Straight Or Crooked?
What if the constant noise of our age is exactly what's keeping you from the straight path that leads to Christ?
Christ is risen!
Story and after story. Article after article. Talking head after talking head on TV and Cable and social media. They all say the same thing. We really are in a divided society.
Everybody seems to be picking sides, arguing and debating over politics, religion, and even which “science” to follow.
But the truth is, we are witnessing the crumbling of the false notion that all we need to do is reason everything out, and we can fix the world. We are coming to the final end of the foolish pride of mankind’s intellectual abilities. And people are really lost and wandering in a sea of competing ideas and philosophies.
But what about dumping all the rhetorical arguing and learning to be silent, and listen to timeless Truth?
“Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?”
That’s the question St. Paul asks the false prophet in today’s reading. It’s also a question worth asking ourselves. Truth is not an ideology we defend. Truth is a Person we follow. And the path to Him is straight, even when the world insists on making it crooked.
Today is Tuesday of the Fifth Week after Pascha. We continue to witness the consequences of the Resurrection in our readings from the Book of Acts. Today, we see the Holy Spirit launching the great missionary work of Sts. Barnabas and Paul, and we encounter their first significant opponent.
Today’s Lesson: Acts 12:25; 13:1-12
In those days, Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, bringing with them John whose other name was Mark. Now in the Church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) withstood them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith. But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
This passage marks one of the most consequential moments in the history of the Church.
The Holy Spirit calls the Church at Antioch to set apart Barnabas and Paul for the mission that will eventually reach the entire Mediterranean world. And almost immediately, they encounter opposition. Not from a Roman official, but from a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus, also known as Elymas the magician.
What Can We Take From This?
First, the Holy Spirit always calls the Church to mission, and that calling comes through worship and fasting.
Notice how this missionary journey begins. The Church at Antioch is “worshipping the Lord and fasting.” There is no strategic planning meeting. There is no demographic analysis. There is no marketing campaign. There is worship, and there is fasting.
Disciplined and Focused Purpose produces the sober soul that can hear the Holy Spirit.
In that posture of worship and fasting, the Holy Spirit speaks. “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
This pattern matters profoundly. The Spirit can’t be heard by noisy souls running in a thousand directions. The Spirit is heard when souls have made themselves available through the sober disciplines of worship and fasting.
When was the last time you fasted from the steady stream of voices and noise and social media that fills your day? When was the last time the wisdom of the Faith was allowed to quiet your soul so that you can listen to the Lord?
Next, false prophets always try to keep us from hearing the simple Gospel by complicating everything.
Look at what Elymas does. The proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, has summoned Barnabas and Paul because he wants to hear their message. But Elymas withstands them, “seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith.”
He doesn’t try to deny the Gospel directly. He just tries to muddy the waters. Add complications. Introduce alternative explanations. Make the simple message complicated enough that the proconsul gives up and walks away.
This is the timeless tactic of every false prophet. They don’t usually attack the Truth head-on. They make it crooked. They tangle it up. They introduce so many caveats and conspiracies and competing claims that the soul becomes exhausted trying to sort through it all.
Our age is suffocating under this kind of crookedness. Every day brings a new theory to absorb, a new outrage to process, a new ideological framework to evaluate. We become so busy navigating the crooked paths that we lose sight of the simple, straight path that is Jesus Christ Himself.
Paul’s words to Elymas are also a question for us. Are we making crooked the straight paths of the Lord in our own lives? Are we filling our minds with so much noise that we cannot hear the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life?
Finally, when truth is spoken with authority, the false witness is exposed, and the seeker finds the way.
Paul does not engage Elymas in a long debate. He does not match conspiracy theory for conspiracy theory. He does not try to win the argument intellectually. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he simply names what is true. “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?”
And immediately the false prophet is blinded. He goes about seeking people to lead him by the hand. The very thing he was doing to others (leading them away from the truth) becomes his own condition.
But notice what happens to Sergius Paulus. “Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.”
When truth is spoken plainly, and the crooked paths are exposed for what they are, the seeker finds the Way. The proconsul wasn’t astonished at Paul’s eloquence. He was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. The straight path became visible because the crookedness had been removed.
This is what Normal Orthodoxy offers a confused world. Not another competing ideology. Not another political position. Not another conspiracy theory or argument. Just the Person of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, walked out faithfully in the lives of His people.
St. Epiphanios, Bishop of Cyprus
Today we commemorate St. Epiphanios, Bishop of Salamis on the island of Cyprus, the very island where today’s Gospel reading takes place. Born around 310 AD in Palestine, Epiphanios spent his early years among the desert fathers in Egypt, learning the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and ascetic struggle. He returned to Palestine, founded a monastery, and eventually was elected Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus in 367 AD.
Epiphanios was renowned throughout the Christian world for his learning and his uncompromising defense of the Orthodox Faith against the heresies of his time. He wrote a major work called the Panarion (meaning “Medicine Chest”), which cataloged and refuted the various heresies threatening the Church. He understood that crooked paths were everywhere and that the Faithful needed clear teaching to recognize the straight path.
But Epiphanios was not merely an intellectual defender of doctrine. He was known for his mercy, his prayers for healing, and his deep humility. He fell asleep in the Lord around 403 AD on a ship returning to Cyprus.
St. Epiphanios teaches us what Paul teaches us in today’s reading. The straight path of Orthodoxy is not maintained by argument alone but by lives shaped through worship, fasting, prayer, and unwavering fidelity to the Person who is Truth Himself.
Your Response Today
Here is one practice for today.
Sometime, when you find yourself pulled into a crooked conversation, whether online, in your own thoughts, or in conversation with someone else, pause and ask yourself this question:
“Is this making the path to Christ straighter or more crooked in my heart?”
If the answer is “more crooked,” step back. Stop scrolling. Close the article. Excuse yourself from the conversation. Return to the simple, straight reality that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, and that He alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
The straight path is not complicated. But it requires us to refuse the constant invitations to wander into crookedness.
Being Orthodox on Purpose means refusing every invitation to make crooked the straight path that leads to Christ, no matter how interesting or urgent the crookedness may seem!
A note from Fr. Barnabas: This devotional uses our refined format launched yesterday. Thank you for journeying with me through this transition. If you find these changes helpful, or if you have suggestions, please let me know. Your feedback shapes this ministry.
May the Risen Lord straighten every crooked place in your heart today and lead you on the simple, sober, sure path that ends in Him.
P.S. Holy Father Epiphanios, Bishop of Cyprus, you defended the straight path of Orthodoxy through a life of learning, prayer, and uncompromising fidelity to Christ. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
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Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV
