Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 121
27:40–28:16
L UK E – A cts
109
the ship aground. So they cut off the anchors and left them in the sea.
Then they lowered the rudders, raised the foresail, and headed toward
shore. But they hit a shoal and ran the ship aground too soon. The bow of
the ship stuck fast, while the stern was repeatedly smashed by the force of
the waves and began to break apart.
The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they didn’t swim
ashore and escape. But the commanding officer wanted to spare Paul, so
he didn’t let them carry out their plan. Then he ordered all who could
swim to jump overboard first and make for land. The others held on to
planks or debris from the broken ship. So everyone escaped safely to shore.
Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of
Malta. The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy,
so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.
As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a
poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. The people
of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him
to live.” But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. The
people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they
had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their
minds and decided he was a god.
Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the
chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three
days. As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul
went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him.
Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed. As a
result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail,
people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.
It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship
that had wintered at the island—an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods
as its figurehead. Our first stop was Syracuse, where we stayed three days.
From there we sailed across to Rhegium. A day later a south wind began
blowing, so the following day we sailed up the coast to Puteoli. There we
found some believers, who invited us to spend a week with them. And so
we came to Rome.
The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard we were coming, and they
came to meet us at the Forum on the Appian Way. Others joined us at The
Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God.
When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private
lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier.
