June 11 is the day set aside in the church calendar to honor Barnabas. In his Barnabas Day sermon this year Pastor Daniel Clemens from King of Kings Lutheran Church in Kansas City focused on the fact that Barnabas rejoiced to see the grace of God:

“The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. [23] When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose,” (Acts 11:22-23)

The name Barnabas means “son of encouragement” and he certainly lives up to his name. We first meet him and hear about his character in the earliest days of the church:

“Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common…Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (Acts 4:32, 36-37)

When it came time to investigate reports about a new group of believers in Antioch the apostles in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to check things out. When Barnabas arrived in Antioch and saw the grace of God, he was glad.

The grace of God in Jesus is our most precious gift. Purely by God’s grace for the sake of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are forgiven and have eternal life. Any time we see it in action we should rejoice. In Luke 15:10 Jesus says, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Yet here a couple of times in Scripture when people saw the grace of God and did not rejoice:

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

[1] But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. [2] And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. [3] Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” [4] And the LORD said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

[5] Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. [6] Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. [7] But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. [8] When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” [9] But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

[10] And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. [11] And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 3:10-4:11)

Jonah flat out was not pleased with the fact that God had mercy on the people of Nineveh when they repented. So God teaches Jonah a lesson with a shade plant.

Then there is one of Jesus’ memorable parables:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. [2] After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. [3] And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, [4] and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ [5] So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. [6] And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ [7] They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ [8] And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ [9] And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. [10] Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. [11] And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, [12] saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ [13] But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? [14] Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. [15] Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ [16] So the last will be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 20:1-16)

Certainly not the way to run an earthly business, but the point of the parable is that God has every right to give his grace to whomever he chooses.

When Barnabas realized the church in Antioch needed help, he sought out a person who knew the grace of God completely. That person was Saul:

“So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, [26] and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.” (Acts 11:25-26)

Saul (later called Paul) talks about the impact of the grace of God in his life in 1 Corinthians 15:9–11:

“For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. [10] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. [11] Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”

Those who rejoice to see the grace of God in other peoples’ lives are the ones who have seen it in their own lives. June 11 is the day set aside in the church calendar to honor Barnabas, one who had experienced the grace of God in his own life and rejoiced to see God’s grace in the lives of others.