Day 186, Acts 28
We left Paul and his companions, guards, and sailors, on an unknown beach, wet and shaken, but unharmed.
Today we learn they have landed on Malta, and the islanders welcome them. Presumably shipwrecks are regular occurrences and this wreck is greeted with a warming bonfire, just as others before. But this time, as Paul helps to gather brushwood for the fire, a snake bites him! The islanders clearly follow superstitions and believe this is fate dealing with a murderer. There may well have been accused murderers among the group of prisoners on their way to Rome. But Paul is unfazed by the interruption, and shakes the snake off into the fire. Despite close attention from the superstitious onlookers, Paul declines to swell up or drop dead! This only increases his celebrity among the islanders.
The Roman governor, Publius, welcomes this official party of Roman soldiers and citizens into his home, and Paul heals his father from a powerful sickness. The news spreads and all the sick on the island are healed at Paul’s hands. Luke doesn’t record all the details, but history records that the church in Malta dates back to this time, birthed in signs, wonders and miracles. Publius became the first bishop!
After three months the weather has abated sufficiently for the group to sail on, first to Sicily and thence to the Italian coast. The Maltese honor them greatly and provide generous supplies as they bid farewell. The final portion of the journey involves walking by road, and word reaches the believers in the city, who rush out to meet and welcome Paul.
Once in Rome, Paul has a great deal of freedom, although technically a prisoner. Luke records Paul making one more appeal to the Jews to recognize Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. Some accepted this, others did not, and the divisiveness continued (as Isaiah prophesied). How sad it is that those who most steadfastly believe they are right are the hardest to convince they are wrong!
Paul concludes with the statement that the non-Jewish nations will believe and receive what some Jews refuse.
And here Luke also concludes, somewhat abruptly, “Paul lived two more years in Rome, in his own rented quarters, welcoming all who came to visit. 31He continued to proclaim to all the truths of God’s kingdom realm, teaching them about the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, speaking triumphantly and without any restriction.”
How appropriate that the Acts of the Apostles should have such an unresolved ending, because the real title of the book should be The Acts of the Holy Spirit - and they continue! We are left to piece together the remainder of Paul’s life from the Pastoral Epistles and historical records. Tradition has Paul being acquitted at trial and traveling to Spain where he is finally imprisoned a final time and executed. Alternative theories have him executed in Rome during Nero’s persecution. We can’t be sure, but Biblical historian and expert in the Early Church Fathers, J.B. Lightfoot, writes in his essay “St. Paul’s History after the close of Acts” that there is enough evidence in the pastoral epistles and the writings of Clement of Rome (a contemporary of the apostles) to support the traditional account.
We will next move to read the remaining letters of Paul, in the accepted order of writing.
Have a great day!
Mark.