March 19th, 2022

This week is the Third Sunday in Lent, and during this Lenten journey of 2022 we have been looking at St. Paul’s long and difficult voyage to Rome in Acts as a positive thing. He had made a case for Christianity before King Agrippa, and it was time to make that case before Caesar. And we have seen how the progression that occurs in the details of the beginning of that voyage has some connections to the beginning of the creation account—and THAT account is certainly a positive thing.

To remind you of the order of the first verses in Genesis, first there is an overview that God created everything. Then there is a brief description of the chaos. And then, there was the Spirit (literally the ‘wind’ or ‘breath’) of God over the waters. And then there was the creation of light. And then there was the calling of things ‘day’ and ‘night’.

The events of Paul’s trip are in reverse order to Genesis. It was previously pointed out in the talk of St. Paul to King Agrippa (and others) that Paul first used the word ‘day, and then ‘light’, and then, when he was traveling, there was the emphasis on the wind pushing the ship around. The section that was translated last week ends up with the ship in the midst of a terrible storm, and this is the last verse [27:20] that was included in last week’s writing (and, as I warned you before, it is quite depressing): ‘And neither sun nor stars appearing over many days, and not a little stormy weather was lying down hard [on us], finally all hope for us to be saved was taken away.’ If there is a deliberate literary connection to the reverse order of creation, this point is perhaps a connection to the chaos that was before creation. And those who have ever been out on the water in the midst of the storm may also be thinking ‘chaos’.

An additional point could be made about the double negative description of ‘not a little’, the peculiar description of the stormy weather that was happening. (These are called ‘litotes’ if you are interested—OR if you are not disinterested.) Do not focus too much on these descriptions. By using them, the writer does not have to use more attractive words such as ‘great’, ‘many’, etc. And using those words would probably attract too much attention to what is happening.

Now since these double negatives are much more frequent in the second half of the book of Acts, this may help the reader (or listener) focus more on the important first half of the work, when the church goes from Jesus leading his disciples to Jesus leading his Church with a clear statement of what the gospel is (see Acts 1-15). After all, the Gospel according to Luke is described as what Jesus BEGINS to do and to teach (see Acts 1:1). Although what happens later is most certainly true and important to some extent, it is not as important as the first half of this book.

The last part of that verse above is probably the most depressing, that ‘all hope for us to be saved was taken away.’ Now there is an appropriate response to such a thing. Given the reverse progression of the creation account, the next thing described is that God creates the heavens and the earth. The response, after all hope is lost, is that God definitely will be doing something. (He is, after all, the ULTIMATE starting point.) And, in the case of this storm, he chooses to do something through St. Paul.

Below is a somewhat-literal translation of Paul’s response to the very depressing situation of Acts 27:1-20. The following text is 27:21-26, and these are his words to those who are on the ship with him (and although it does NOT contain a LOT of sailor terminology, you may still wish to look at it in another translation; I have tried, in some places, to keep the order of the words in the same order as the Greek text):

And there being much abstinence, then Paul standing in the midst of them, said, “It is necessary, O men, not obeying me to set sail from Crete and to gain both this injury and loss. And now I urge you to be in good spirits; for throwing away of life there will be none of you, but of the ship. For stood by me, this night, of God, of whom I am, whom also I serve, an angel, saying, ‘Fear not, Paul; Caesar it is necessary for you to stand before, and, behold, God has granted to you all the ones sailing with you.’ Wherefore, be in good spirits, men. For I believe God that thus it will be in the way in which it was spoken to me. But into a certain island it is necessary for us to fall off.”

There are a LOT of things could be said about ANY words taken from the Bible. Both what is said and the way it is said is important. And, therefore, the order in which these words come is important.

With the emphasis on NECESSITY from the mouth of Jesus in the Gospel according to Luke from the beginning [at Luke 2:49] to the end [at Luke 24:26] shows how important that idea is in this talk as well. It is given THREE times in such a very short time.

It is first of all, the very first word that is recorded out of the mouth of St. Paul. In its first use, he is telling the group that they should have listened to him. But he does not continue to focus on that. In fact, there are two times that he encourages them to ‘be in good spirits’.

In the second use of ‘necessity’, St. Paul is sharing with those on the ship what the angel of God shared with him, that it is necessary for him to stand before Caesar. The angel, Paul, and Caesar are all mentioned quite close together. And all three of them—even Caesar—are certainly not as important as God. And he happens to be mentioned three times within this short text as well.

The third use of ‘necessity’ has to do with ‘falling off’ or, in sea-faring language, ‘running aground’, since it is a certain island to which St. Paul is referring. This is what happens, and we can certainly focus too much on the ability to predict the future. It is better to focus on the One behind it all.
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At the beginning of St. Paul’s talk, he says that those in charge of the ship should have ‘obeyed’ him. The word ‘to obey’ is made up of the words ‘persuasive’ and ‘ruler’. The people who ruled in some way had their chance. The same could be said about many people today. The fact that God still ‘granted’ to St. Paul all the ones sailing with him is a wonderful thing. And this word is very closely connected to the word for ‘grace’ or ‘gift’. And the verbal form of the word, in the so-called ‘perfect’ tense, makes this a lasting thing. And THAT is NOT a BAD picture of God.