Agitators and Peacemakers
Acts 9:19b-31
"Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. 26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. 31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers."
God loves variety. We see it in the created world all around us. No two people look exactly alike. And their personalities are not exactly alike, either. Sometimes we are similar to others. My daughter and her daughter look a lot like each other. They even act a lot alike. But they are different, too. If I hear a man’s voice outside, it takes a while for me to identify whether it’s my husband Gerrit, or one of my sons, Gerr or David, talking. They sound very much the same – but different.
It's not just in the world where we see variety, but in the church, too. We had a bit of a chuckle when we read this lectionary text about the apostle, Paul. He was an agitator, a real firebrand! When the early church was just starting, he went around arresting Christians and putting them in jail, or having them executed. Then he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and was a changed man. But his personality didn’t change a lot. He went to the synagogue in Damascus, and with strong (forceful?) arguments, proved to people there that Jesus was the Messiah. He was so persuasive that the Jews who did not accept Jesus as Messiah decided the only way to solve the problem was to kill him. His friends had to lower him in a basket through an opening in the wall to get him away safely. Eventually, Paul made his way to Jerusalem. Even there he had problems – first because people didn’t believe he had changed, and then because of the boldness of his preaching. Some of the Grecian Jews he was arguing with tried to kill him. So, his friends took him to the seaport, and sent him home to Tarsus. It is the juxtaposition of the very next verse that made us laugh (vs. 31): “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”
We wondered, does God send some agitators to the church now and then to shake us up, and then we can grow again? We found some evidence in Gerrit’s ancestry. In the late 1800’s, the church in the Netherlands underwent the “doleantie.” (a time of complaint.) The Reformed Church of the Netherlands had become the State Church, and was trying to tell local congregations what they could and could not do. Both political and religious fervor were unleashed. A group in the Bennekom Reformed Church had enough, and broke away to form the Christelijk Gereformeerde Kerk (a Christian Reformed Church) under an excitable and bold minister. After a few years, Gerrit’s great-grandfather, Cornelis De Gooijer, became the minister. He was the minister for 25 years. “Met de komst van C. De Gooijer, breken relatief rustige jaren aan voor de Gereformeerde Kerk te Bennekom.” (With the coming of De Gooijer, there was a restful time for the congregation in Bennekom.) And the church grew.
We found agitators in Judy’s family, too. Great-grandfather, Bartel Zandstra, immigrated to the Chicago area in 1895. He became a Christian through the witness of his foreman in the factory where he worked. (Who also had a lovely daughter.) He was known to all as a great supporter of Missions, and personally practiced reaching others for Christ. One of his daughters became a cook at the Rehoboth Christian training school, and her son was Bartel Huizenga, who founded this congregation.
In our own congregation we have had periods of agitation and peace, and also in our personal lives. Perhaps the periods of “agitation” make us think about what is really important in our lives. We go to scripture to find the truth. We seem to grow when there is peace. Jesus said, (Matt. 5:9) “Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” What God wants from us is boldness in our witness, and peace with Him.