A tension that existed in the early Church underlies today's readings. Jesus confined his missionary efforts almost exclusively to his fellow Jews. Embedded, however in the Good News, was the imperative to grow and expand. Before he ascended into heaven, therefore, Jesus explicitly commissioned His apostles to spread the Good News to the ends of the world.

The Church is a human family as well as a divine one, so it is not surprising that some of the converts from Judaism hesitated to welcome indiscriminately converts from non-Jewish backgrounds. They feared a dilution of their beloved beliefs and practices. It took Barnabas along with Paul to break the log jam. They lobbied hard at meetings, received pagan converts into the Church at Antioch and set off on missionary journeys to exotic places at the Lord's command.

After some time, however, Barnabas began to have some doubts about the policy he had so enthusiastically embraced. He began to pull back a little and parted company with Paul. Barnabas, however, was a "good man" and continued his zealous missionary work according to the light as he saw it.

When we are saddened and worried by controversies in the Church we can remember that even in the first flush of its zeal the early Church experienced differences of opinion.