The Fall of Eutychus

Acts of the Apostles (44)

Introduction

As Paul traveled around the Roman world, he had made numerous disciples in various places. They were all regular people, and they all had different home towns. But they began to congregate around him, and the truly international nature of the Christian church began to take shape. The nature of the thing was becoming visible. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth were starting to accompany him.

The secularists play at unity and diversity, but it always veers to one side or the other. It either collapses into an anarchic mess, or it solidifies into a total state. They can’t do it. Only Christ can give us form and freedom together. Paul had gathered these men together, and he was going to Jerusalem with them, a trip that would certainly underscore the point.

The Text

“And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and there abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia . . .” (Acts 20:1–16).

Summary of the Text

When the uproar died down, Paul assembled the disciples, embraced them, and left for Macedonia (v. 1). As he traveled, he gave a significant amount of exhortation, presumably in various places along the way, and then arrived in Greece (v. 2). He remained there for three months. He was going to sail for Syria but found out that some Jewish plotters were intending to waylay him at the harbor, so he decided to go overland through Macedonia and Asia instead (vv. 3-4). He had companions with him from all over: Sopater (Berea), Aristarchus and Secundus (Thessalonica), Gaius and Timothy (Derbe), and Tychicus and Trophimus (Asia). This group went ahead of him to Troas, located in northwestern Asia (v. 5). Paul and Luke sailed from Philippi after the feast of unleavened bread. Philippi proper was ten miles inland, and so this means they sailed from its port. It took them five days to get to Troas, and they remained there for a week (v. 6).

When the disciples gathered for worship on Sunday (night), Paul was going to leave the next day, so he preached until midnight (v. 7). There were a lot of (smoky) lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered (v. 8). A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window and consequently went fast asleep there. Paul went long, and so Eutychus fell from the third story and was killed (v. 9). Paul fell on him, embracing him, and reassured them all, saying that he was alive (v. 10). They all went back inside after this exciting intermission, broke bread, and talked until sunrise (v. 11). They took Eutychus home alive, greatly comforted (v. 12). Paul’s entourage then sailed to Assos as instructed, and Paul went there on foot (v. 13), presumably to encourage people along the way. He came aboard at Assos and they sailed to Mitylene, the harbor of the island of Lesbos (v. 14). They then sailed to the island of Chios (reputed to be the home of Homer), then the island of Samos, and Trogyllium, a small peninsula off Asia. They then came to Miletus, a major market town in southwestern Asia (v. 15). Because Paul felt pressed to make it to Jerusalem by Pentecost, he was by-passing Ephesus, which was about 30 miles from Miletus (v. 16). So the elders of Ephesus came to him. We will consider his interaction with them next time.

Regular People

It is striking that Eutychus gets a named part in the book of Acts. And Luke was kind to include in the story some built-in excuses for him—smoky lamps, v. 8, and long preaching, v. 9. You young people, however, don’t have the same excuses. At the same time, this can serve as a reminder. Spurgeon once said that some churches pray for revival when what they really need to do is open some windows. The physical and the spiritual do intersect.

Liberty and the Lord’s Day

In the Roman world, Sunday was a regular work day. So in order to worship on that day as the Christian sabbath, the Christians needed to gather in the very early morning (as Justin Martyr describes—c. 155 A.D.), or perhaps after the work day was over. In this case, they met on Sunday evening, and they did this in order to “break bread” and to listen to Paul’s sermon. It is very clearly a gathering of the church. This example teaches us not to be too fastidious about the precise timing of such things—the Romans marked their days starting at midnight, just as we do, while the Jews started the new day at sundown. This narrative assumes the Roman clock, making it what might be called a Roman sabbath. And a number of us here in Moscow start the Lord’s Day at 6 pm Saturday night. Feel free. Sometimes you have to know when to eat the showbread (1 Sam. 21:1-6). Sometimes you need to be like Hezekiah, and move the date of Passover one month later (2 Chron. 1:27). Sometimes you need to be less uptight. But other times you need to be careful and precise (2 Sam. 6:6-7).

The First Day Itself

What we see in this passage is a Christian assembly on the first day of the week, and it is for the purpose of hearing Paul’s message and for breaking bread, a phrase that refers to observing the Supper together. See also 1 Cor. 16:2, where the Corinthians were instructed to collect their donations on the first day of the week.

Why did the early Christians do this? All the resurrection accounts describe Jesus rising on the first day of the week (e.g. Mark 16:9). In this place, and in the other resurrection accounts, that particular day in the Greek is described as a first-day-sabbath. When Jesus appears to the disciples, what day He did this is emphasized (John 20:19). He does it again a week later (John 20:26). The Spirit was given at Pentecost on the first day of the week (Lev. 23:15-16). And John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10). We have been meeting on the first day of the week ever since.