“As they traveled from town to
town, they presented the simple guidelines the Jerusalem apostles and
leaders had come up with. That turned out to be most helpful. Day
after day the congregations became stronger in faith and larger in
size.”
“They went to Phrygia, and then on
through the region of Galatia. Their plan was to turn west into Asia
province, but the Holy Spirit blocked that route. So they went to
Mysia and tried to go north to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus
wouldn’t let them go there either. Proceeding on through Mysia,
they went down to the seaport Troas. That night Paul had a dream: A
Macedonian stood on the far shore and called across the sea, “Come
over to Macedonia and help us!” The dream gave Paul his map. We
went to work at once getting things ready to cross over to Macedonia.
All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had
called us to preach the good news to the Europeans.”
Luke as found in
Acts 16:4-10, The Message
“This is in many respects is the
most remarkable paragraph in Acts.”
William
M. Ramsay in St. Paul: The Traveler and Roman Citizen
 |
| The Taurus Mountains |
Following the
conclusion of the Jerusalem Council that officially made it policy
that Gentiles did not need to become Jews in order to become
Christians (Acts 15:1-35), Paul and Barnabus made their way back to
Antioch to share the news with the disciples there and return to
their lives in Syria. Some time later, however, Paul has it in his
heart to return to the different cities in Galatia where they had
established churches the year before and says as much to Barnabus who
is equally eager to share in the venture. But when Barnabus wants to
bring John Mark, his younger cousin who had bailed on them the last
time they were on outreach [see
Calling it Quits], Paul will have
none of it. Luke, who is usually mum about “family quarrels,”
lets us all in on the fact that tempers flared and ultimately they
went their separate ways. Barnabus returns to his home in Cyprus with
John Mark in tow while Paul takes Silas, a prophet from the mother
church in Jerusalem, as his traveling companion.
The first time Paul
and Barnabus had itinerated through south-central Pisidia, they had
come by sea. This time Paul chooses to make the long journey on foot
probably stopping along the way in his hometown Tarsus before making
the trek over the Taurus Mountains to the Anatolian Plateau beyond
where the cities of the First Journey lay. In order to get to where
they're going they pass through the famed Cilician Gates, a narrow
pass through the mountains where the likes of Xerxes, Xenophon and
Alexander the Great had marched their armies through on to conquest
in centuries past. Of their journey through the pass, historian Paul
L. Maier writes,
 |
| The Cilician Gates |
At one point the Gates taper down
to a narrow, precipitous pass that resembles a dry gorge. Paul and
Silas would undoubtedly have stopped at this spot to gather in its
full significance. Here was the aorta of the ancient world through
which pulsed the conquerors of the past during four thousand years of
history...Now a lonesome pair of missionaries were using the same
pass for a spiritual conquest that would have far more permanent
results.
First Christians: Pentecost and
the Spread of Christianity
 |
| Atop that hill Lystra used to stand |
Eventually they
reach Derbe and nearby Lystra, the place where Paul had nearly been
killed by an angry mob the year before. There they add to their small
party a young man who was fruit of that first tumultuous visit. After
being stoned, his visit to this Galatian town appeared to be a bust
but by his third visit there he picks up Timothy who will, in time,
become one of his close associates in gospel work. From Lystra they
move on to Iconium and eventually reach Pisidian Antioch, the
turn-around point. Every where they went they did what they set out
to do - strengthen, encourage and exhort the believers in these
cities.
