LIVING ENCOURAGEMENT

As Paul embarked on what he expected would be his last journey to Jerusalem, there was a greater urgency to his already keen sense of mission.

He revisited many of the churches he had helped establish, encouraging the believers, praying with them, and saying goodbye. In one sense, it must have been gratifying for him to reflect on the progress of the message of Jesus in these cities and across these regions, but it also seems that Paul always had a sense that there was more to do and more to say. This was his experience on his last night in Troas. Paul had much to say. He talked until midnight, and all that interrupted him was young Eutychus falling asleep and falling to his death from a third-story window. A night that was already emotional had now become a tragedy as the group rushed down the stairs to the street below. Clearing a way through the horrified crowd, Paul took Eutychus in his arms, and returned him alive to his family and church family. It was a “Do not be afraid” message they would never forget. Paul could have stopped talking at that point. What more was there to say after he had demonstrated the power of resurrection? On the other hand, he had their refocused attention, and he talked until daybreak when he had to leave.

It seems unlikely that Paul would have planned it this way, and we do not know why this death was undone when others in the early church were not.

But the effect must have been powerful. “The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted” (Acts 20:12). Imagine as they met together each week and Eutychus arrived as a living reminder of the power of God and of the last time they saw Paul and the encouragement he had given them.