The Way Home
A PRISONER IN ROME
Story 19 - Acts 28:2-31
The people who lived on the island of Melita were very kind to the strangers who had been thrown by the sea upon their shore. It was cold and rainy, and the men from the ship were in garments drenched by the waves. But the islanders made a fire and brought them all around it and took good care of them. Soon they found that many of the men were prisoners, and under guard by soldiers.
Paul gathered a bundle of sticks and placed them on the fire, when suddenly a poisonous snake came from the pile and seized Paul’s hand with its teeth. When the people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer. He has saved his life from the sea, but the just gods will not let him live because of his wickedness.”
But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was not harmed. They waited to see his arm swell with poison and for him to fall down dead. But when they watched him for a long time and saw no evil come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god and they were ready to worship him.
Near the place where the ship was wrecked there were lands and buildings belonging to the ruler of the island, whose name was Publius. He took Paul and his friends into his house and treated them kindly. The father of Publius was very ill with a fever and a disease called dysentery, from which people often died. But Paul went into his room and prayed by his side. Then he laid his hands on him, and the sick man became well. As soon as the people of the island heard of this, many others troubled with diseases were brought to Paul and all were cured. After this the people of Melita gave great honor to Paul and those who were with him; and when they sailed away, they put gifts on the ship for them; things they would need.
The centurion found a ship from Alexandria at anchor by the island; it was going to Italy. It had been waiting there through the winter. The name of this ship was “The Twin Brothers.” After three months stranded on the island, the centurion sent his soldiers and prisoners, along with Paul’s friends, to this ship and they sailed away from Melita. After stopping at a few places on their voyage, they left the ship at Puteoli, in the south of Italy, and from that place they were led toward Rome. The church at Rome, to which Paul had written a letter, heard that he was coming, and some of the brethren went out to meet him a few miles from the city. When Paul saw them and knew that they were glad to see him, even though he was in chains, he thanked God and took heart once more. He had long wished to go to Rome, and now he came into the city at last, but as a prisoner, chained to a Roman soldier.
When they came to Rome, the good centurion Julius gave his prisoners to the captain of the guard in the city. But because of the kind words spoken by Julius, Paul was allowed to go to a house, though a soldier was always at his side. After three days in Rome, Paul sent for the chief men among the Jews of the city for a meeting in his house. He did that because he could not go to the synagogue to meet with them. When they came, he said: “Brethren, though I have done no harm to our people or against our law, yet I was made a prisoner in Jerusalem and given into the hands of the Romans. When the Romans had given me a trial, they found no cause for putting me to death and wished to set me free. But the Jews spoke against me, and I had to ask for a trial before Caesar, though I have no charge to bring against my own people. I have asked to see you and to speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”
They said to Paul, “No letters have come to us from Judea nor have any of the brethren brought to us any evil report of you. But we would like to hear from you about this people who follow Jesus of Nazareth, for they are a people everywhere spoken against.”
So Paul named a day, and on that day a group came to his room. Paul talked with them, explaining the teaching of Christ in the Old Testament from morning until evening. Some believed the words of Paul and others refused to believe. And when they would not agree, Paul said to them as they were leaving, “Truly indeed did the Holy Spirit say of this people, in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘Hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and yet not see. For this people’s heart is become hard, and their ears are dull, and their eyes they have shut; for they are not willing to see, nor to hear, nor to understand, nor to turn from their sins to God.’ But know this, that the salvation of Christ is sent not only to you Jews, but also to the Gentiles; and they will listen to it, even though you do not.”
And after this Paul lived two years in the house which he had rented. Every day a soldier was brought from the camp, and Paul was chained to him for all that day. And the next day another soldier came; each day a new soldier was chained to Paul. And Paul spoke the Gospel to each one, until after a time many of the soldiers in the camp were believers in Christ; and when these soldiers were sent away, they often carried the Gospel with them to other lands. So Paul, though a prisoner, was still doing good and working for Christ.
Then, too, some of Paul’s friends were with him in Rome. The young Timothy, whom Paul loved to call his son in the Gospel, and Luke the doctor, whom Paul called “the beloved physician,” were there with him, perhaps in the same house. Aristarchus of Thessalonica, who had been with him in the ship and in the storm, was still with Paul. Mark, the young man who years before went with Paul and Barnabas on their first journey from Antioch, visited Paul in Rome.
At one time, when Paul had been a prisoner nearly two years, a friend came to see him from Philippi in Macedonia.
His name was Epaphroditus, and he brought Paul a loving message from that church and gifts to help Paul in his need. In return, Paul wrote a letter to the church at Philippi, “The Epistle to the Philippians.” It was a letter full of tender and gentle words. It was taken to the church by Epaphroditus. Paul sent Timothy with Epaphroditus, perhaps because while in Rome Epaphroditus was very ill, and therefore probably shouldn’t go home alone. In Rome a runaway slave named Onesimus met Paul. Onesimus belonged to a friend of Paul, named Philemon. Philemon lived at Colosse in Asia Minor, not far from Ephesus. Paul taught Onesimus the Gospel of Christ and led him to give his heart to Christ. Then, even though he needed a helper, Paul sent Onesimus back to his master, Philemon. But Paul did ask Philemon to take Onesimus back as a brother in Christ, not as a slave. Paul wrote this to Philemon in a letter which he sent with Onesimus. That letter is called “The Epistle to Philemon. Along with the letter to Philemon, Onesimus also carried a letter Paul had written to the church at Colosse, “The Epistle to the Colossians.” And about the same time Paul wrote one of the greatest and most wonderful of all his letters, “The Epistle to the Ephesians,” which he sent to the church in Ephesus. So, the whole world has been richer by having the four letters that Paul wrote while a prisoner in Rome.
During this period of time Paul wrote “The First Epistle to Timothy,” whom he had sent to care for the church at Ephesus. He also wrote “The Epistle to Titus,” who was over the churches on the island of Crete. In a Roman prison Paul wrote his last letter, “The Second Epistle to Timothy.” Soon after writing that last letter, the wicked Emperor Nero caused Paul to be put to death. Among his last words, in that last letter to Timothy, Paul wrote: “I have fought a good fight; I have run my race; I have kept the faith; and now there is waiting for me the crown which the Lord Himself shall give me.”
