Barnabas: Son of Encouragement and Witness to Faith
June 11, 2025 - Wed, Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle
Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3
Saint Barnabas is introduced in the Acts of the Apostles as the one who sold everything, gave it to the Church, and followed Christ. This immediately brings to mind the young rich man whom Jesus loved, but who was unable to part with his possessions, disappearing from the pages of the Gospel; we do not even know his name (see Mark 10:17-22). Barnabas was a Jew from Cyprus, from the tribe of Levi, who seems to have come to faith in Jesus in Jerusalem due to the testimony of the apostles. However, there is an ancient Christian tradition that includes his name among the seventy-two disciples sent by Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom of God in the Gospel of Luke (see Luke 10:1).
The apostle is introduced with two names: Joseph and Barnabas. The first name reminds me of Joseph, the dreamer. When Rachel, after years of being unable to conceive, finally gave birth to Joseph, she explained the meaning of this name with two verbs: take away and add. The LORD took away her reproach - inability to give birth - and she wished He could yet add another child (see Gen. 30:23-24). His second name, Barnabas, reminds me of Barabbas, two contrasting figures with similar sounding names. The meaning of the first name is usually rendered as "son of a prophet," while the other is "son of a father." The first committed his life to Christ, the other to the fight for the liberation of his nation from Roman occupation.
However, the explanation of the name "Barnabas" that we find in the Acts of the Apostles is given as "the son of encouragement." The Greek word translated as "encouragement" is also used as a name for the Holy Spirit: Paracletos. Most English translations have given up on translating this word because its meaning cannot be rendered with one English word. Thus, we could also render his name as "the son of advocate." We see him doing it while speaking for Paul, for example. When the apostle Paul, after his conversion on the road to Damascus, wanted to join the Christian community in Jerusalem, nobody welcomed him. Only when "Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus," they welcomed him (see Acts 9:26-28). Later in the story, we see him encouraging the Christian community in Antioch after they began to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Luke gives us the following explanation of Barnabas' character: "he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith" (see Acts 11:20-24).
Church tradition has preserved one ancient letter ascribed to the apostle Barnabas, written around the end of the first century. It begins with a core of the Christian message, namely that "Jesus loved us." We find the same statement in the Book of Revelation but in the present tense: Jesus loves us (see Rev. 1:5). This love for humanity led Jesus to the cross, and nothing can separate us from that love (see Rom. 8:37-39). Some scholars say that the letter preserves an oral apostolic tradition that predates the writings of the Gospels. One can indeed admire the knowledge of the Scriptures, particularly the prophets, that the author of the letter exhibits.
We can learn a lot from this hero of our faith: his singular devotion to Christ and the proclamation of the Gospel, his concern for the well-being of the Christian community, and his knowledge of the Scriptures. May St. Barnabas pray for us that in our times, we bear witness to our faith without counting the cost.