So they, sent forth by the holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They had John also as their assistant. 6 When they had traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, they met a magician named Bar-Jesus who was a Jewish false prophet. 7 He was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who had summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is what his name means) opposed them in an attempt to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all that is right, full of every sort of deceit and fraud. Will you not stop twisting the straight paths of [the] Lord? 11 Even now the hand of the Lord is upon you. You will be blind, and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately a dark mist fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he came to believe, for he was astonished by the teaching about the Lord.
The Church at Antioch, which was a predominately Gentile Church, had become a center from which missionaries were sent out. Paul and Barnabas, who were leaders in the Church, were sent by the Holy Spirit on a missionary journey (Acts 13:2). Seleucia was a seaport of Antioch and Salamis was an Eastern port on the island of Cyprus where Barnabas was born (Acts 4:36). In Salamis Paul and Barnabas proclaimed the word to the Jews in the Synagogue first (Acts 13:46; Mk. 7:27). John Mark, Barnabas’ cousin, was their assistant (Col. 4:10). The Jewish magician Bar-Jesus (Elymas) worked what appeared to be wonders and pretended to be a prophet. The governor of the province wanted to hear the word of God, but Elymas tried to prevent it. A competition between authentic Christianity and magical acts was inevitable. Paul through the Holy Spirit rendered Elymas temporarily blind. The proconsul, astonished by both the works of the Spirit and the word of God, came to believe. Unlike with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) God, in His mercy and divine prerogative, offered Elymas a chance to repent by temporarily blinding him.
Almighty God, many times we are blinded by the illusions of our desires and do not seek you with our whole heart. In those times have mercy on us and grant us the grace listen to your word and to see your works in our lives that we may turn back to you and be saved. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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