Paul’s Ministry on Malta
Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
(Acts 28:1–6)
Paul had been a prisoner on a ship he knew by divine warning would be shipwrecked. Aboard with him were several other prisoners, a band of soldiers, a couple companions, and the centurion who highly esteemed Paul—all together 276 persons. Despite Paul’s preliminary warning, they still embarked on the voyage, heading towards Rome. When the sea became tempestuous, they hastened to throw whatever they could overboard, even the tackle and cargo, to lighten the ship in hopes that they could still yet survive.
After many days amidst this peril,
Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. However, we must run aground on a certain island.”
(Acts 28:21–26)
For Paul’s sake—that is, for the sake of the Lord’s intended mission and purpose pertaining to Paul—the Lord commissioned an angel to proclaim to Paul the coming deliverance from this peril. For out of this peril, the Lord intended good. He intended for them to ‘run aground on a certain island’ called Malta, and, furthermore, that Paul would minister mightily to the people of that island.
Indeed, the ship was run aground and the Maltese treated them with unexpected kindness—for surely the Lord had prepared their hearts to receive those 276 shipwrecked souls, Paul being among this number. As all the people gathered around the fire to be warmed, a viper leapt out from among the flames and not only bit Paul, but ‘fastened on his hand.’ The observing natives awaited Paul to ‘swell up or suddenly fall down dead,’ yet he quite simply ‘shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.’
Dear ones, let us look deeper into this scene and incline our hearts to hear the lesson here as we move from the Holy Feast of Pentecost into the Holy Fast of the Apostles.
Indeed, more often than not, the enemy of all good, our foe, the serpent from of old, comes flying out from amidst the flame of the Spirit which we, in synergy with the Holy Spirit and in unity with Christ, labor to kindle. Yes, especially having walked the journey of Lent with the fasting Son of Man, having lived moment by moment through the passion with the Suffering Savior, having been liberated by the Crucified Christ’s harrowing of the inner Hades of the soul, having come to life with the Risen Lord and basked in the extended day of resurrection, and finally having received the greatest gift of the Divine Fire of Spirit in our very beings—the Spirit flame is ablaze, and the envy of the fiery flying serpent is also ablaze. The serpent from of old—originally a fiery, glistening, beautiful, angelic being by nature, but fallen from of old1—leaps from behind the Spirit fire and attacks so as to extinguish any blaze of Spirit flame in desperation to smother the work of God through His vessels. In just the right moment—a moment calculated with utmost precision—he makes his deadly blow. His aim: to extinguish God’s work. But if he can, he would love to injure the vessel too, poisoning it with doubts about God and blames upon God, until the vessel is paralyzed from working, from believing, from moving. For he is, indeed, a thief who comes ‘to steal, and to kill, and to destroy,’ and ‘a liar and the father of lies and half-truths.’ (John 10:10; John 8:44, AMP)
Let’s go back to the scene of Paul and the viper and the Maltese natives.
Paul’s response: with unwavering and absolute faith in the God whom he preached and His mission He commissioned him with, he shook the serpent off and pressed on to preach the people and heal the sick.
May we ever learn to shake off the lies of our enemy and that the Lord ‘would grant [us], according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith; … that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God.’ (Ephesians 3:16, 17, 19)
Amen
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