Acts 27: Where's your hope?

In Acts 27, we find Paul and his companions in the thick of an intense and unrelenting nor’easter with Paul bound for Rome.:

But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land. And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. 

The profit motive of the captain and crew, and the obligation of the centurion to do his duty, had outweighed Paul’s counsel to winter at Fair Havens (““Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”). That blunder has now led them all into the mouth of a monster. It could not have been pleasant.

With their lives in danger, the grain and other cargo became less significant; even the tackle lost its value, And these things were abandoned—all of them:

Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo. And on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

Notice all hope abandoned (that’s important). Keep your finger there, because we need to look at a couple of other passages first.

Let’s travel back to Israel when Ahab was still king, and Jezebel remained a root rot in the nation of Israel. God had commanded Elijah to anoint a couple of kings, but also his successor, Elisha. Here’s the passage from 1 Kings 19:

So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.” “Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?” So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

This call arose out of a word from God (isn’t that always the good beginning? “In the beginning, God”?). God said, “[A]noint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet . Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.”) In order to obey that word, which Elijah acted out, Elisha had to abandon his hope in his quite impressive commercial enterprise and place his hope in the word of God. Elijah had lived in a different economy, which had only recently included ravens and a brook, and a cave not a home. But just as Elijah had acted on the word of God in placing his mantle on Elisha, Elisha acted on the word of God too. He burned his plow and he devoted the oxen to the Lord over the fire from the plow. He removed any hope of going back.

Jesus puts an interesting twist on this episode with Elisha; I think Jesus alludes to it in Luke 9:

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Something is very different with following God, and answering His word, from the ways of the world. Very different.

Let’s leap forward to Matthew 4:

 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

First, there was a word: Come, and follow me. In response, two brothers left their nets, and two brothers left their boat, and their father. Peter would later say, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” We see the same progression: His word, and a jettisoning of certain things. In all these different circumstances, what is jettisoned is what is important, maybe even central, to that individual.

Alright. With all that set out, let’s return to the nor’easter and the ship. The first question: was there a word from God? Yes, Acts 23: “The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” But to ensure the pattern, there must be an action in reliance upon the word. In this story, we have it; and it’s lovely.

Paul knows he is going to Rome. God said so. The nor’easter is a nuisance; the captain’s obstinance disappointing, but none of these are an impediment. Paul is going to Rome to testify to the gospel of God. That is a fact.

Here is how Paul begins to act:

Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me  and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”

In addition to God confirming his word to Paul, you should note that the salvation of Paul from drowning runs over to the other souls on the ship: “God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.” But, they will only be saved by obeying the word of Paul—his obedience must become their obedience too (just as Elijah’s obedience must become Elisha’s).

Paul continues:

Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.

They had to abandon all. Apparently some grain had remained. All hope in that must be gone. They could only expect to hope and live on the word of Paul, which was actually the word of God.

As is common with man, some did not want to heed the two words of salvation and hope Paul had given them. After the first word, we read this:

In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.

And after the second, we see:

The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.

But the point is no lifeboat can carry you to safety; you must instead hear and trust in the word of the Lord to be saved. And there is no hope in commerce, sword and shield, or even the word of Caesar—there is only hope in His word. Only His word got Paul to Rome. Only His word to Paul saved all the lives on the ship.

That word was coupled with action not too dissimilar to Elisha burning his plow, or the fishermen leaving their nets. The men on Paul’s ship had to jettison everything; nothing remained for them but their lives.

And a new hope. Elisha had a new hope—the burning plow and the sacrifice were only the beginning of hope for him. The four fishermen had a new hope—the leaving of boat and net was only the beginning for them too.

In Acts 27, the men on the boat were given a profound gift—a new hope if they grasped the significance of escaping with their lives.

What about us? Will we escape with our lives, floating on the planks and other bits and pieces of a foundered ship. Or, will we instead burn the plow, and leave the nets and boat behind, in obedience to His word. What has God said to you?