Chapter 27

Note 1: The poll for the next book of Johno’s Commentary is closed. The winner is . . Jeremiah!!!!![1]

Note 2: From Wednesday night to Friday I shall be at camp, so I cannot guarantee the timely release of Johno’s Commentary. It will still be written, but it might not be able to be uploaded until I come home. My apologies if this is the case. Also, people who receive the Commentary via email will be receiving a digest of the three chapters on Friday evening. If email readers are simply PINING for their daily serve of borderline heretical ramblings on an obscure part of the Bible, they should feel free to check the blog and see if I’ve been able to upload.

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So Paul heads off to Rome. Just him, Luke . .

. . . And 274 of his closest friends!

No, really, there were a lot of people on the ship. And sailing at this time of history was a chancy business, as we find out in this passage. I note that there is a certain depth at which a ship is at risk. Right in close to harbour, the ship is fine; out on the open sea, no problem. But I can see that the sailors get worried when the depth is about 90 – 120 feet. There’s probably a metaphor in that somewhere.

In any case, some things never change. The ship has a good place to winter (Crete), but they’re running behind time, and the crew of the ship (as well as Paul’s gaoler) decide to take a chance and go a little farther.

That’s an EPIC FAIL there for you.

Paul gives them a prophecy that the ship will be wrecked if they head out when they do, but they do so anyway, and so begins perhaps one of the more bizarre chapters of maritime history. Note this – once things are looking bad aboard the ship, people don’t seem to look to the Captain or the Centurion for leadership; it’s all Paul. Even the Centurion seems to be obeying Paul’s instructions, even when they are a little unusual (for example, in verses 30 – 32 where a group of sailors try to sneak off, Paul says they need to stay aboard. Why God says this, who knows; but anyway, the Centurion believes Paul, so the soldiers cut the ropes the sailors are pulling, which turn out to be connected to a boat. One would guess they were a little upset about this development).

It is Paul who encourages everyone to not despair, and Paul who ensures everyone has a good bellyful of food before the grain gets thrown overboard to lighten the ship.

It’s also worth mentioning that this charisma that can be seen in Paul is enough that the gaoler wants to save his life, so he has to prevent his men executing the prisoners (which, given that an escaped prisoner would cost his guards their lives, was a fairly sensible thing for them to do). In so doing, they manage to struggle ashore on what they will learn next chapter to be the island of Malta.

So, in our second last chapter of Acts, what can we learn?

A simple lesson this time, but an important one. You notice that the crew of the ship didn’t do what God (through Paul) told them.

Since they had disobeyed, it would be reasonable for them to be destroyed. After all, they were given a chance; God doesn’t have to rescue people who don’t want to be rescued. Even people who struggle with God’s anger can generally accept that.

But here we have something else entering the scheme – God has a plan, and that plan requires Paul to be brought to Rome. His plan for Paul is too important to be screwed up by bad decisions. So God works out a way for all those on the ship to be saved.

We see this pattern time and time again in scripture. We see how God’s plans cannot be frustrated. Even when things go wrong – badly wrong, like this; a shipwreck would rank pretty highly on the “that’s not good” scale – God’s plan cannot be thwarted by people, no matter how hard they try.

To me, this is one of the most encouraging features of my walk with God.

I say this because I am imperfect. Boy, am I EVER! I seldom have a day when I get everything right. And sometimes I get cross with myself and beat myself up over it.

But you know what? If I’m part of God’s plan (and I believe that I am), then the plan ISN’T going to be thwarted. It’s impossible. It’s God’s plan, and it’s going to come to pass. “No power of Hell, no scheme of man”, as the song says.

Even if I get shipwrecked, God will make sure that I wash ashore on Malta (so to speak). And He will even ensure that everyone else gets ashore as well.


[1] 5 exclamation marks – the sure sign of an unsound mind . . . .