Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 108
96
IMMERSE
•
MESSIAH
19:39–20:19
formal charges. And if there are complaints about other matters, they can
be settled in a legal assembly. I am afraid we are in danger of being charged
with rioting by the Roman government, since there is no cause for all this
commotion. And if Rome demands an explanation, we won’t know what
to say.” Then he dismissed them, and they dispersed.
When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the believers and encouraged
them. Then he said good-bye and left for Macedonia. While there, he encouraged the believers in all the towns he passed through. Then he traveled
down to Greece, where he stayed for three months. He was preparing to
sail back to Syria when he discovered a plot by some Jews against his life,
so he decided to return through Macedonia.
Several men were traveling with him. They were Sopater son of Pyrrhus
from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from
Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.
They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. After the Passover ended,
we boarded a ship at Philippi in Macedonia and five days later joined them
in Troas, where we stayed a week.
On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share
in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight. The upstairs room where
we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. As Paul spoke on and on,
a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very
drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death
below. Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t
worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” Then they all went back upstairs, shared in
the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until
dawn, and then he left. Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive
and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.
Paul went by land to Assos, where he had arranged for us to join him,
while we traveled by ship. He joined us there, and we sailed together to
Mitylene. The next day we sailed past the island of Kios. The following day
we crossed to the island of Samos, and a day later we arrived at Miletus.
Paul had decided to sail on past Ephesus, for he didn’t want to spend any
more time in the province of Asia. He was hurrying to get to Jerusalem,
if possible, in time for the Festival of Pentecost. But when we landed at
Miletus, he sent a message to the elders of the church at Ephesus, asking
them to come and meet him.
When they arrived he declared, “You know that from the day I set foot
in the province of Asia until now I have done the Lord’s work humbly and
