Introduction
The number of rival stories to the Gospel are legion. You are confronted with a host of competing salvation stories. All of these rival stories are powerless to save. Their allure is found in their escapist fantasy. Escape from responsibility. Escape from consequences. Escape from accountability. Christ’s Resurrection is the true story of restoration, true salvation, and life.
The Text
And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.
Acts 20:6-12
Summary of the Text
As Paul is making his way back to Jerusalem, after his 3rd missionary journey (circa AD57), we’re told of this weeklong visit to the city of Troas, about 10 miles south of legendary Troy. At the end of this week of ministry (v6), the saints gather, on the first day of the week, for a worship service and farewell to Paul and his companions. This is the first record of a Christian service held on a Sunday. It was an evening service, for the express purpose of partaking the Lord’s Supper and to hear Paul’s preaching. Paul was feeling a bit loquacious, and the sermon went long (v7). The room was well-lit with lamps (v8). A young man name Eutychus (fortunate/lucky) perched himself in the window. As the sermon went on, he sunk into a deep sleep, and fell out of the third story window. As you can imagine, the congregation hurried to check on him, but he “was taken up dead” (v9).
Having had his sermon interrupted, Paul himself went down to the site of the tragedy. Paul falls on the lad, and encourages the saints to not be troubled for the boy’s psyche (soul/life) is in him (v10). Luke retells this healing in in order to leave us in a momentary suspense, we are left with a bit of uncertainty about Eutchysus’ condition. We are told that Paul goes back upstairs, the Lord’s Supper (or perhaps the potluck) is held, Paul picks up his sermon where he left off, continuing until daybreak at which point Paul and his companions depart for their next destination (v11). Only after the dawning of the new day does Luke confirm that Eutychus had really been raised from death to life, to the great comfort of the Troas church (v12).
An Unfortunate Story
At first blush, this might seem like a story that Luke includes to keep his retelling of Paul’s itinerary interesting. But there really is a lot more brewing here than just a story to keep the reader entertained. There are at least three striking reasons for the inclusion of this short resurrection story within the broader history of Acts.
1. The center of Christian life as the Lord’s Day, the Day of Resurrection.
2. Peter and now Paul represent the continuation of God’s life-giving presence amongst His people.
3. Ancient myths are subverted, transformed and applied to Christ & His people.
The first reason for the inclusion of this story is that Luke presents to us a picture of early Christian worship, with its center of gravity being on the Lord’s Day. Not only do we see that this service took place on the first day of the week (Sunday), but it took place the Sunday after Easter. In this regard, the raising of Eutychus can be seen as God adding an exclamation mark to this Sunday service. The church revolves around the worship of the God who died and rose again and in Whom we too die and rise again. When we gather together to break bread we are putting the resurrection as the hinge upon which our whole life turns. Worship is central. Thus, it is fitting for Christian worship to plant its flag on the Lord’s Day.
The second reason for this story is that earlier in Acts Peter had raised Tabitha (Acts 9); now Paul raises a man from the dead. Looking at both resurrections, the language is quite reminiscent of the stories of Elijah & Elisha raising people to life (1 Kings 17:17–24, 2 Kings 4:18–37). Putting these two apostolic resurrection miracles together we see in them a continuity between the OT Prophets and these NT Apostles, between the church in her immaturity under the Law, and the church coming into maturity through the Gospel. The resurrection power of God is central to all history. The Prophets foreshadowed it. Christ procured it. The Apostles continued it. From the fall until Christ’s resurrection, God promised a new creation to His people (Is. 42:9). Therefore, in this account we see that the work of the church, the very life-blood of the church, is this doctrine of the resurrection we receive through our union with Christ’s resurrection.
The third reason is the least evident, but is like a lovely song you hear once and then can’t seem to stop humming. Luke is subverting Homer. Luke is hi-jacking pagan myths. Luke is saying, we’ve got a better hero than Odysseus. In Homer’s Odyssey there is an episode of one of Odysseus’ companions, the youngest in fact, a young man named Elpenor. He is repeatedly described as being unlucky. After a feast, in the darkened halls of Circe, a deep sleep falls upon Elpenor. The company is setting sail the next morning. In the morning, Elpenor in his haste falls from the roof, breaks his neck, dies and his psyche (soul) departs to Hades. His companions take him up dead. The first soul in Hades that Odysseus meets is Elpenor, the hero can do nothing to save his young companion. The only thing that can be done is offer him a ritual burial, which takes place at dawn. Sorrow is the end of Elpenor’s story, whereas comfort is the end of Eutychus’. In other words, Luke saw this episode with Eutychus as an opportunity to present the Christian story as the true myth. Homer’s hero was powerless to raise his companion to life. Jesus, by His servant Paul, resurrects the young man named Lucky. The heroes of Ancient Troy are impotent, the servants of Christ bear in them the power of an endless life.
Life Restored
All anti-Gospels bake down to a very simple error: escapism. Godless mankind hates this world that God has made, they hate themselves for the sinful way they’ve mangled it, and above all, they hate that Christ has ushered in a new creation of this world. In the pagan myths, the hope was that by various virtues and heroic exploits you might be deemed worthy to escape this material realm and dwell in a realm of hedonistic bliss and without accountability. Darwinism tells you that you are as meaningless as pond scum zapped by lightning, and so you must escape your meaninglessness by assisting in the next stage of human evolution. Climate change alarmists insist that this world is on the verge of a calamitous ending, and in order to escape you must end your bloodline, and consign yourself to as small a pile of dust when you die.
But there are other stories we tell ourselves. Stories that say, “Once a miserable sinner, always a miserable sinner.” That sort of mantra is a clever way of justifying an apathy towards mortification of sin, and thus it too is a weird kind of escapist fantasy. There is also a sad sort of impotent pseudo-Christianity that treats Christ’s death as our ticket to an ethereal world. It sees this world as not our home, we are only passing through. But the true Gospel is that this world will itself be resurrected, because it is the inheritance of Jesus the Risen Christ.
Therefore, by faith in Christ your story is like fortunate Eutychus. All other stories invite you to a daydream of escapism. The unrivaled story of Easter restores you to life. You are restored to responsibility. You are sanctified unto service. You are delivered to dominion. In Christ, your story doesn’t end in an unfortunate fall. It ends with a feast with the saints of God, in celebration of our Lord who died and rose again for our eternal salvation.
CHARGE & BENEDICTION
Don’t tell yourself or others stories of escapism. The true story is one where all your sins are forgiven, not because you somehow found a loophole, but because Christ died for your sins in your stead. The true story tells you that you died, and your life is now hid with Christ in God. The story of Easter is that because Christ rose, you are truly alive.
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
Jude 1:24-25
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