Somewhere
along the way, however, the mission changed. Instead of turning
around and heading back east, they continued on in a southwesterly
direction. After all,they're all single guys with no family
obligations to hurry back to. And more than likely in the various
towns they stopped they were asked by disciples if they could preach
in other communities further east where they had relations. Or maybe
Paul just had it in his mind that he had to get to Ephesus. But
whatever the case, they kept going along the Via Sebaste
making for this premier city of the ancient world. What better place
than Ephesus to share the gospel? Being a port city as well as the
economic and cultural epicenter of the province of Asia, imagine the
impact the gospel could have there. But then there was an unspecified
“hiccup” in their plan: they encounter a closed door. But it's
not devils that hold it shut; rather it's the Holy Spirit who refuses
to let them continue on their way (16:6). Now how they discerned that
this was the case Luke doesn't seem to either know or care to
clarify. Of course, Silas was a prophet and maybe the Lord spoke to
his spirit and he, in turn, shared this sense with Paul and Timothy
and after prayer and conversation they concluded it was indeed God's
leading not to go to Ephesus. Whatever the particulars, they decided
then to travel north and share the gospel with the people of Bithynia
up by the southern shores of the Black Sea. But after proceeding in
that direction again they have a 'check' about Plan B. As Luke put
it, “...the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to...”
(v. 7, NIV).
Keep
in mind these guys are traveling on foot and in two short verses Luke
has shared the journey of maybe 400 miles – and then some (if you
include every time they had to turn around when they determined the
Lord wasn't leading them into the area where they were headed.)
Here's what I'm wondering: I want to know what happened on the road
between Antioch and Troas. If I want to go to Chicago, a distance of
about 300 miles from Chetek, I can get there, including dinner and
bathroom breaks, within 6 and a half hours. When the kids were
younger we would take them to Sand Hill Lake Bible Camp near Fosston,
Minnesota about 300 miles west of here. If we went on to Fargo it was
another fifty miles or so. It was usually a long day but we made it
there in a day. But these guys are traveling nearly the equivalent
distance on foot. Just how long would it take to walk 400
miles? Where did they stay along
the way? What did they talk about? And what were the team dynamics
like when one idea of Paul's after another didn't pan out? Four
hundred miles is a long enough distance for questions about the
purpose of the mission to come up, if not the journey itself,
especially as one closed door after another is encountered. I found
this at one web site dedicated to the study of the Second Missionary
Journey of Paul: “Imagine yourself on foot for 400 miles.
You have minimal supplies and you're not sure where your next
meal will be because, quite frankly, you're not even sure where God
is leading you.”
(see Paul's Second Missionary Journey: Part 1)
.
Exactly.
 |
| From here the gospel left for Europe |
With
the southwesterly and northern ways closed to them, that left only
the port city of Alexandria Troas to the northwest, near the famed
city of Troy. The only thing is that unlike the roads to Ephesus or
Bithynia, there was no real direct route to Troas from where they
were. But make for it they do and eventually arrive at this bustling
city aside the Aegean Sea. As Stott puts it, “They
had come a long way, in fact all the way from the south-east to the
north-west extremities of Asia Minor, and by a strangely circuitous
route. They must have been in a state of considerable perplexity,
wondering what God's plan and purpose were, for so far their guidance
had been almost entirely negative” (Acts: The Bible Speaks Today).
Sir William Ramsay points out that the pace of these few verses is
quite unique for Acts:
“...point after point, province
after province are hurried over. The natural development of Paul's
work along the great central route of the empire was forbidden, and
the next alternative that rose in his mind was forbidden. He was led
across Asia from the extreme southeast to the extreme northwest
corner, and yet prevented from preaching in it. Everything seemed
dark and perplexing, until at last a vision in Troas explained the
purpose of this strange journey.” (St.
Paul: The Traveler and Roman Citizen)
At least two things happen in Troas. First, after two closed doors
Paul and his companions finally find the open one by means of a
vision that he receives one night. And secondly, he meets Luke, a
resident of Macedonia doing business at the moment in Asia. Up until
this moment in Luke's sequel of his gospel, he has been the narrator
of the grand story of the growth and development of the Church of
Jesus the Messiah. But in Acts 16:10 he enters the story himself:
“After
Paul had seen the vision, we
got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had
called us to preach the gospel to them” (NIV).
 |
| Probably didn't have the circle-thing yet |
It
is the first “we” passage in the book (there will be more) and
Luke's way of letting us know that at that particular moment he is
both narrator and eyewitness. Because Luke isn't a 21st
century novelist, he doesn't care to let us know how they met but
it's certainly within the realm of possibility that Paul came to him
in need of medical care. Since going into “full-time mission”
work he had contracted malaria and been both stoned and flogged.
