Reading
When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they met a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. But the magician Elymas (for that is the translation of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now listen—the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind for a while, unable to see the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.
Acts 13:6-12
Reflection
In the original Star Wars film, Luke Skywalker finds himself aboard the Millennium Falcon, flying through hyperspace toward the doomed planet Alderaan. Earlier that day, Luke had learned that the old hermit he knew as Ben was actually the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was a friend of his father’s, who was also a Jedi. Obi-Wan told Luke that he, too, must learn the ways of the force and become a Jedi like his father.
Luke’s training began immediately, and as they flew, Luke began lightsaber training, attempting to block the shots of a spherical targeting droid that flew around and attempted to zap him with a low-power laser blast. Luke was to practice feeling the Force guide his actions to help him anticipate the droid’s next shot.
After a few failed attempts, Obi-Wan gives him a helmet with a face shield to block his vision so that Luke will be forced to rely on the Force. “Your eyes can deceive you. Don’t trust them,” Obi-Wan told him. After getting hit once by a shot, Luke begins to let go of his reliance on sight and to rely instead on the Force, and he manages to block the next two shots.
Sight is a great gift, but what we see can actually get in the way of perceiving the world as it really is. Sometimes the way we see the world is the problem, and only a profound interruption can usher us into a new way of seeing.
This is the case for a man with the enticing name Bar-Jesus, which literally means “son of Jesus.” Luke describes Bar-Jesus as a Jewish false prophet and a magician, neither of which is a compliment in Luke’s worldview. Bar-Jesus is an advisor to the Roman proconsul (governor), Sergius Paulus.
When the proconsul “summoned Barnabas and Paul and wanted to hear the word of God,” Bar-Jesus “opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from faith.” (13:7-8) Bar-Jesus wanted to protect his politically advantageous position. In response to this opposition, Paul, “full of the Holy Spirit,” calls him a son of the devil—quite the opposite of the son of Jesus—and renders him temporarily blind. Luke says that “Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand.”
On its face, Paul’s response seems quite harsh, but I wonder if there isn’t a hidden grace for Bar-Jesus. His fundamental way of seeing the world focused on seeking advantage for himself. Thus, when Barnabas and Paul came to speak with the proconsul, Bar-Jesus saw a potential threat to his power and influence. His singular focus on power is what actually blinded him.
Barnabas and Paul were right in front of him sharing the truth, and he could not see it. Bar-Jesus’ blindness—much like Paul’s own blindness—gave him the space to reevaluate and begin to see things clearly.
Sometimes we are so sure of our perception of the world that we can’t see the world as it actually is. As the old saying goes, though, “We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.”
God’s grace gives us the power to see ourselves—and the world—rightly, but this involves letting go of the way we have previously seen ourselves and the world. This can be hard and even painful, as it was for Bar-Jesus. Yet if we want our eyes to be opened to the world as it really, we have to be willing to lose our current way of seeing the world. Sometimes, it’s only in darkness that we can see things in the light of God’s grace.
Prayer
God of the light and the dark,
You invite us to walk in your light,
Yet so often we choose darkness.
At times, we even forget what your light looks like.
Give us the wisdom to discern your light
In the midst of darkness,
And the power to turn away
From all that distracts from your light
So that we might walk in the light of Christ
For all of our days.
Amen.
