It’s one of the classic expressions of surprise . . . that subtle movement that indicates something unexpected has been encountered . . . when it’s exaggerated it can be great physical comedy . . . it’s called the double take. You know, when someone encounters someone else or something they weren’t expecting and then their head snaps back quickly . . . their eyes bulge out . . . the sound effects guy lets go with a big “boing!” (or something like that). Well, this morning I had a bit of a double take. Nothing too over-the-top . . . nothing too funny . . . no sound effects . . . but a double-take nevertheless.

I’m reading in Acts 13 . . . about the church in Antioch . . . a place where the grace of God had fallen and many, many had come to faith — both Jew and Hellenist (Grecian-Jew). A great number believed and turned to the Lord . . . Barnabas was sent by the church in Jerusalem to check it out . . . he determined to encourage these new believers to follow the Lord “with purpose of heart” . . . and then he went and got Saul . . . and for a whole year the two of them assembled with the church and taught them. And this became the place where disciples of Jesus were first called Christians (Acts 11:19-26).

And it says in Acts 13 that “in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul” (13:1). There it is! Head swings back . . . eyes bulge out . . . do you hear the “boing?” What’s he doing there? Manaen! One who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch? He’s in the church? . . . he’s a prophet? . . . he’s a teacher? . . . he’s worshipping Jesus? . . . he’s fasting? . . . he’s laying hands on Saul and Barnabas under the direct orders of the Holy Spirit and commissioning them for their first missionary journey? What’s he doing here?

Come on . . . you just don’t expect anybody who had anything to do with Herod to be in church . . . much less a prophet, teacher, or leader. It says he was brought up with Herod the tetrarch. You remember Herod . . . the guy who had the head of John the baptizer cut off and handed to his step-daughter . . . actually she was his niece until he lusted after his brother’s wife and took her for his own. The same Herod who, when Pilate sent Jesus to him, was glad to see Jesus because he was hoping to see Him perform, hoping to see a miracle or two, . . . but when Jesus didn’t perform, and didn’t even answer his questions, he treated him with contempt and mocked him and sent him back to Pilate (Luke 23:7-11). This Herod who was part of a family of Herods who were bad, bad, bad people. So what’s a guy who had been brought up with Herod doing in the church of Antioch?

Looks like there’s differing opinions as to exactly what Manaen’s relationship was with Herod. Some think that it was Manaen’s mother who was Herod’s nursemaid and so they were kind of foster brothers or, as the NLT says, “childhood companions”. Peterson, in the Message, speculates that he might have been an advisor to Herod, the ESV says he was a “member of the court of Herod.” Whatever the exact relationship, it seems clear that he and Herod had a strong association. You gotta think that Manaen was subject to the same influences . . . shared some of the same background . . . knew some of the same opulence and power, at least indirectly. So what is a contemporary of Herod the fox (Jesus’ words not mine (Luke 13:32)) doing in the church of Antioch worshiping, praying, and fasting with Saul and Barnabas and other teachers and prophets?

Simple answer: the grace of God.

You know, we can so easily look at a person’s upbringing and write them off because “normal” for them is so debased for us. Or, we find out about someone’s history and we look right past them. Or, when they do show up in church we’re somewhat suspicious . . . maybe even asking ourselves, “What’s he doing here?” In those times, oh that the Holy Spirit would move us to do a double take and think Manaen. In fact, some of us were Manaens. Brought up so far from the things of God . . . ignorant and arrogant . . . using Jesus’ name in a way that the Name above all names should never be used. Yet, by the grace of God . . . the love of Christ . . . the work of the Holy Spirit, we ended up part of His body . . . assembling with His people . . . and maybe even had spoke of us, “What’s he doing here?”

He’s here because Jesus saves . . . here because God so loved the world, the whole world, that He gave His one and only Son as a payment for all sin . . . here because God in His sovereign grace drew him to Himself and he believed that Jesus is the Son of God and that in Him is life eternal. Kind of amazing who you might find on a church’s membership roster isn’t it . . . that’s kind of how God works . . . amen?