Walking With Christ

Acts 21:29-31
(29)For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. (30)Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. (31)And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.(ESV)

First, the context. I’ve been doing a more focused study on the obscure people and stories of the bible to get a richer view of biblical history. This has lead me to a lot of barely named people in the bible such as Jael (Sisera and the tent peg, Judges 4:17-22), Barzillai (2 Samuel 17:27-29), Shamgar (killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad, Judges 3:31), and so many more. In this case, gentiles such as Trophimus were only allowed in the outermost courtyard of the temple. Anyone who was not a Jew who went beyond that point was to be put to death. Any Jew who invited a gentile into the restricted areas was at risk of being put to death.

Trophimus is equivalent to the boy with the loaves and fishes in the feeding of the five thousand story in that Trophimus was the catalyst behind Paul eventually making it to Rome to stand before the Jewish leaders in Rome.

I still haven’t quite figured out why some figures are named in the bible while others are not. Trophimus versus the boy with the loaves put off the same energy and are both used as catalysts for some of the greatest works in the bible. Some people are listed by name only because they are in the line of Jesus. Others, like Shamgar, perform some truly outrageous feats but nothing else is ever mentioned about them.

My point is this, I’m no Paul, but I can sure try to be the boy with the loaves or a Trophimus. I’m not the main character in any story other than my own, but I do want to be a positive catalyst for other, larger stories of His goodness, glory, and grace. I don’t need to be remembered or named in history books to know that God is using every part of my life for the kingdom.

We are all the bad guy in somebody’s story, but that’s just how the enemy wants us to see ourselves. God will use our lives for the good of the kingdom, even if it’s just bringing some bread to the banquet nobody but God could have seen coming. Even if, like Trophimus, our presence is just the catalyst for something greater.