Thoughts on Acts 13 and the Apostle Paul

I just randomly opened my Greek New Testament to Acts 13. It's been a little while since I looked at Acts, but the truth is I wasn't really aiming for any one passage or book. Just something to connect with.
     Acts 13:1-4 is an interesting passage. First, Paul (Saul) was either a teacher or a prophet in the church at Antioch. He'd been there for several years by this point after Barnabas picked him up where he'd been deposited in Tarsus of Asia Minor. I'm guessing he was a teacher, though I'm sure the lines were always blurred just a little. Just this is telling though. The last Barnabas had seen of him in Jerusalem, he'd been a relatively new convert (for oh about 3 or four years or so) stirring up trouble at least ten years before. He was sent to Tarsus for his own protection as well as to get things in Jerusalem to calm down. Paul had a way of doing the firehose thing, and his filters didn't always work quite right. That is, he wasn't really that much of a diplomat when he talked to people. He liked people, he just wasn't great with social cues, and didn't know when to stop talking. So, in a way, he'd already been "banished" from the church in Jerusalem once. But, Barnabas came and got him and brought him to Antioch where he integrated with the church there, became one of its leaders, and found himself a new family.
     During the course of regular worship liturgy and fasting, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, says, in effect, "Banish, right now, Barnabas and Saul for the work which I am calling them towards." The word "aforizo" literally means "to set apart, to separate, to mark off by boundaries," and within the context of a group can carry the alternate meanings of "set apart for special purpose" or "banish, excommunicate."
     Consider the affect this might have had on Paul for a minute. He'd just spent ten years in Tarsus by himself. There's no record of him planting or being a part of a church there. He was a disciple of the Way on his own, and ten years later was still a disciple of the Way without a church family. But now he has one. He's been a part of that community in Antioch for years, and now the Spirit of Christ is telling them to banish him and Barnabas from their church. It's for a good reason, it's for a specific work, yes. But nevertheless, it's clear that their stay in Antioch was over. They're being ejected from the church. With the church's blessing, for a specific work, but there's no appeal on this just like there was no appeal when Paul was sent to Tarsus. In verse three, that this was actually a separation or "banishment" is rendered by the term "apoluo" where it says "and having put their hands on them they 'undid' them." Apoluo has the meaning of "to undo, to release, to set free, to untie." In other words, they cut their ties with them. Paul and Barnabas were on their own for now, and weren't permitted to remain.
     I think this is something which needs to be considered. They weren't "sent out" by the church as we would normally think of it in modern ecclesiastical terms. They were set outside the church because the Spirit of Christ told them to. Imagine Paul's feelings on the subject given his recent past history. On the one hand, his goal was to serve Jesus Christ, but on the other hand he was forcefully being pushed out of his found family and not really being given a choice in the matter if he wanted to be obedient.
     In the passage in Acts, they aren't really given a direction either by the Spirit of Christ. It's just, "you're done here. Get out." So where do they go? They head for Cyprus, where Barnabas was from. What's interesting is that they don't head for Tarsus. In fact, Paul never returns to Tarsus again in the book of Acts. One would think that if he had family or contacts there, it would at least be a stopping point at some time or another, and it wouldn't have required passage on a boat from Antioch. This lends support to my thinking that Paul wasn't actually from Tarsus in Asia Minor at all, but rather Tartessos (Tarshish in semitic languages, which sounds an awful lot like Tarsus when pronounced in Greek or Latin) in Hispania Ulterior. He literally had no reason to return there. So, they head for Barnabas' home country in Cyprus, probably because they don't know where else to go and Barnabas does have family and contacts there. That they stop in Salamis and begin preaching in the Synagogues there suggests that this is probably Barnabas' home town and they were staying with his family. The text also suggests that this is where they picked up John Mark as a helper before continuing on to traverse the whole island.
     Imagine how they're feeling though. What we call "the first missionary journey" was Paul and Barnabas being literally kicked out of the church of Antioch onto the street by the Spirit of Christ and then feeling like they've been left to their own devices half the time, not knowing where they're supposed to go, or what they're supposed to do. And Paul himself has to wrestle with losing another family, another group of connections. First, his group of friends under Gamaliel as a Pharisee, then whatever welcome and community he had hoped to achieve with the church in Jerusalem was denied him and he was sent somewhere he knew no one not knowing if he was ever going to reconnect with anyone. And then after achieving a found family where he had a place and a purpose he was cast out again and told to move on.
     Anyone seriously think he didn't struggle with this? Anyone seriously think he didn't feel just a little lost at times and cried out "why me?" The man who wrote the letters of the New Testament hadn't formed yet, and this was a part of the process, but no one said it wasn't painful, or that it wasn't like trying to find his way blind through all of it. Anyone seriously think he didn't have a breakdown or two because of all he'd been through?
     Saul who was also called Paul would find his footing, and he would go on to do pretty much the same thing for the rest of his life. Never really settling down in any one place for more than a few years. He never really saw Antioch as 'home' again either. He returned once for a few years before being called away again, and then the last time he tried to return, it wasn't long before he rejoined the disciples in Ephesus (this becoming a home base of sorts for him), many if not most of whom were transplants from Judea including the Apostle John and Jesus' mother, as well as Priscilla and Aquila, and a number of others. And then from there, returning to all of the disciples in the churches he had planted by just showing up without having a plan or a clue in their cities. In a way, these became his home, his larger family, even when Antioch was no longer.
     You don't get to where Paul was by remaining stationary and comfortable. He was constantly losing everything and leaving it behind. While he had many friends across the empire, and no end of "couches to sleep on," he never owned his own house. He rented them when he needed to, but he never owned one, and it was never permanent. The emotional toll it took on him was considerable as he was conditioned again and again to let everything go, and the transient nature of things was reinforced for him tangibly again and again. It got to the point where he realized there was just no point in trying to have a stable home, possessions, and so on. Not for him, and not for what the Spirit of Christ had called him towards. Not every disciple was so transient as he was, but few of them were really permitted to be stationary anywhere for very long.