We witnessed the second contrast of the day through Barnabas.
He was a cousin of one in our group, one of the young men, John Mark. Mark’s mother, Mary, would regularly host a gathering in her home, where we had been introduced to Barnabas, although initially, we knew him as Joseph. It was the Apostles who surnamed him Barnabas, because he was an encourager.
He was a Levite, the only Levite we knew by name,[1] walking in the Way with us. We watched as Barnabas, the Levite, willingly sold some land and brought the proceeds to the Apostles. The Levite, who was of the family that served the temple, although from Cyprus and not part of the regular order, was now serving the One greater than the temple (cf. Matthew 12:6).
The contrast between the Law and Grace was personified in the Encourager. The fact that he would move beyond his heritage, despite the depth of the Jewish opposite, reassured us. He had a presence of consultation and was a man we all loved to see.
Barnabas’s offering was an encouragement of the day that we thought would only continue to grow when Ananias came in to do the same.
Ananias was a man we had heard of; his name meant “graciously given of the Lord.” He had received many blessings from God and much prosperity.[2] And now, like Barnabas before him, he had sold property and brought the proceeds to the Apostles.
We had thought, “How could this day get any better?” First Barnabas and now Ananias standing before the Apostles, just as the Encourager. The one heart and soul that described us was growing. Indeed, we saw a Spirit-led unity of purpose, plan, and action.
But we would learn that outward actions seen as good but void of the right inward motivations would prove deadly.
And no one in the room that day—not us, the Apostles, or Ananias—knew what would occur in the next few minutes. It would be another contrast, an irony, and an emotional swing that reverberated throughout the Way.
Let me explain….
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[1] “No other Levite is mentioned by name in the NT,” Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels; Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, edited by James Hastings, D.D. E-Sword edition.
[2] Wilson’s Dictionary of Bible Types, Converted to E-Sword Dictionary by Dyan Largo-Afonso, 25 Feb 2011, Public Domain.