“Rome, we have a problem”

Daily Reading: Acts 27-28

A movie trailer gives us a taste of a film but by no means covers the depth of its entirety. When we read chunks of Scripture, it’s impossible to capture the fullness of its message in a short devotion. I hope that a short peek each day at a moment in each reading will tempt you to read the passage on your own and see what other plot twists you find!

Although Paul is the main character of the film, this trailer starts with a closeup of the Centurion.

A rugged soldier, captain of 100, standing on the deck of a ship at sea. He’s worried. A storm is brewing and as he looks to the man beside him, the man says, “You should have listened to me.” The man is not a sailor, he is a Jewish scholar and a prisoner, and he proceeds to instruct the Centurion how he can save everyone on board.

 “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”

Scenes flash across the screen of the Centurion cutting ropes in the blowing rain, Paul praying to God, the ship running aground a sandbar, soldiers arming to kill prisoners before they can escape, and the Centurion stepping in to protect Paul.

Dry and ashore the island of Malta, we watch, from the Centurion’s vantage point as Paul is bitten by a poisonous snake with no ill effects and as the islanders come to him to be healed. Music swells and we know that this is a story of changing perspectives and growing faith, and ours is growing right along with this hardened soldier’s.

Acts 28:16 says, “When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.”  If I were writing this movie, I’d take some artistic license and that soldier would be the very same Centurion from the ship. It would make a great last shot, wouldn’t it?

Really, though, I wonder how this Centurion’s life was altered having made this trip with Paul. We’re told that his name was Julius, “When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius,” but not much else. The things that Julius saw and experienced must have changed him. They must have.

Along those lines, think of the ‘Centurions’ in your life. Those who live life in your peripheral. They might not be main characters, but they are on the sidelines. How is their life being altered having had you in it? What can you do to be more intentional about being a positive influence, planting a seed, showing a glimpse of the Father so that their story might be changed? 

-Susan Landry

Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here –Acts 27-28

Tomorrow we read 2 of Paul’s letters – Colossians and Philemon.