Homily 53 — Acts 26, verse 30, to 28, verse 1

“And when he had spoken this way, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and those who sat with them. And when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, ‘This man is doing nothing worthy of death or of chains.’ Then Agrippa said to Festus, ‘This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.’” [a]

See how once again they pass sentence in his favor. After saying, “You are out of your mind” (verse 24), they acquit him, as deserving not only no death but no chains either; and they would have released him altogether if he had not appealed to Caesar. But this happened by God’s providence, so that he would leave in chains as well. “To the point of chains,” he says, “as a criminal” (Second Timothy 2, verse 9). For if his Lord “was counted among the lawless” (Mark 15, verse 28), much more he. But just as the Lord did not share their character, neither did Paul. For this is where the wonder is seen: to be thrown in with such men and yet take no harm from them.

“And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they handed Paul and some other prisoners over to a man named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan cohort. And going aboard a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia, one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us. And the next day we landed at Sidon” (Acts 27, verses 1 to 3). See how far Aristarchus, too, goes along with Paul. And Aristarchus is there to good and useful purpose, since he would carry the report of everything back to Macedonia.

“And Julius treated Paul courteously, and gave him leave to go to his friends to refresh himself.” Julius gave Paul leave, it says, acting “courteously, so that he might refresh himself”; for it was only natural that he should be much the worse for his chains, and the fear, and being dragged here and there. See how the writer does not hide this either: that Paul wanted to refresh himself.

“And when we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were against us” (verse 4). Trials again, contrary winds again! See how the life of the saints is woven through with such things: they escape the law court, and they run into shipwreck and storm. “And when we had sailed across the sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us on board it” (verses 5 and 6). “A ship of Alexandria,” it says. It is likely that the men of the first ship would carry to Asia the report of what had happened to Paul, and that these men would do the same in Lycia.

See how God does not make innovations or alter the order of nature, but lets them sail into unfavorable winds. Yet even so the miracle is worked. So that they would sail safely, he did not let them go out into the open sea; they kept always close to land. “And when we had sailed slowly for many days, and had scarcely come opposite Cnidus, the wind not allowing us, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone; and, passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous, because the Fast was already past, Paul warned them” (verses 7 to 9). By “the Fast” here I suppose he means the fast of the Jews. For they left there a long time after Pentecost, so that it was around midwinter when they reached the coasts of Crete. And this too was no small miracle, that the others also should be saved on his account.

“Paul warned them and said to them, ‘Men, I see that this voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.’ But the centurion believed the helmsman and the owner of the ship more than the things Paul said. And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised putting out from there too, in the hope that they could somehow reach Phoenix and winter there, a harbor of Crete that faces southwest and northwest. And when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had gained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed close along Crete. But not long afterward a violent wind called Euroclydon rushed down against it. And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we let her drive” (verses 10 to 15). [c]

Paul, then, advised them to stay, and he foretells what would come of it; but they were in a hurry, and, hindered by the place, they wanted to winter at Phoenix. Notice, then, how the events are ordered by providence. First, “when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had gained their purpose,” they loosed the ship and set out; then, when the wind bore down on them, they gave way and let it drive them, and were saved only with difficulty.

“And running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were hardly able to secure the boat. When they had hoisted it aboard, they used supports, undergirding the ship; and fearing that they would run onto the quicksands, they lowered the sail, and so were driven along. And as we were violently battered by the storm, the next day they lightened the ship; and on the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands. And when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last taken away. But after they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up in the middle of them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete, and so have brought on this injury and loss’” (verses 16 to 21).

Then, after so great a storm, he does not speak to taunt them, but out of a wish that at least from now on he might be believed. That is why he also cites what had happened as evidence for the truth of what he was about to say. “And now I urge you to take heart; for there will be no loss of any man’s life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar. And look, God has given you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. But we must be cast up on a certain island” (verses 22 to 26).

