11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.
It is amazing how often our own ideas get mixed up with the truth of God. We try to make a hybrid religion, some truth and the rest our own ideas. The power of our beliefs to get in the way shows up in this passage. Paul and Barnabas are preaching the truth about who Jesus is. The problem rests in the beliefs of the people to whom he is preaching. They believe in the many gods of Greek mythology. When they hear the message they hear it within their own framework. When they hear about miracles, they think their Greek gods have made another appearance here on earth. They miss the message and interpret the experience through their own understanding of the universe. Their understanding was that miracles are the result of the gods revisiting the earth. They could only hear what Paul was preaching through their own understanding. They were trying to make sense of what Paul & Barnabas were saying, but it was so different from what they had believed that it didn’t make sense. So they tried to make sense of it by fitting it into what they already believed. That is a problem with the Gospel. It doesn’t fit with Greek mythology. In fact, it doesn’t fit with any manmade religious system. If we try to make it fit, we add many elements that are not part of the Gospel. One example should suffice. The Christmas tree is not a part of the biblical Christmas story. It is a wonderful tradition, but it is not essential to the truth of Jesus’ birth. And for many, it is a distraction from the simple truth of His birth. And yet, many well-intentioned believers spend way too much time centered around this tradition and miss the truth of Jesus’ coming. When the people of Lystra saw the miraculous heal of the crippled man they put a Greek-god-understanding on the event. We must be careful not to put our own understanding on events, and allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts to understand the event from His perspective. When we don’t understand something, be patient and let the Lord show you what it means.
The Arnold Journey 