Paul's Sermon & Healing At Troas Series

9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

The upper room was on the third floor. The only spot where there might be any breeze at all was by the open “window.” A “young man” [probably 8-14 years of age] named “Eutychus” (“Fortunate”) was perched there. He fought against his weariness. His heavy lids came down over his eyes, his head drooped. He would jerk awake again, change his position and try to concentrate on Paul’s message, only to be overcome again by drowsiness. The apostle preached late into the evening and probably long past the lads normal bed time—all these factors conspired against the youth. Can’t you just see this “Eutychus”? It says that “he sunk down with sleep.” He was sound asleep, and I can imagine that he was snoring. We can feel for him. We have all done it. I remember being seated across the aisle from a good friend who had worked all night and then came to church without having slept. It was the same every Sunday. I watched as his eyes would close and he would jerk awake. Sometimes his wife would elbow him in the side. But eventually he lost out to the “sleep” he so greatly needed, and as he did so he “fell” out of his seat and landed in the isle. Everyone turned to see what caused the noise. Naturally he was very embarrassed and the incident evoked a lot of laughter. Poor “Eutychus” finally stopped fighting it and “sleep” took over. Nobody seemed to notice. Everyone else was riveted on Paul. Suddenly there was a crash. “Eutychus” had fallen out of the “window,” and was killed.

Everyone rushed down the stairs. Paul followed, his message rudely interrupted. “Eutychus” was dead! Luke assures us of that. He was “taken up dead,” he says. Literally it means he was taken up (picked up or lifted up) a corpse.

10 And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

“And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves;”

Paul was full of tenderness toward the young man. He embraced him, Luke says. His resuscitation of the lad echoes that of both Elijah and Elisha in similar circumstances (1 Kings 17:21; 2 Kings 4:34). Some have suggested that Paul had administered artificial respiration though that in itself would not account for the miracle. Luke plainly tells us the young man was dead; what Paul embraced was a corpse. Paul, however, plainly expected a miracle, and it came instantly as life returned to the lifeless corpse.

“Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.”

News of the young man’s death quickly engendered a typical Oriental display of extravagant grief. The noise would have disturbed the neighborhood and caused a commotion that Paul was anxious to avoid at all costs. Paul played everything down. Far from taking advantage of the miracle, Paul sought to minimize all undue fuss and excitement. “His life is in him,” he said. Luke, however, has already made it quite clear that the young man was truly dead (v. 9).