And he foretells two things: both that they must be cast up on an island, and that though the ship would be lost, those on board would be saved (and this he spoke not by guesswork but by prophecy), and that he “must be brought before Caesar.” But when he says, “God has given you all,” he is not boasting; he wants to win over the men sailing in the ship. He spoke this way not so that they would feel indebted to him, but so that they would believe what he was saying. “God has given you”: as much as to say, “They deserve death, since they would not listen to you; still, this is done as a favor to you.”

“But when the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven to and fro in the sea of Adria, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. And they took soundings and found it 120 feet deep; and when they had gone a little farther, they sounded again and found it 90 feet. Then, fearing that they might run onto rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and longed for daylight. And as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship, and had let the boat down into the sea, pretending that they were going to run out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, ‘Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.’ Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and let it fall away” (verses 27 to 32).

The sailors, however, were about to escape, having no faith in what had been said; but the centurion does believe Paul. For Paul says, “If these men run away, you cannot be saved.” He said this not for that reason, but to hold them back, and so that the prophecy would not fall to the ground. See how, as though in a church, they are taught by the calm of Paul’s bearing, and how he brought them safe out of the very middle of the dangers. And it is by the ordering of providence that Paul is disbelieved, so that after the facts had proved him he might be believed; and that is what happened. And he urges them again to take some food, and they do as he tells them; and he takes some first, to persuade them not by word only but by action too that the storm had done them no harm, but had rather been a benefit to their souls.

“And while day was coming on, Paul urged them all to take food, saying, ‘Today is the fourteenth day that you have waited and gone without food, having taken nothing’” (verse 33).

You will say: “And how did they go without food, having taken nothing? How did they bear it?” Their fear gripped them and did not let them fall into any desire for food, since they were at the very edge of extreme danger; they had no thought for food. “‘So I urge you to take some food, for this is for your survival; for not a hair will fall from the head of any of you.’ And when he had said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then they were all encouraged, and they also took some food” (verses 34 to 36), seeing there was no longer any question that their lives would be saved.

“And we were in all two hundred seventy-six people in the ship. And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing the wheat into the sea. And when it was day, they did not recognize the land; but they noticed a bay with a beach, onto which they meant, if it were possible, to drive the ship. And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves to the sea, and loosened the ropes of the rudders, and hoisted the mainsail to the wind, and made for the beach” (verses 37 to 41).

“They made for the beach,” having handed the rudder handles over to the wind; for often they do not do it this way. They were carried along with the rigging loosened, that is, the sails. “And striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the bow stuck fast and stayed immovable, but the stern was broken up by the force of the waves.” For when there is a strong wind, this is what happens: the stern takes the brunt of the storm.

“And the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape” (verse 42). Again the devil tries to block the prophecy, and they wanted to kill some of them; but the centurion did not allow it, so that he might save Paul, so attached was the centurion to him. “But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and ordered those who could swim to throw themselves into the sea first and get to land, and the rest to follow, some on planks and some on pieces of the ship. And so it came about that they all escaped safely to land” (verses 43 and 44). “And when they had escaped, then they learned that the island was called Malta” (Acts 28, verse 1).

Do you see what good came of the storm? So the storm that came on them was no sign that they had been abandoned. Now what happened was a result of the season of the year; but the wonder is all the greater that at such a season they were saved out of the middle of the dangers, both he and, for his sake, the rest, and that in the Adriatic too. There were two hundred seventy-six people in all: no small thing this either, if indeed they came to believe. The voyage was made at the wrong time of year. It is natural to suppose that they would ask why these men were making the voyage, and would learn everything. And it was not for nothing that the voyage was so drawn out: it gave Paul an opportunity to teach.

And Paul says, “I see that this voyage will be with injury and loss” (verse 10). Notice how modest the expression is. So as not to seem to be prophesying, but to be speaking as though from guesswork, he says, “I see.” For they would not have accepted it if he had said this at the start. In fact he does prophesy on this earlier occasion, just as he does later, when he says, “the God whom I serve,” leading them on. Then how is it that it was not “with loss of their lives”? It would have been, had God not brought them safely through. As far as the nature of the thing went, they were lost; but God prevented it.