What's more traveling four hundred miles on foot and living more or
less out of a suitcase for weeks on end may have done something to
Paul's constitution. But whatever the case meet they did and a
friendship began that would last for the rest of Paul's life for his
benefit and for ours as well. Whether Paul led him to the Lord or he
was already a believer by the time they made each others acquaintance
I guess is neither here nor there. The fact that they meet is one of
the most providential things to occur in all of Scripture. Paul's
vision of the Kingdom of God and the new people of Israel made up of
Jews and Gentiles alike permeate Luke's writings and continue to
influence our understanding of such things today. All because despite
encountering a couple of closed doors along the way, Paul and his
companions sensed the Lord was leading them on and they persisted.
“...it is clear
that the coming of Paul to Troas was unforseen and unforseeable; the
whole point of the paragraph is that Paul was driven on against his
own judgment and intention to that city” (Ramsay).
 |
| Guatemala City is a long way from Sand Creek |
I
think of a couple from our fellowship who last fall left good-paying
jobs and moved their family of seven to Guatemala. The decision to go
was the culmination of many conversations and prayer that had
occurred over the past several years. Their original purpose was to
assist a good friend of theirs establish an orphanage outside of
Guatemala City. But with that project presently on stand-by due to a
morass of governmental red-tape, they are wondering just what it is
they are supposed to be doing now that they're there. To their credit
and God's glory they have successfully transplanted their family of
two teenagers and three elementary age-kids to this Central American
country. They have found a good school for the kids, a great faith
family to be a part of and a small but adequate home for them to live
in. They've taken some language classes and have pretty much immersed
themselves in Guatemalan culture but with the orphanage no closer to
becoming a reality, they find themselves wondering “Now what?”
They are, it would seem, on the road between Antioch and Troas,
heading in a general direction but uncertain where the road may lead.
The
adventure thus far has been fun and transformational. They've met
some wonderful people, gone swimming in the Pacific Ocean - twice, a
son has camped at the base of an active volcano and really the move
has been a win all-around. But come the end of this school year in
May they have to decide if they continue living in the tropics or
return to life above the 45th
Parallel. This is the stuff from which good stories come from.
I
think about a line from the movie
National
Treasure. Ben
Gates and his stalwart companion, Riley Poole, are in search of the
famed Templar Treasure. Their quest has been one strange journey as
they turn up one clue after another. With each new discovery they
hope it will be the sign that points the way to the treasure only to
be disappointed to find yet another clue. In a moment of frustration
after finding one more clue Riley says, “Why
can't they just say: 'Go to this place, here's the treasure, spend
it wisely'?”
He's tired of all the twists and turns in the race to find the
motherload – but that's where the fun lies: in the journey, in the
hunt. Otherwise, there's no great tale to tell afterward. Imagine if
the divine guidance we each seek came to us as easily as accessing
our email account. All we would need to do is log on, check our
messages, get our instructions and carry them out to the best of our
ability. Admittedly, it would be a more efficient way of doing
things. Think of all the time and money that could be saved instead
of this fumbling around in the dark that often characterizes our way.
And then I read this: “It
is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is
the glory of kings” (Proverbs
25:12, NIV). Glory indeed. Yes, our friends the Hansons who have
found the road that leads from Sand Creek, Wisconsin to Guatemala
City, Guatemala, will find the way that they seek as they persist in
trusting to his leadership, convoluted as it may appear to our eyes
at the time.
Tolkienfile
that I am, I think of what Frodo said to Sam on their way through the
Shire on their way to Buckland. Quoting Bilbo he said, “It's
a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door...You step into
the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where
you might be swept off to.” Indeed,
you might end up in Troas or in Guatemala City or someplace else yet
to be discovered but somehow God is at work in the journey leading us
to an end we cannot yet grasp.
