At the end of his third missionary journey, after spending three years in Ephesus and revisiting churches he helped to establish on his earlier missionary journey, Paul was determined to return to Jerusalem. Setting sail from Macedonia, Paul and his companions stopped at Troas where they “spent seven days” (Acts 20:6).
On the final night of his visit, the church “assembled to break bread” (Acts 20:7). I wonder if it was like an old-fashioned pot-luck supper, complete with fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad, and chocolate pie?
Paul had so much to say. He wanted to leave the infant church with a complete theology, so he taught, and taught, and taught. He wanted them to be certain of God’s love and their secure salvation, so he taught, and taught, and taught. And, he excitedly shared his plans to go to Jerusalem and immediately depart for Rome, so “he kept on talking until midnight”(Acts 20:7).
“There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled, and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead” (Acts 20:8-9). Was his neck broken? No one knows. But when the shocked crowd gathered around the boy, it was obvious to all. He was dead.
Eutychus would have been long-forgotten, never mentioned on the pages of history, except he fell asleep while Paul preached on and on. He’s remembered because he fell asleep, fell from the third story window, and died. And, he’s remembered because Paul hurried downstairs with the others “bent over him, embraced him, and said, ‘Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive’ ” (Acts 20:10). By the power of God’s Holy Spirit, Paul raise the dead Eutychus back to life.
Years after Paul’s seven-day visit to Troas, Dr. Luke recorded the boy’s name: Eutychus. I suspect that Luke recorded the name because it was well known. Don’t you think that Eutychus told his story to everyone who would listen? He was dead… but God raised him to new life!
That’s my story … and your story. We were dead in “trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1) but were made “alive with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5). Will we be remembered because we’ve told our story?
“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).
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