Another Ordinary Evening

Scripture Passage

2 Corinthians 11-13:13; Acts 20:7-12

Scripture Focus

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 unhurt, and everyone was greatly relieved. (Acts 20:11-12 NLT)

Observation

I count it one of the greatest stories in Scripture, providing delightful insight into life in the early church. Paul has returned to Troas for a visit and—because he had much to share and was leaving the next morning—he spoke late into the night. I love the detail in Luke’s description: “The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps” (Acts 20:8 NLT). Since you know what happens next, take a moment to imagine young Eutychus growing more and more drowsy, head bobbing again and again in that dimly lit room as he fought to stay awake. Is that not a wonderful scene?

But Eutychus had chosen a window seat, and “finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below” (Acts 20:9 NLT). I don’t care how your teaching might have stirred the crowd, that’ll put a damper on your meeting! But as Paul wrapped his arms around the boy’s lifeless body, God revived Eutychus! (You can suggest he hadn’t really died, but you’d be arguing with the physician Luke on that one.)

The remarkable thing is what happens next. "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 unhurt, and everyone was greatly relieved" (Acts 20:11-12 NLT).

Is that not both ordinary and extraordinary? These are quite ordinary people—people who stay up too late and fall asleep in church—but people who also experience God’s extraordinary power in marvelous, practical ways. I long for both.

I have the one, to be sure—I’m completely ordinary. But I long for the latter without losing the former. I don’t mean that I’m unwilling to be changed however God wishes to change me—that’s part of what I long for. But I love the “earthiness”—the genuineness—of these Book of Acts believers who, as quite ordinary people, see God’s gracious, miraculous hand and continue to be both amazed by it and grateful for it.

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