Lesson From A Sermon So Long that It Killed One of the Faithful

Note: This post is dedicated to my friend and colleague Boyd Roth. Boyd was a long-time NAMI volunteer in Kalispell, Montana. He passed away last week. Boyd had a courageous battle with severe bipolar disorder and a number of physical issues, but he always focused on helping others rather than himself. He also had a missionary zeal that would have amazed even Saint Paul.


We super-size the men and women of the Bible until they become spiritual giants, almost unrelatable to our everyday lives, talents and predicaments. I don't know if there is a better antidote to this concern than a paragraph in Acts 20 about Saint Paul's missionary work in the town of Troas in ancient Turkey.

The roaming Saint Paul had set up his congregation on the third floor of a building. He was leaving the next day and knew that he had to pack a lot into the sermon. Saint Paul started preaching around dinner time and continued on until midnight.

A young man named Eutychus was sitting on a windowsill.  He'd listened to Saint Paul as the sun faded into dusk and then further into darkness. The sermon continued on by lamp light and Eutychus began to nod off.

Having been at more than one late night Mass, I easily picture Eutychus nodding forward, waking up, then nodding forward again. Leaning his head against the side of the window as the words droned on past into the starry sky.

Eutychus's sleeping body reset itself against the window and then leaned backwards. There was no screen, pane or other brace behind him. The fateful sleepy lean dropped Eutychus backwards into the night. He plunged three floors down, landed on his head, and apparently died. Acts 20:10. 

Saint Paul "threw himself" on the boy performing what was probably an ancient mix of physical and spiritual CPR, before announcing "Don't be alarmed; there is life in him." 

Saint Paul then went upstairs, had some bread to eat and continued the service until day break. The passage concludes with the statement that the faithful "took the boy away alive and were immeasurably comforted." Acts 20:12.

I image they were "immeasurably comforted" that the young man survived the sermon. Although I bet there was more than a little grumbling when the act of nearly killing a disciple through boredom didn't provide more of a break from that night's lesson.

This was the same Saint Paul so touched by the Holy Spirit and filled with Truth that he was able to seed Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. Yet all of those divine gifts didn't prevent him from performing  what may be the only sermon in human history that actually killed a member of the congregation. 

Saint Paul was painfully human just like the rest of us. He had bad days. He had committed egregious sins. He had major conflicts with the people that were closest to him. Yet those flaws did not prevent him from bringing the light and love of Christ to an entire empire.

We too cannot allow our own flaws and weaknesses from preventing us from doing all of the good that the Divine intends for us.