How encouraged are you?
We celebrate the feast
of Saint Barnabas,
though, of course,
his name is Joses.
Barnabas is his nickname,
if you will.
Some translations say that
Barnabas means
“son of consolation”,
others say that his name means
“son of encouragement”.
Which translation do you prefer?
[PAUSE]
The way that we use
the idea of encouragement
is not always positive.
You are encouraged to think about why!
Do you see that,
sometimes,
we understand encouragement
to mean being
directed towards something
that we might not actually want.
We hear of people being
gently encouraged
to accept something
that they might find undesirable.
Some people are encouraged
to the front door
which is then promptly shut behind them.
Perhaps these days
encouragement has this negative meaning
of being controlled subtly
with a pretence of niceness about it.
If we are encouraged
to do something that
we don't want to do,
how do we stand up against it?
We need encouragement.
[PAUSE]
You can see very clearly
that the word encouragement
really means to have courage
put into you.
You are encouraged,
you are given courage,
you are strengthened,
you are confirmed.
It's no wonder then,
that when you look at the Greek word
that is used to translate
Barnabas’ name into Greek,
we find that it is the same word
that we use for paraclete.
St Barnabas is a paraclete.
St Barnabas is someone
who is an ikon of the Holy Ghost.
This is why he is given
the name in the first place.
He is someone
who does not want
to direct, control or gently coerce.
He seeks only
to strengthen people
in their fight against
sin, the world and the devil.
St. Barnabas is well-named,
and he acts alongside St. Paul
in bringing consolation, strengths and hope
which accompany
St Paul’s own form of encouragement
in his teaching and preaching.
We can see that very generosity of spirit
in his giving up of
an expensive piece of land
giving the proceeds to the Church
in order to strengthen it
as it begins its great Mission.
Of course,
St. Barnabas and Saint Paul
are only human and they quarrel.
This, too, is an encouragement
because it shows that the Saints
are truly human
and share that fallenness with us.
It means we, too, do not need
to sit and bewail our fallibility,
but rather to present that fallibility
to Almighty God and allow Him to use our weakness
so that He might show His strength.
St. Barnabas is truly a saint
for us because he carries with him
the strength that God gives
to each of us through him,
and through the bishops who succeed him.
[PAUSE]a
St. Barnabas is on our side,
and because he is on our side,
we can be sure that
God the Holy Paraclete is on our side, too.
We are all encouraged to be more like St Barnabas
so that we might be more like
the Holy Ghost!
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