All at sea?

For two whole years Paul stayed there [in Rome] in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.  He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance. Acts 28:30-31

No-one could claim that the apostle Paul lived a quiet and uneventful life. The book of Acts, almost certainly written by his companion Luke, makes that very clear - and his own account even more so (just skim your way, for example, through 2 Corinthians 11:22-33: all about imprisonments, floggings, exposure to death, beatings with whips and rods, stonings, shipwrecks…). No nine-to-five life for Paul!

This makes the end of Acts rather frustrating. The book isn’t all about Paul, of course, but much of it is, and if we have been drawn into Luke’s account of his ministry, the final verses can come across as a big, flat anti-climax: apparently, having at last come to Rome to stand before the emperor, he spent “two whole years… in his own rented house” making the good news of Jesus known to anybody who chose to come, especially his fellow-Jews.

And that’s it! We’re left hanging. We may even feel like shouting, “Well, that’s good to know, Luke. But come on, don’t leave it like that! Tell us how Paul’s story ended! Did he get to stand before Caesar in Rome? Did he later fulfil his ambition to get as far as Spain (Romans 15:24, 28)? How did he die? Don’t leave us dangling! - it’s like reading a detective novel with the last five pages missing”.

Well of course it’s not for us to question God’s word. If a particular narrative isn’t brought to what we think would be a satisfying conclusion, so be it, and we must look for positive lessons.

A few minutes’ thought reminds us that in fact many Bible stories are left, as we might think, unfinished. What, for example, became of the “rich young ruler” (Mark 10:17-23) who, unwilling to meet Jesus’ call to “sell everything you have and give to the poor… went away sad…”. Did he, on later reflection, have a change of heart and come to see Jesus again? Or what about “the woman taken in adultery”? (John 8:2-11), defended by Jesus and told by him to “go and leave your life of sin”? Did she in fact do that? - after all, we all know people who trust in Jesus but later fall away. Or the “Gadarene demoniac”, poor tormented man (Mark 5:1-20)? Or the “woman at the well” (John 4) and the mini-revival in the “Samaritan town” that started with her?

And likewise none of us know our own future, so - take nothing for granted!

Going back to Paul… In Acts 26,he is told that because of his Roman citizenship he has the right to appeal to Caesar in Rome against the unjust treatment of his fellow-Jews. If a prophet had said to him then, “Paul, you have what you wanted, so get ready to head for Rome. You will be treated with respect and consideration at first, but things will soon go badly wrong. You will have to change ships at Mysia in Lydia (27:3-8), but by that time the bad weather will be on its way and the ship’s owners will foolishly insist on persevering in spite of grave danger. Every person on board – all 276 of you – will be in dire peril of going down in a storm of hurricane force, and by the time you get to Crete you and the ship’s company will have to dump everything into the sea in the hope that you might run aground somewhere”. (Malta at this point is still some 200 miles away across open sea…)

If Paul had been told that, I don’t think he would have been too pleased! If the prophet had gone on to say that he and everyone else would end up soaked, chilled to the bone, hungry and exhausted on the beach in Malta, again, I don’t think he would have been too pleased (and certainly not when a poisonous snake grabbed hold of his hand! – Acts 28:3). But that’s how it was and so Paul, being Paul, confronts it with wonderful faith and ends up with another stock of hair-raising memories to tuck away…

And what happened after that ?

Well, summing up chapter 28 very quickly… He emerged from his ordeal by shipwreck unscathed… He was given a generous welcome by the islanders… He was used by God in a wonderful sequence of healing miracles (vv 7-10)…. He was given great hospitality and companionship by Christian people who met him on the road to Rome (and who, in all probability, he had never met before, vv 11-16) …. Once in Rome he was allowed to rent a house for his own use – and which he turned into a preaching centre (vv 30-31).

And this where Luke closes his book.

Who would have guessed this dramatic sequence of events? Not Paul himself, I’m sure. But while we today are no apostle Pauls I think there are things we can draw from his experience which we can definitely apply to ourselves. I suggest three…

First, God doesn’t promise his people an easy ride. But he does promise us a happy ending, even if we must die to enter into it.

Second, as long as we have another day on this earth, God has work for us to do (like Paul gathering sticks to get a fire going, not to mention his impromptu healing ministry). It may be simply showing care to a neighbour, or devoting extra time to prayer, or making a phone call or email to somebody in trouble – but it is precious to God.

Third, don’t ask to know in advance what the future holds: be content to let it unfold with expectant faith and anticipation, and take each day as it comes (corny, that, but true). God is there, and he is in control, and his purposes will become plain.

Father, help me to grasp the truth that every day of my earthly life, however tedious, or demanding, or painful, you have something for me to do – and help me to do it cheerfully and trustingly. Amen.

His purposes will ripen fast,/ Unfolding every hour;/ The bud may have a bitter taste,/ But sweet will be the flower.    William Cowper (1731-1800)