On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, "Do not be troubled, for his life is in him." When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted. (Acts 20:7-12 NASB)I've preached before. I've had people fall asleep while I preached; regularly. And while I may have wished at the time they would fall from a window (or be pushed, there were times, I'm just being honest) I've never had it happen. Of course I've never preached on the third floor, or to a room so packed someone had to sit in the window. So, this experience related by Luke is not one with which I identify easily. It's not a humorous event, but Luke does relate it in ways humorous in our culture.
Paul prolongs his message until midnight. I used to get complaints when I ran over 12 noon in a service that technically started at 11 am, and was heavy with worship songs. If I had 30 minutes to preach I was relieved. He goes to midnight, and the room is packed. Not that I'm bitter...still, after thirteen years. Or jealous of Paul. This is just one of those places where I see that I was never "him" in ministry. It may have been a wish from time to time, but the stoning and foot travel was always a deterrent to me.
At midnight, with oil lamps burning, it's hot, stuffy, and an open window becomes a welcome perch, just not when tired. Paul is fascinating to hear but these guys work for a living daily, so midnight is tough. Being tired and sitting in the fresh air of the window was not a good combination for Eutychus. I have fallen (or been pushed - depends on who you ask) out of a second story window and lived to tell the tale (like here). But I was 18 months old, awake, and wasn't "picked up dead". As it turns out I missed a concrete slab by some inches, landed on my back, and on the one piece of sod in the new yard. So it was miraculous, but in different ways from Eutychus. It was decided that God had a purpose for my life which was so important that I had to live past dumb mistakes (like trying to look straight down out of a window with a screen - don't do it). I'm still not sure what that is exactly.
Paul "falls on him", which is a funny way to put what someone does to a fallen dead person, but I get the idea. He then says that his soul is in him, and they all go upstairs to eat. That's where I think it's funny. Luke doesn't say that Eutychus joined them, nor that he sat up or was "fine", he just quotes Paul as saying that his "soul is still in him." I just envision this guy being left on the sidewalk and everyone going back into the house to eat, relieved, but without the fallen guy. And then having the guy blink a few times, and say, "Hello? Guys? I've fallen and I can't get up!" I'm sure Luke just left that part out.
The speaking engagement seems to be over, so they now spend the rest of the night eating and talking. It's the party time after the service. Still it's after midnight. I remember trying to pull all-nighters with my friends in high school. It didn't work so great. We had this game that always took days of sessions to play. So we decided to get it done in one night. The problem was it took brains and awareness to play. So, eventually, everyone crashed on couches, recliners, and so on. Then we picked up the next day and kept going. Even in my "youth" I couldn't pull all-nighters. But I remember what it was like to be and see my buddies past midnight. Little sense is made past midnight. Everything was funny. We couldn't remember the next day what was so funny, but we remembered laughing so hard we had to pee. It was like we were on drugs without the drugs. Senselessness without chemicals can be achieved by sleep deprivation; who knew?
So, the lesson I come away with from this passage is the camaraderie of those in Troas. To get it, I have to impose my memories of my buddies and I trying to stay up all night on this event in Acts. By superimposing that memory over top of the events related by Luke, I come away with this warm fuzzy feeling of laughter and silliness. It sounds interesting, but probably not what it was like. I doubt everyone was "punchy" after midnight, or being silly from sleep deprivation (which I'm pretty sure takes days, not one night). I suspect it was such close sharing of their lives that time just slipped away from them. It was suddenly midnight, then it was suddenly daybreak. I've had times like that, not for that long, but like that. They were times that deepened relationships, and times of great happiness.
If you're reading this and remember us having such a time, remember the feelings. I can't describe them very well, but I remember them with a tinge of jealousy; I want them again or more often. What if these were common church happenings? What if this camaraderie were typical of the time spent with other believers? What if time just got away from us and we just spent the whole Sunday at church? What if we just decided to keep it going and order in pizza, and that became almost common? Can you imagine your church and being with the church people that long? Can you imagine being so packed in a room that it becomes stuffy, but the joy of being there just won't let you leave, can you imagine that? I can.
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