They love these people in front of them who bear the image of the true God, and so they want them to turn from idols to the true God. Paul and Barnabas love the God who has made, saved, and kept them, and so they wants others to know, love and worship him too. And it isn’t simply that they recognise God as the source of all being; the God Paul declares to the people is the kind God, the source of all joy. 

In Acts 14:6, Paul and Barnabas arrive in Lystra, a city that must be one of the most pagan places we encounter in the Acts of the Apostles. This seems far, far away from the Jerusalem of Acts 2 where people are cut to the heart as they realise that Jesus truly is the Messiah they had been expecting for centuries. And yet, even here, the grace of God is at work – and not only through the preaching of the apostles.

Paul and Barnabas bring about the healing of a man who had been unable to walk and so, amazed at what they have seen, the people of the city begin to shout praise. Trouble is, they aren’t shouting praise for the God who has healed the man, they are worshipping Zeus and Hermes; ancient Greek deities. And, while Zeus is right at the top of the pantheon, both he and Hermes are no gods at all. As Psalm 115 says,

They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but they cannot see;
they have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but they cannot smell;
they have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but they cannot walk;
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.

In fact, because the people seeing the healing decide that Barnabas and Paul must themselves be Zeus and Hermes, they are the ones who receive the praise. How would you feel if the people of a city you’d just arrived in decided to bring sacrifices and worship you? Might there not be a temptation to enjoy the adulation?

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