Acts 28:1-10 And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.… I. THE HOSPITALITY OF THE HEATHEN. The instinct of kindness is God-implanted in the human heart. Hospitality was not so much a virtue in heathendom as the refusal of it a crime. So much the more must any "shutting up of the bowels of compassion" against the needy brother or the stranger be an offence against the Son of man. The great charge which he, in his depiction of the scene of judgment, brings against the unfaithful is the neglect of the common offices of love. II. THE CHRISTEN FINDS EVERYWHERE A HOME. For if he carries the love of God in his heart, no coast can be foreign land, no color or custom of men repel. It was a heathen who said, "I am a man, and nothing human is foreign to me." The Christian may translate the saying, "I am a follower of the Son of man, and nothing that is dear to him is strange to me," III. YET HE MEETS PERIL, MISCONSTRUCTION, AND ENMITY. HOW quickly do the open brows of hospitable kindness change into scowls and frowns as the viper fastens on Paul's hand! They reason he must be a murderer. Occurrences are full of effects without visible causes. The untrained mind makes out of coincidences chains of cause and effect which do not exist. The afflicted man is supposed to be a wicked man. In propagating Christianity we need to take the sword of the Spirit, which owes its bright temper to Divine intelligence. We must meet unreason with reason, and cast out superstitious darkness by the clear light of all accessible knowledge. IV. THE CHRISTIAN IS DELIVERED THAT HE MAY DELIVER OTHERS. AS Paul casts off the serpent harmless, he is seen to be under the Divine protection. Here is a man who leads apparently a charmed life. The waves could not swallow him, nor the serpent sting him (cf. Psalm 91:11; Mark 16:18). The heathen mind revolts from one extreme of superstition to another. Now Paul must be a god! "The common mass know no measure; they raise a man to heaven or thrust him into hell" (Acts 14:12, 18). The Christian may rapidly pass from the extreme of depreciation or shame to that of honor, feeling equally that he deserves neither. Yet both in the one and the other the business of the Christian is not to defend himself from misunderstandings, but "through good report and evil report," as Paul said, to go on with his work and witness, leaving Providence to show the kind of work the hour and the place demand. Here Paul is entirely devoted to the healing activity of the body. There are times of silence; and the spectacle of the servant of Christ busy in doing good during his stay in the island may have wrought more on the memory of the people than many sermons would have done. - J. Parallel Verses KJV: And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.WEB: When we had escaped, then they learned that the island was called Malta. |
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