Acts 20:1-12
When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia. 2 He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 3 where he stayed three months. Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. 4 He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6 But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.
7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.
Devotional
As a pastor who spends a lot of time preaching and teaching, every time I read this story about Eutychus falling asleep in a sermon, I cringe and laugh, thinking of the long-winded preacher who keeps going… and going… and going… oblivious to the people in the pews nodding off.
Imagine this scene in your head. The workday in Troas is done, and a small community of Jesus-followers has gathered together in an upstairs room of someone’s house for church. There’s a guest teacher that night, Paul, who launches in and keeps speaking until midnight. Young Eutychus is sitting in a window. He falls asleep, falls out of the window, dies, and is brought back to life. Instead of breaking until morning, the group reassembles in that upstairs room. Paul just keeps on going with his teaching for another five or six hours, as if his teaching didn’t just put Eutychus to sleep, and as if this miraculous thing didn’t just happen!
Was Paul incredibly boring and lacking self-awareness? Did the people feel obligated to stay and listen to him drone on and on because he was a renowned teacher at this point and they felt socially obligated to their guest?
No. I think the people stuck around and listened to Paul all night because Paul was anything but boring.
The church at Troas had met Paul on an earlier visit. In fact, Paul is probably a founder of their church. On his first visit to them, God gave Paul a powerful dream in the night, telling him where to go next on his missionary journey (Acts 16:6-11). The people of Troas likely helped arrange that leg of Pauls’ journey and now Paul is back! They would have heard of Paul’s work in between his two visits to Troas because it was so dramatic: miraculous healings, new followers of Jesus and new churches, jail time, and city riots.
I imagine the Troas church members were eager to hear the stories from Paul first hand.
The story of young Eutychus falling from the window and then miraculously being raised back to life is exciting, powerful, and somewhat humorous. But beyond this story, we see other details in Acts 20:1-1-12 that would have been seen as miracles in their local context as well: markers of this early church movement that were a proclamation that the Kingdom of God was breaking out in their midst.
The miracle of multi-ethnic communities
Paul was on a missionary journey, but he wasn’t alone. Paul’s entourage (verse 4) is a diverse group of people reconciled to one another through Jesus. Consider the list of the names of Paul’s fellow missionaries:
- Sopater, from Macedonia
- Aristarchus and Secundus, from Thessalonica
- Gaius, from Derbe
- Timothy, from Lystra
- Tychicus and Trophimus, from the Roman province of Asia
In addition to the listed names, we can also include:
- Luke, the author of this book, from Phillipi
- Paul, from Achia.
Notice how all of these people are fully participating in Paul’s ministry. This band of co-labourers united around Jesus would have been a visual picture of God’s heart for all nations—their very existence signaled a new Kingdom that wasn’t limited to national borders. They are a sign and foretaste of the Kingdom of God that includes every nation, tribe, and tongue.
The miracle of churches as mission-sending hubs
Each person on Paul’s team was likely added at each stop on Paul’s missionary journey, telling us that from the beginning, churches saw themselves as mission-sending hubs. As Paul reached a new city to share the good news about Jesus, the new believers gathered together and established communities. But these communities did not turn inward in fear of the outside world or hoard the goodness of Jesus for themselves. They immediately began to send people out with Paul on mission. Missional engagement in the world, church-planting, and the multiplication of disciples, is part of the DNA of the church right from the start.
The miracle of social barriers being torn down
From a worldly perspective, the men from Thesonolica, Aristarchus, and Secondus, should not have been together. Aristarchus was a name given to those from an aristocratic, or ruling class. Seconcus was a slave name, literally meaning “second,” indicating Secondus’ second-raking place in the household from which he came. Aristarchus and Secondus, united as brothers from Thesonolica, but more importantly as brothers in Christ, is another sign and foretaste of the Kingdom of God, in which social class barriers do not exist.
The miracle of regular church gatherings:
This evening gathering in Troas is the first unambiguous record we have of a Sunday service. Gathering as a community was non-negotiable in Troas, especially in a cultural context that valued community over individuality, so this may not have been seen as the miracle that we see it as now. In our contemporary Western individualistic culture, choosing to commit to a group of people and then regularly attending church is so countercultural that people outside of the church take notice. The Kingdom of God is announced as we choose Jesus-centered community over individualist expressions of faith.
