14 January 2024 John 1:35-42
Every once in a while you get to hold in your hands a text that changed the world.
In John 1:35-42 we see three times words translated from Hebrew into Greek. That changed the world.
When Christianity began it was a rural movement in the fishing villages and towns of Galilee. After the Resurrection of Jesus there was an attempt to establish Christianity in Jerusalem, but that led to a persecution of the Church after the stoning of St. Stephen and the Church was scattered. It looked for a short time like the Church would wind up like all the other messianic movements of those days – its adherents would hang on for a while in the wildernesses of Samaria or Galilee, then it would fade away.”
But that isn’t what happened with the Church. In Acts 11 we are told that some of those fleeing the persecution that started after the death of Stephen went all the way to Antioch, the major city of Syria, and the headquarters for the Roman army in the whole Roman province of Asia. The believers in Antioch at first spoke only to Jews, but they were overheard by some Greeks who were attracted to the gospel, and they told other Greeks. Before long there were so many Greeks in the Antioch church that word got to the Apostles in Jerusalem, who quickly dispatched Barnabas to go and see what was going on. Barnabas saw that it was the real deal, and then we get what may be the most important text in the New Testament: “Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch” (Acts 11:25-26).
Everything changed after that. They didn’t call themselves “The Way” anymore (cf. Acts 9:2) but called themselves “Christians” – a Greek word (Acts 11:26). The Church in Antioch met with Barnabas and Saul for a year, and after that, without so much as a “by your leave” from the Apostles, they sent Barnabas and Saul on a mission trip to Cyprus and southwest Asia (modern Turkey, cf. Acts 13:1-3). They were successful there, but this was a development completely unforeseen by the Apostles. They were still assuming that the only people who would respond to the gospel would be Jews, but now all these Gentiles were coming into the Church, and nobody knew what to do with them. They had a big meeting in Jerusalem (Acts 15) and there decided that the Gentiles would be allowed in, and Saul’s missions would continue.
And they did continue. After this, Christianity was no longer a rural movement in the wilds of Samaria and Galilee, but an urban movement established in the major cities and towns along the highways of the Roman Empire. Letters were sent, and eventually gospels were written – none in Hebrew, all in Greek. Not all the Gentiles were familiar with the Hebrew terms they heard and read, so in the letters and gospels they were translated: “’We have found the Messiah’ – which is translated Christ” (John 1:41). Saul even changed his name, from the Hebrew name his parents gave him to the Greek name, Paul.
Every once in a while, you get to hold in your hands a text that changed the world.
All the believers in the world today are disciples of Christ because some people, most of whose names were never recorded, decided to translate the gospel of Jesus into a new language, and a new culture. They didn’t ask for permission – they didn’t need to. The work of translating the gospel into terms people can understand is simply what it means to be a Christian. That work of translation is the work of every person who has ever been baptized and confirmed, not just deacons, priests, bishops and popes. We are all called to communicate the gospel in terms that the people around us can understand.
That is the one and only way we will continue to change the world.
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