St. Barnabas

Homily for the Memorial of St. Barnabas

Today we celebrate an important figure of the Apostolic Era, St. Barnabas. The Acts of the Apostles, in which he appears frequently, identifies him in chapter four: Thus Joseph, also named by the apostles Barnabas (which is translated "son of encouragement,") a Levite, a Cypriot by birth, sold a piece of property that he owned, then brought the money and put it at the feet of the apostles (Acts 4:36-37). As a Levite, he would have had some position in the Temple, perhaps even as a priest like Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist.  He was a Hellenist, that is, a Jew who lived outside of Palestine and spoke the Greek tongue. Born in Cyprus, he embraced the faith soon after the death of Christ, becoming a member of the original Jerusalem community. His first noteworthy deed was to sell his belongings and place the money at the feet of the apostles.  There are many traditions about this man, but most of them cannot be verified as historical fact. For instance, tradition tells us that he, like most of the disciples of Jesus, was martyred. However, there is no hard evidence to the fact. Tradition also ascribes the Letter to the Hebrews to him, as well as a Gospel and an Epistle. However, there is no way to back up these claims.

What we can say of him is that he was a companion missionary of St. Paul's and the man who is directly responsible for the foundation of the Church of Antioch where the term "Christian" was first used to identify a person who has placed their faith in Jesus. He was set aside by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel to the God-fearing Gentiles.

It is to his lasting credit that he befriended the neo-convert Paul and introduced him to the apostles when everyone was still distrusting the former persecutor. More noteworthy still was his service to the universal Church by being the first to recognize Paul's potential for the cause of Christ; it was Barnabas who brought him from Tarsus to teach at Antioch.

The Church celebrates him as an apostle though not one of the Twelve. Yet the Church designates the passage of Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus directed specifically to the Twelve as an option for his feast  day. The designation "apostle" means "one who is sent." Barnabas was sent to many of the communities of Asia Minor to encourage the fledgling Christian communities.   

As we celebrate this feast, we remember not only the steadfast faith of this man from the apostolic era but also our own call to steadfast faith in Jesus and our mission to God’s people.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator