A Conduit of Blessing
TRANSLATION
(1) Once safely on shore, we learned that the land was called Malta. (2) The islanders, showing us unusual kindness, kindled a fire and welcomed us because it had started to rain and was cold. (3) Paul gathered a pile of brushwood, and, as he added it to the fire, a viper emerged because of the heat and fastened on his hand. (4) When the locals saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man is undoubtedly a murderer. Although he escaped from the sea, the goddess, Justice, has not allowed him to live.” (5) Paul, however, shook the snake off into the fire and was not harmed. (6) They were expecting Paul to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. When they had waited a long time and saw that nothing unusual happened to him, they changed their minds and declared that he was a god.
(7) Now there was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and showed us generous hospitality for three days. (8) It happened that his father lay sick with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him and, laying his hands on him, healed him. (9) After this took place, the other islanders who also suffered from diseases came and were healed. (10) They honored us in many ways, and, when we were ready to sail, they provided us with everything we needed.
(11) After three months we set sail in a ship which had wintered at the island. It was from Alexandria and displayed a figurehead of the twin gods (Castor and Pollus). (12) We traveled to Syracuse and stayed there three days. (13) From there we sailed to Rhegium. The next day a south wind rose up, and the following day we came to Puteoli. (14) There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. Thus we arrived in Rome.
OBSERVATIONS
The final leg of Paul’s journey from Caesarea to Rome was literally the calm after the storm. From Malta we can trace his progress north to Syracuse on the east coast of Sicily and then by way of Puteoli, now called Pozzuoli, a suburb of Naples, to his final destination of Rome. Before his departure from Malta he survived a snake bite which the locals were certain would kill him, healed the local chief’s father, and then healed many others who came seeking his help. Repetitions included “the island” (vss. 1, 7, 9, & 11), “fire” (vss. 3 & 5), “hand” (vss. 3 & 4), “snake” (vss. 4 & 5) along with its synonym “viper” (vs. 3), Publius (vss. 7 & 8), and “sail” (vss. 10 & 11).
OUTLINE
I. While on Malta, Paul survived a snake bite and healed many including the chief official’s father. (1-10)
II. Paul continued north along the Italian coast, finally reaching Rome. (11-14)
IDEA STATEMENT
Wherever he went and in whatever circumstances he found himself, Paul bore witness to the power and grace of God.
APPLICATION
One of the men who most powerfully impacted my college years was Donald Fullerton who for over thirty years devoted his life to discipling undergraduates at Princeton. I remember his describing to me a trip he took as a young believer to London. He had been urged by a family friend to meet a well-known bishop of the Anglican church, and, to make this possible, the friend had arranged for him to have lunch with the “great man.” When they met, the first thing the bishop said was, “Young man, what has God given you to bless me?” Taken aback by this question, Fullerton asked the bishop to clarify what he meant. The bishop’s response has had a lifelong impact on me: “Whenever I meet another believer for the first time, I ask the Lord to make me a blessing to that person in some specific way. I have learned to expect the same of the person I’m about to meet. I’ll ask you again: What has God given you today to bless me?”
Wherever he happened to be, Paul served as a conduit of God’s blessing to everyone around him. We see that vividly taking place throughout his journey to Rome whether on a boat during a storm or shipwrecked on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean. Location and circumstances mattered little to Paul. He viewed himself as a full-time ambassador for Jesus Christ wherever he happened to be and with whomever he met. His readiness to serve as a conduit of God’s blessing to everyone he met is a stance each of us should adopt as our sacred responsibility.