James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognised the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

(Galatians 2:10 NIV)

Picture the scene: James, Peter and John – disciples who had spent three years with Jesus (and who had witnessed the risen Christ); had seen yet another powerful display of God’s grace. Before their very eyes stood a man who had undergone a radical transformation in his life – ironically, the man who had once ordered the torture and death of Christians was now…a Christian.

The old man was gone and the new had come. The zealous murderer Saul had become the Apostle Paul, a man who deeply knew what it meant to be saved by grace. He was now sent with a mandate to proclaim the good news of what Jesus had done through his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection; reconciling man with God.

I’m sure Peter, James and John gave Paul and Barnabas careful and thoroughly-discussed counsel in regards to their call to preach the good news to the Gentiles. We don’t have any of those conversations recorded in Scripture, but we do know that one of the most crucial, important factors they stressed to Paul as they sent him and Barnabas on their way was this: Remember the poor. To which Paul writes in Galatians, was something he was already mindful of and eager to do.

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