But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Acts 14:19-23

In a matter of one verse, the crowd turns on Paul.

In Acts 14:18, it’s all Paul and Barnabas can do to keep the crowd from worshipping them and making sacrifices in their honor.

By the end of the next verse, the crowd has shifted their opinion of Paul so much that they stone him.

There are so many unanswered questions here. What did these Jews from Antioch and Iconium say to incite the crowd? Was Paul simply “playing possum” here? And what about Barnabas? Where was he? The text doesn’t say.

What is clear is this: the crowd is always fickle. One moment, they’re calling him “Hermes,” and the next thing you know, they’re pelting him with stones and leaving him for dead outside the city. Sounds eerily similar to the crowd’s treatment of Jesus during Holy Week.

After moving on to Derbe, Paul and Barnabas get to work making disciples there and the text indicates that this work was quite fruitful. And after a period of time, they return to Lystra (where Paul was stoned) and also to Iconium and Antioch (the home of these Jews who had incited the crowd in Lystra to turn against them). This is incredible. How many of us would boldly return to a place where a mass of people tried to take our lives? Do you know what kind of courage that would require? And yet, Paul is undeterred. Furthermore, he also marches straight into the hometown of the people who were responsible for goading the mob into such violence. And he proclaims the same gospel message about Jesus that apparently had these Jewish opponents foaming at the mouth in anger in the first place.

The only way to explain this is to remember that Paul has had an encounter with the risen Christ. When you’ve been personally called by a man who has been raised from the dead, it changes the way you view hardship and persecution, even when the crowd wants to kill you. Paul’s message to the brethren conveys this: Acts 14:22, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”

Paul and Barnabas have a faith that leads them to take risks. They return to the scene of the crime where their lives were nearly taken. They go to these places where they aren’t safe, places where they aren’t in control. But that’s the nature of faith. There’s always an element of risk involved.

On the heels of these stops, Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch, declaring that God had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles (Acts 14:27).

Coming to the end of Acts 14, the question that comes to mind for me is this: “What are you risking by faith?”