Paul returns to Macedonia
1 After the uproar died down, Paul called his disciples to gether to encourage them. Then he said goodbye and set out on his journey to Mace donia.
2 He traveled through out those regions and spent himself in speaking and encouraging them. He finally arrived in Greece.
3 When he had been there for three months, he wanted to set sail for Syria, but as the Jews were plotting against him, he decided to re turn by way of Macedonia.
4 When he was about to leave for the Asian province, some companions went with him, Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, from Berea, Aris tar chus and Se cundus from Thessalo nica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, Ty ch icus and Trophimus from Asia.
5 So they went ahead and waited for us in Troas,
6 while we set sail from Philippi as soon as the festival of Unleavened Bread was over. Five days later we joined them in Troas where we spent a week.
The Eucharist at Troas
7 On the first day of the week we were together for the breaking of the bread, and Paul, who intended to leave the following day, spoke at length. The discourse went on until midnight,
8 with many lamps burning in the upstairs room where we were gathered. A young man named Eutychius was sitting on the window ledge,
9 and as Paul kept on talking, Eutychius grew more and more sleepy, until he finally went sound asleep and fell from the third floor to the ground. There they found him dead.
10 Paul went down, bent over him and took him in his arms. “Do not be alarmed,” he said, “there is life in him.”
11 Then he went back upstairs, broke the bread and ate. After that he kept on talking with them for a long time until daybreak and then he left.
12 As for the young man, they lifted him up alive and were greatly comforted.
13 We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were to pick up Paul. This was the ar rangement since Paul intended to travel by foot.
14 In fact, we met him at Assos and taking him aboard, we went on to Mitylene.
15 We sailed from there and arrived off Chios the next day. A day later we came to Samos and the following day we reached Miletus.
16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so as not to lose time in Asia, for he was eager to reach Jeru sa lem by the day of Pentecost, if at all possible.
Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders
17 From Miletus Paul sent word to Ephesus, summoning the elders of the Church.
18 When they came to him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia,
19 how I served the Lord in humility through the sorrows and trials that the Jews caused me.
20 You know that I never held back from doing anything that could be useful for you; I spoke publicly and in your homes
21 and I urged Jews and non-Jews alike to turn to God and believe in our Lord Jesus.
22 But now I am going to Jerusa lem, chained by the Spirit, without knowing what will happen to me there.
23 Yet in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that imprisonment and troubles await me.
24 Indeed I put no value on my life, if only I can finish my race and complete the ser vice to which I have been assigned by the Lord Jesus, to announce the good news of God’s grace.
25 I now feel sure that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom of God will ever see me again.
26 Therefore I declare to you this day that my conscience is clear with regard to all of you.
27 For I have spared no effort in fully declaring to you God’s will.
28 Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock the Holy Spirit has placed into your care. Shepherd the Church of the Lord that he has won at the price of his own blood.
29 I know that after I leave, ruthless wolves will come among you and not spare the flock.
30 And from among you, some will arise corrupting the truth and inducing the disciples to follow them.
31 Be on the watch, therefore, remembering that for three years, night and day, I did not cease to warn every one even with tears.
32 Now I commend you to God and to his grace-filled word, which is able to make you grow and gain the inheritance that you shall share with all the saints.
33 I have not looked for anyone’s silver, gold or cloth ing.
34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have provided for both my needs and the needs of those who were with me.
35 In every way I have shown you that by so working hard one must help the weak, remembering the words that the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘Happiness lies more in giving than in receiving.’”
36 After this discourse, Paul knelt down with them and prayed.
37 Then they all began to weep and threw their arms around him and kissed him.
38 They were deeply distressed because he had said that they would never see him again. And they went with him even to the ship.
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Comments Acts, Chapter 20
• 20.1 Paul remained two and a half years in Ephe sus, and some details in his letters let us see that Luke’s account is very incomplete. The great er part of Paul’s activity is not mentioned, in particular the evangelization of the neighboring towns of Ephe sus by a team of his assistants: see the Introduction to Ephe sians. Paul had much to suffer, and was perhaps imprisoned (Introduction to the Philip pians). It was at this time that he wrote his letter to the Galatians and the First Letter to the Corin th ians.
Paul goes to Mace donia (where Thessalonica is located) and to Greece (where he spends some time in Corinth). There in Co rinth, as he perseveres with his plan to go to Rome, he wri tes to the Romans.
• 7. Luke tells us that the Eucharist took place on the day after the Sab bath – already our Sunday: the Christians had separated from the Jews, replacing the Sabbath with the following day, the first day of the week, the day of Jesus’ resurrection. Doing so they were putting on their calendar the major event of their faith.
Naturally they meet in a home and this is the beginning of the Christian gathering. They share instruction and re flection, concluding with thanks giving (or Eucharist) and communion with the body of the Lord.
Each one could speak, and Paul as pro phet and apostle had a good deal to say, prepared or inspired. What might have been Paul’s long discourse? He read and interpreted texts from the Scripture that were referring to Jesus; he gave witness of his own commitment to Christ; he related the many happenings in his mission when the Spirit of Christ was at work.
This part of the celebration could be prolonged: the prophets, even Paul, tend at times to overdo it, but they could not separate without ending with “the breaking of bread”, the Eucharist.
With the unlucky fall of one of the youth and the intervention of Paul, the participants witness God’s power over death (see 10:36).
• 17. Paul returns to Palestine. He had a presentiment or he knew by a revelation of the Holy Spirit that another phase of his life was about to begin: the years of prison and trials. So he wished to say goodbye to all the leaders of the Church in the Roman province of Asia. He did not know all of them well, since the evangelization of this province had been the work of his team of assistants (20:4). These leaders are called elders in verse 17 and inspectors (or “epis copes,” from which we have bishops) in verse 28. See on this subject the commentary on Phil 1:1.
Paul gives his own example and develops the obligations of “pastors” in the Church (v. 28). He then invites them not to enclose themselves in the role of president or admin istrator of the community: they must prepare it for difficult times. Let them compare themselves with Paul and ponder on the sacrifices that the apostolic task demands of him. Is it good for them to rely on another – an apostle of course – when they are confronted with difficulties?
In verses 28-30, we have the warning of divisions and heresies in the Church: the same message will reappear in the Pastoral Letters (2 Tim 3:1-9). We are used to seeing Chris tians divided. For Paul, it was unthinkable. When he speaks of “the Churches of Christ” (Rom 16:4 and 16; 1 Cor 4:17; 11:16), he is only thinking of the local communities who communicate among themselves and all accept without discussion the same faith and tradition of the apostles. Paul alludes to what awaits him: all that we can do is to follow Christ, who has acquired his Church by his own blood. Only in heaven will a leader of the Church find rest and retirement (20:32).
In verses 33-35 Paul takes up the resignation discourse of Samuel (1 S 12:3). How quickly can a person be self-serving and look after self in any apostolic work.
The text also mentions the “bishops” (that word means inspectors). We do not know if they are the elders themselves, or only some of them, those with greater responsibility.