Acts 20*
It’s a touching scene. Paul gathered with the leaders of the church
at Ephesus at Miletus. He was hurrying
to get to Jerusalem before Pentecost and running into dear friends has a way of
slowing down hasty travel. But he couldn’t
just pass by, so he asked the leaders of the church to meet him part-way. They talked and said good-byes. Luke
records, “And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them
all. And there was much weeping on the
part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all
because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again.”
Christian fellowship forms a bond
between people. Some church bodies
acknowledge this connection by referring to people as “brother” or “sister.” It’s a good designation, but the affection displayed
by these early church saints is better than the title. Acting like we love someone communicates more
truly than just saying we love them.
There are many partings and many
good-byes that happen in life. Children
move away from home. A friend gets transferred
to a different state or country. A
pastor or teacher accepts a call to serve in another congregation. People get sicknesses that lead to long
good-byes before death. Paul’s stop in
Miletus shows us that those times of parting are moments to be cherished, even
if they are hard.
While Paul and the Ephesians knew they’d
not see each other again, their grief was tempered by a greater reality that no
matter what happens in this world they would not be sundered in the
world-to-come when we see Jesus face to face.
Paul wrote to the Christians at Thessalonica, that they should not
grieve as the world does, for the world has no hope (1
Thessalonians 4:13-18). And this is
our hope, that through Jesus’ death and resurrection He has conquered sin
(which separates us from God) and given us eternal life (preparing a place for
us to be together with Him forever) and He will return to bring us there.
Shakespeare wrote that parting is such
sweet sorrow. Our sorrow at the many
partings of life is sweetened by the hope we have in Christ.
Father in Heaven, there are so many times
that people are parted in this world.
Give us hope knowing that You will always be with us no matter where we
are; for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
* Up to now I have been linking to BibleGateway.com's New International Version (NIV) 1984 edition, the translation of the Bible that many churches have used for years. It seems that the NIV 1984 translation has been removed. The more modern updates of the NIV are not as faithful to the original text, and are therefore not a good replacement. From now on the links will go to the English Standard Version (ESV).
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