At my first pastorate, during the middle of a funeral service, the floor to the sanctuary gave a loud pop like lightning striking, and then it fell about six to eight inches! The floor later had to be completely replaced. At another church where I pastored, the ceiling fell in; and of course, the ceiling had to be replaced. At yet another church, a sinkhole fell in under the back corner of the building exposing a huge cave passage! In a couple of churches, I either had to kill or remove a snake that was found crawling inside.
Strange things can happen in church, to say the least; and this evening, we are going to look at the account of a young man who had a rather strange experience in church, to put it mildly. In the midst of this unique and somewhat tragic event, all those who were present had to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Hopefully, by now I have captured your attention; so, let’s get started and see what this is all about! I will be reading from the New International Version tonight, because of the descriptive and humorous way in which it presents the biblical account.
Very Long Winded (v. 7)
7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.
In verse 7, we read that the church in Troas (v. 6) came together to break bread on the first day of the week. F. F. Bruce tells us that “the first day of the week” is a reference to Sunday, and that this verse is the earliest “evidence we have for the Christian practice of gathering together for worship on [Sunday].”(1)
What we observe here is the church meeting for some good old-fashioned Sunday evening eating and preaching. The people had a pot luck meal, and then sat down afterwards to hear Paul expound on the Law and Prophets, concerning Jesus the Messiah. Verse 7 tells us that, because he was getting ready to leave the very next day, Paul talked all the way until midnight. He felt compelled to cram every piece of insight he knew into the minds of the people in one single night.
I am guessing many of you have attended church services similar to the one described in this passage. You enjoyed some good food, but got tired because the preacher was long-winded and you had a full stomach. Think about how you start to feel after you eat a big meal and the food begins to settle. All you want to do is sleep. How many of you have experienced this feeling before? If my stomach were full, there’s no way that I could hear someone preach from suppertime until midnight. Keeping this information in mind, what do you think happens next in the account?
Sleeping in Church (vv. 8-9a)
8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on.
What happened is exactly what we anticipated. Someone fell asleep; and that someone was a young man named Eutychus. Not only was his stomach full and he was reclining on a window ledge, but the Bible says that “Paul talked on and on.” Paul’s voice was probably mesmerizing; such as when someone is counting sheep in order to fall asleep. Similar to those sheep that keep jumping over the fence when you count them in your head, Paul’s words went over and over in Eutychus’ mind until he finally just ignored them, and conked out!
Church sleepers beware. If you think you can get away with sleeping in church, then watch out! “A man who went to church with his wife always fell asleep during the sermon. His wife then decided to do something about this, and one Sunday she took a long hatpin along with her to poke him with it every time he would doze off. As the preacher got to a part in the sermon where he asked, ‘And who created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh?,’ she poked her husband, who came flying out of the pew and screamed, ‘Good God Almighty’.”(2)
“A man liked to sleep frequently in church, so the pastor devised a plan. During one service the pastor asked his congregation, while the man was sleeping, ‘All who want to go to heaven, please rise.’ Everyone stood up except the sleeper. Then, at the top of his voice, he bellowed, ‘All who wish to go to hell, stand up now!’ Only the sleeper stood up. The sleeper looked around and said, ‘I don’t know what we’re voting on, Reverend, but it looks like you and me are the only ones for it’.”(3)
Now that you know you can’t get away with sleeping in church, what do you think happens next? Can you imagine what might happen to a person sleeping on an upstairs window ledge?
A Church Tragedy (v. 9b)
When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead.
I want to share with you something fascinating about his name. Eutychus means “fortunate.” For example, the Latin translation of his name is Fortunatus.(4) I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking that Eutychus wasn’t very fortunate, because he fell out of a third story window and died!
Some people will say that he was taken up “as dead,” implying that he was only unconscious. First of all, we are told how he fell from a third story window. The emphasis placed on the height of his fall leads us to believe that he could not have survived; especially while asleep, because he could not have braced for the landing. R. Lenski tells us that Luke, the author of Acts, was a physician; and if he assessed Eutychus to be dead, then we can trust his professional opinion.(5) It’s important to clarify that he was dead, in order to emphasize a great display of faith which is to follow.
This is a tragic story! A boy went to church in order to worship God, and look what happened to him! He died! How would you feel if this happened to someone in a church service that you were attending? Would you say to yourself that no one could survive a fall from that height? Would you then become angry with God, thinking that the boy would not have died had he not been in church? Some of us would react in this way; and it’s possible that the boy’s parents and relatives felt like this and were very angry with the Lord.
Do you think that you could trust God, or His Son, Jesus Christ, in a situation like this? It would probably be somewhat difficult. As we will come to find out, someone in this story does trust the Lord.
They Trusted in Jesus (vv. 10-12)
10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.
We were told earlier that Eutychus was dead after this horrific fall; however, we read here where Paul went down and grabbed him and declared that he was alive! There were probably some bystanders who thought he was crazy. The boy fell from a third story window and was apparently dead. How could Paul have put his arms around him, and declared that he was alive?
It was because Paul realized that if we have faith in Jesus Christ that miracles can happen. The boy was indeed dead, but Paul believed that there is power in the name of Jesus to do as He said in Matthew 10:8, to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, [and] cast out demons.” Paul believed that Jesus Christ working through him could bring Eutychus back to life.
In John 14:14, Jesus said, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” Paul believed that Jesus, God’s one and only Son, could bring the boy back to life; that is, if he had the faith to believe He could. You see, God works through His Son, Jesus Christ; and Jesus revealed this fact in John 14:13, when He stated, “Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
Paul demonstrated the faith to believe that Jesus could heal the boy and bring him back to life; and through his own faith, he taught all the others who were gathered there that they could trust in Jesus too. The people were so encouraged and strengthened in their faith by this miracle that they went back to eating and worshipping with each other until morning. We read that afterwards, the people took Eutychus home alive. Maybe this is the reason why Eutychus was named “fortunate.”
Time of Reflection
Allow me to point out two applications from this story. First of all, what we think of as dead, God might see as just being asleep. Let’s apply this information to the church. What if we were members in a church that was experiencing continual low attendance? Many of us would say that such a church is dead, and that there’s no hope of turning things around. However, from the account we just read, we discovered that if we have faith to believe that God can change an apparent tragedy into new life, that He will; and thereby, bring glory to His name.
Secondly, we can see that faith in Jesus leads to life. We know that Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son, died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. He not only died, but He rose from the grave. In the resurrection He defeated sin and death; and therefore, all who believe in Him will defeat sin and death as well. We must have faith to believe that Jesus can indeed overcome death. If we have the kind of faith that Paul demonstrated in this account, then when our earthly body perishes, Jesus will raise us into new life; that is, eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.
NOTES
(1) F. F. Bruce, Commentary on the Book of Acts (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 407-408.
(2) “Sleeping in Church,” taken from the Internet May 2001 at http://www.humor.org /j/ajoke/000000244.
(3) “Sleeping Man in Church,” Forward Garden, taken from the Internet May 2001 at http://www.forwardgarden.com/forward/716.
(4) R. C. H. Lenski, Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles (Columbus: Wartburg, 1957), 827.
(5) Ibid., 828.