Then, to show that he did not speak from guesswork, the helmsman said the opposite (verse 11), and he a man experienced in these things: so far was Paul’s advice from being guesswork. Moreover, the place itself suggested the same thing the helmsman said, since it was “not suitable”; and it was plain that it was “the majority” (verse 12) who gave their advice from guesswork, rather than Paul. Then the storm was severe, the darkness deep; and so that they would not forget, the ship too goes to pieces, and the grain is thrown out, and everything else, so that after this it would not be in their power to be shameless. That is why the ship goes to pieces, and their souls are wound tight. Moreover, both the storm and the darkness contributed not a little to his getting the hearing he did. Notice accordingly how the centurion does as he tells him, to the point of letting the boat go and destroying it. And if the sailors did not yet comply with what he said, they do afterward; for they are, in fact, a reckless sort of people (verses 13 to 20).

“Men, you should have listened to me,” and so on (verse 21). A man is not likely to be well received when he scolds in the middle of a disaster; but when he tells them what more of the disaster is still to come, and then foretells the good, then he is welcome. That is why he attacks them only then, when “all hope of their being saved had been taken away,” so that no one could say, “Nothing came of it.” Their fear too bears witness. Moreover, the place was a hard one, for it was in the Adriatic; and then there was their long going without food. They were in the very middle of death. It was now the fourteenth day that they had gone without food, having taken nothing.

“So,” he said, “I urge you to take some food, for this is for your survival” (verse 34): that is, that you should eat, so as not to die of hunger. Notice that his giving thanks, after all that had happened, strengthened them; for it showed a mind confident that they would be saved. “Then they were all encouraged, and they also took some food” (verse 36). And not only that: from now on they so cast all their care on Paul that they even threw out the grain (verse 38), many as they were. Two hundred seventy-six people (verse 37): where did they get their provisions? See how they do their part as men, and how Paul does not forbid them. “And when it was day,” and so on, “they loosened the ropes of the rudders” (verses 39 and 40). And the ship goes to pieces in the daytime, so that they would not utterly melt away with terror, and so that you may see the prophecy carried out in fact. [i]

“And the soldiers’ plan,” and so on (verse 42). Do you see that in this respect also they were given to Paul? For it was for his sake that the centurion did not let them be killed. So openly wicked do those men seem to me to have been, that they would even have chosen to kill them. But some swam ashore, others were carried on planks, and so they were all saved, and the prophecy was fulfilled. It was a prophecy, even if it lacked the solemnity that length of time gives, since he did not deliver it many years beforehand, but kept close to the actual course of events; still, a prophecy it was, for everything was beyond hope. And so it was through their own rescue that they learned who Paul was.

But someone may say: “Why did he not save the ship?” So that they might see how great a danger they had escaped, and that the whole thing depended not on human help but on the hand of God, saving them without a ship. So righteous men, even if they are in a storm, or at sea, or in the deep, suffer nothing dreadful, but even save others along with themselves.

If a ship was in danger and breaking up, and prisoners were saved for Paul’s sake, think what it is to have a holy man in a house! For many storms assail us too, storms far more grievous than these of nature; but God can grant us deliverance as well, if only we obey holy men as those men did, if we do what they tell us. For they were not simply saved; they themselves also helped others to believe. Even in chains the holy man does greater works than the free. And look how this was so here. The free centurion needed his prisoner in chains; the skillful helmsman needed the man who was no helmsman, or rather, the man who was the true helmsman. For he steered no vessel of this earthly kind, but the Church of the whole world, having learned from him who is Lord of the sea too; and he steered it not by human skill but by the wisdom of the Spirit. In this vessel there are many shipwrecks, many waves, spirits of wickedness, “fightings within, fears without” (Second Corinthians 7, verse 5). So he was the true helmsman.

Look at our whole life: it is just like this voyage. At one time we meet with fair weather, at another with a storm. Sometimes through our own poor judgment, sometimes through our laziness, we fall into countless evils, through not listening to Paul when we are eager to go somewhere he tells us not to go. For Paul is sailing with us even now, only not in chains as he was then. Even now he warns us, and says to those sailing on this sea, “Take heed to yourselves; for after my departure savage wolves will come in among you” (Acts 20, verses 28 and 29); and again, “In the last times perilous times will come; and people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters” (Second Timothy 3, verses 1 and 2). This is more grievous than any storm.

