A Waking Miracle

Do you ever fall asleep in church?

Sometimes, during sermons and such, I get sleepy. It's not really the fault of the speaker. I am just always doing something, so when I sit down and there is nothing to write, read or look up, I start to yawn.

If I ever start yawning, it is really hard to stop. The next thing I know, I'll start nodding off.

I will jerk awake, open my eyes as wide as possible, shift in my seat, and try to think of something, anything, to keep myself awake. I'll chew gum or pop a mint into my mouth.

Talk about torture! I am wired for sleep, and once my body is going into sleep mode, it is rough to try to delay it.

I'm glad I have a nice comfortable place to sleep sit in church. What if I had to sit in the window sill?

Once a fellow named Eutychus, was listening to the Apostle Paul. It must

have been crowded in the upper room where Paul was preaching because the young man made the choice of sitting in the window.

Maybe he was sitting there, hoping for a cool breeze to keep him awake.

Paul was really long winded that night. He was planning to leave the next day, so he just kept talking until midnight. The longer Paul preached, the more Eutychus fell into a deep sleep. (Some scholars feel the tenses used in the words in this passage portray a struggle to keep awake for Eutychus.)

If I fell out asleep in church, I would hit a nice carpeted floor. It would be embarrassing, and probably no one would let me forget it, but I'd be all right.

Eutychus drifted into a deep sleep and fell to his death out the window. A window on the third floor!

Paul went downstairs and fell upon him hugging him. Then he said, "Don't fret, he is alive!"

Talk about something that will. Wake. You. Up! They were so energized by this turn of events, they went back upstairs, celebrated the Lord's Supper (how appropriate after someone has been brought back to life!) and then talked till daylight. Paul and his fellow travelers headed on their way, and the young man and his church family went home comforted that all had turned out so well.

I bet they talked about that night during many a church fellowship to come!

What is the point in this story? I think there are two things to take note of in this account.

One is that the very first thing we should do when tragedy befalls us is to pray. Reach the throne room of heaven as quickly as possible.

The second is that the Word promises us that the things Jesus did - and greater! - we would be able to do by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul just proved it in this passage. Jesus brought back someone from the dead.  So did Paul. If the Holy Spirit leads, so could someone today!



If you'd like to read the story for yourself, here it is:

Acts 20:7-12  English Standard Version (ESV)

⁷ On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. ⁹ And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. ¹² And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

^{and also,}

John 14:12-13  English Standard Version (ESV)

¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

I'm linking this to my Fearless Series because sometimes what looks like something dead might be a miracle in the making.

I'm also linking this post to the #TellHisStory community at JenniferDukesLee.com because part of His story is that He brings dead things to life.