Today, most of us consider a long sermon to be somewhere from 35 to 40 minutes, but the Apostle Paul gives comfort to any modern-day preacher who is hearing about long sermons from critics, for Paul in this passage went on past midnight, and then until dawn while in Troas.
The first six verses of this passage give details about places visited and who was in Paul’s party, but beginning with verse seven we see the events surrounding this epic sermon. The most interesting thing here is that Luke never even tells us what Paul was talking about!
Paul went on so long that a young man named Eutychus, who was seated in the window, fell asleep and then fell three stories to his death sometime after midnight… and we complain after only a few minutes. Luke tells us that Paul ran outside and raised the young man back to life, and then returned to his sermon and went on several more hours. We know that Paul went a little long because he was leaving the next day, but my oh my I wonder if anyone was awake when he was finished.
I take three lessons from this text:
First, preachers should probably keep an eye on the clock.
Second, young men shouldn’t sit in third floor windows.
Third, the power of God can overcome any calamity.
Next time, Paul bids farewell to the elders of Ephesus, and Luke tells us exactly what he told them; see you then!
Life Project Blog 