Antioch became the cradle of  Christianity and it was here that the followers of Christ were first called Christians.

St Paul and St Barnabas are met with much opposition from the Jewish people but this became in fact the norm except in Beroea (Acts 17:11) when the Jews very much received them well.

St Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah 49:6 to state that the time had arrived to preach to the gentiles and pagans. We should not understand this as a consequence of the Jewish people’s rejection of the Gospel but as something that was always going to happen when the Holy Spirit directed them to do.

St Paul and St Barnabas shake the dust from their feet in defiance of being expelled. We see Jesus give this instruction to his disciples in St Matthew 10:14 and St Luke 9:5 whenever they are rejected. It was a Jewish custom to shake the dust from your feet after returning to Palestine from pagan territory. It was basically a statement that nothing unclean of that place should be brought back. Jesus sees that unbelief should not also cling to one’s personhood and the shaking of dust is merely symbolically showing this.

It is important to note this does not mean that in a future time people of such towns would not have a change of heart or that the Apostles did not return or most notably that they were considered lost forever. Jesus never gives up on us and we should never give up on anyone, no matter their present situation. Tomorrow is another day and nothing is impossible to God.