The miracle of eating together:
The Troas church gathered to break bread and then after Eutychus is raised from the dead, Paul breaks bread again. There are two ways to view this. First, is the ordinary, but profound, practice of sharing a meal with friends and family. We typically eat with those in our inner circles and so the practice of church people eating together grows our relationships within the church family, and signals to the world that we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
The second way to understand the breaking of bread in this passage, is shown in the words that the author, Luke, chose. The Troas church was breaking bread in an upper room. Surely Luke was thinking about Jesus gathering with his disciples in an upper room and breaking bread at his last supper. Our passage is a description of the practice of Communion, the Eucharist, or The Lord’s Supper. When we, too, partake in the Eucharist, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
The miracle of God’s Word spoken out loud:
In a society where people either could not read and had no access to individual Bibles, the only way for the Troas church to receive teachings from the Holy Scriptures, was to come together and hear it spoken aloud, followed by a teaching on it. Given that we live in a time when we have Bibles on our phones that we carry with us in all our waking hours, is it still necessary to come together to hear the proclamation of God’s word? Yes! Something happens when God’s Words are spoken out loud—The Holy Spirit enlivens the Word, planting it deep within us. In addition, the community is necessary in helping us grow as readers of the Bible, and in our discernment of God speaking through the Bible. Thus, the Kingdom of God is made more visible when we come together to receive God’s Word together.
The miracle of learning together:
In our English translations of the Bible, we read in our story that Paul did all the talking. But the original Greek words used in these verses are “homileo” and “dialegomai”. Homileo is like a homily – a short teaching based on the Bible. Dialegomai is a dialogue.
Paul’s talking was part-sermon, like what we see on a Sunday, and part guided-conversation around a specific topic, like what you’d see during the week in a small group or a class of some sort. The more we engage in opportunities to grow deeper in relationship with God outside of a Sunday sermon, the more we grow and become like Jesus, and then our very lives become a proclamation that the Kingdom of God is here!
The miracle of the Church
The church I serve at now is called Redwood Park Church, named after our Thunder Bay neighbourhood. Although I have yet to find an actual redwood tree in Thunder Bay, a number of years ago, I did go to Redwood National Park in Northern California.
California redwoods are the tallest trees in the world. They can easily reach heights of 300 feet, which is as tall as a 27-story skyscraper. On average, redwoods live 500-700 years, with some being discovered that are 2,000 years old. Those ancient trees would have sprouted around the time that Jesus walked the earth.
There are several reasons why redwoods can grow so tall and old. In addition to the Northern Californian temperate climate with heavy annual rainfall, redwoods are locked in place by a unique root system. The roots fan out wide below them, sometimes spreading out 100 feet, where they intertwine with their neighbours’ roots. The giant trees are found in groves, dependent on one another with their intertwined roots that provide mutual nourishment and stability. When a storm comes up, their roots lock them in place. They may sway in the wind, but they stay firmly rooted.
Our faith is a lot like that. If it springs up and out, but we don’t have the roots to sustain us, roots like the redwoods that are intertwined with others, we become stunted, unable to grow to our full potential because we are lacking nourishment. If we beat the odds and grow tall without a community around us, we topple over when challenges come our way because our roots are not held in place by our brothers and sisters in Christ. We see these faith roots in Paul’s group of travelling missionaries and in this early church service account in Acts. These roots allowed the church to grow at a massive rate, like the tall redwood trees.
Walking through a redwood forest inspires awe and wonder. A community of people, centered around Jesus, standing tall as a counter-cultural picture of the Kingdom of God will also inspire awe and wonder, both within the church and for those outside who are longing for a better world.
Questions to Ponder
Of all of the miracles of community in this passage from Acts:
- Which ones do you see evident in the Church now?
- Which ones are you most drawn to?
- Which ones do you find most challenging?
- Which ones would most be a miraculous proclamation about the in-breaking Kingdom of God in your local context?
Author Bio
Milissa Ewing is the Lead pastor of Redwood Park Church in Thunder Bay, where she serves alongside her husband Jay, the Pastor of Spiritual Formation. Milissa is passionate about seeing men & women grow into the people God made them to be and seeing God move in and through the church to transform the city, country, and world.
Milissa and Jay have two teenage daughters, with whom they love to ski, trail run, swim in lakes, and try new restaurants.
https://redwoodpark.ca
Luke and Acts taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®
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