So let us stay where he tells us: in faith, in the safe harbor. Let us listen to him rather than to the helmsman within us, that is, our own reasoning. Let us not at once do whatever that suggests, nor what the owner of the ship says; no, but what Paul suggests. He has come through many such storms. Let us not learn by experience, to our cost; before the experience, let us “avoid both injury and loss.” Hear what he says: “Those who want to be rich fall into temptation” (First Timothy 6, verse 9). So let us obey him; otherwise, see what those men suffered because they did not take his advice. And again, in another place, he tells what causes shipwrecks: “Some,” he says, “have made shipwreck concerning the faith. But you, continue in the things you have learned and been assured of” (First Timothy 1, verse 19).

Let us obey Paul. Even if we are in the middle of a storm, we will surely be freed from the dangers. Even if we go without food for fourteen days, even if hope of safety has left us, even if we are in darkness and mist, by doing what he tells us we will be freed from the dangers. Let us think of the whole world as a ship, and in it the wrongdoers and those with countless vices: some rulers, others guards, others righteous men, as Paul was, others prisoners, those bound by their sins. If, then, we do as Paul tells us, we do not perish in our chains, but are released from them. God will give us, too, to him.

Or do you not think that sins and passions are grievous chains? For it is not only the hands that are bound, but the whole person. Tell me: when someone who has a great deal of money does not use it or spend it, but keeps it shut away, is he not bound more grievously than any prisoner, by his stinginess, a chain that cannot be broken? And again, when a man gives himself over to belief in Fate, is he not bound with other fetters too? What about when he gives himself over to observing days and times? What about omens? Are these not more grievous than any chains? And again, what about when he gives himself over to an irrational craving and to passionate love? Who will break these chains to pieces for you? We need God’s help for them to be loosed.

But when there are both chains and a storm, think how great the dangers are. For which of them is not enough to destroy us? The hunger, the storm, the wickedness of those on board, the bad season? But against all of these, Paul’s glory held its ground. So it is now. Let us keep the saints near us, and there will be no storm; or rather, even if there is a storm, there will be great calm and stillness, and freedom from danger. For that widow had the holy man for her friend, and the death of her child was undone, and she received her son back alive (First Kings 17, verse 17). Where the feet of saints tread, there will be nothing painful; and if something of that kind does happen, it is to test us and for the greater glory of God. Get the floor of your house used to being trodden by such feet, and no evil spirit will tread there.

For just as, where there is a sweet fragrance, a bad smell finds no place, so where the holy ointment is, the evil spirit is choked; and the ointment gladdens those who are near it, delights them, refreshes the soul. Where there are thorns, there are wild beasts; where there is hospitality, there are no thorns. For once almsgiving has come in, it destroys the thorns more keenly than any sickle and more fiercely than any fire. Do not be afraid: the evil one fears the tracks of the saints as foxes fear lions. For “the righteous,” it says, “is bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28, verse 1). Let us bring these lions into our house, and all the wild beasts are put to flight; and the lions do not need to roar, only to make a sound. For the roaring of a lion does not put wild beasts to flight as surely as the prayer of a righteous man puts evil spirits to flight. Let him only speak, and they cower.

You will say: “And where are such men to be found now?” Everywhere, if we believe, if we seek, if we take the trouble. Tell me, where have you sought? When did you take this task in hand? When did you make it your business? If you do not seek, do not be surprised that you do not find. For “the one who seeks finds” (Matthew 7, verse 8), not the one who does not seek. Listen to those who live in the deserts. Away with your gold and silver! Such holy men are to be found in every part of the world. Even if you do not receive such a man into your house, still go to him yourself; live with him, spend time at his dwelling, so that you may obtain and enjoy his blessing. For it is a great thing to receive a blessing from the saints. Let us take care to obtain it, so that, helped by their prayers, we may find mercy from God, by the grace and love for humankind of his only Son, with whom, to the Father and the Holy Spirit together, be glory, power and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.