Dr. Kennedy was the most dignified professor I had in my entire academic career. Students joked that if you woke him in the middle of the night, he’d answer the door in a coat and tie.
I took his class on the Psalms. In the opening lecture, he warned us about the serious repercussions for any student who fell asleep in his class. The moment he said it, nearly every head in the room turned toward me. I was legendary for being unable to stay awake after lunch.
I may have fallen asleep in class, but when Eutychus fell asleep, he fell out a window. Here is his story.
A Long Sermon and a Long Fall
Paul was traveling from city to city, encouraging the early church, when he stopped in Troas. On the first day of the week, the believers gathered to break bread, and Paul spoke to them.
The next time you read Paul’s letters, notice how much he had to say. He carried a wealth of spiritual truth he longed to teach the church, so it’s no surprise his message in Troas wasn’t three quick points and a nice illustration. He kept talking until after midnight. That’s when Eutychus took his fall.
A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. (Acts 20:9)
Falling asleep in class wasn’t deadly for me, just embarrassing. Eutychus’s fall was deadly. But by God’s grace, Paul went down, embraced the young man, and he was brought back to life. Luke closes the story with a wonderful bit of understatement:
Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted. (Acts 20:12)
Not a little comforted. I imagine that’s putting it mildly.
Grace for the Fallen
In the first church I pastored, there was a small, kind, older man who never missed a service. One Sunday night, he fell asleep while I was preaching and drifted into a dream. Suddenly he woke with a loud cry. We all tried not to laugh, but eventually I lost it too. We decided that was enough sermon for one night, said the closing prayer, and went home.
Like Eutychus, he fell asleep. And like Eutychus, he received grace from his church family instead of shame.
Over the years, I’ve known many people who have fallen. Not asleep, but into sin, addiction, or choices they deeply regret. Here is the good news of the gospel: God’s forgiveness reaches them. God’s grace comes to those who fall.
Think of a child who stumbles while running. A loving parent doesn’t scold them or ask, “What’s wrong with you?” Instead, they dust them off, give them a hug and a kiss, and help them back on their feet.
That is how God responds when we fall.
Captive to the Holy Spirit
Paul knew firsthand what it meant for God to lift up the fallen. Before he met Jesus, he persecuted the church. Yet God met him in that broken state, transformed his life, and gave him a central role in spreading the gospel.
As Paul traveled to Miletus, he sent word to the church in Ephesus. He wanted to speak with their elders one last time.
When they arrived, he told them he was “captive to the Spirit” (Acts 20:22). He trusted the Spirit to lead him wherever he needed to go, even if the road ended in death. Yet dying wasn’t his concern. Finishing the mission God gave him was.
But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace. (Acts 20:24)
How could Paul walk so willingly toward danger? In Galatians, he explains that he had already died, in Christ.
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:19b–20)
Before the Damascus Road, Paul was fallen. Jesus lifted him up and raised him by grace. Paul understood that when Jesus died on the cross, he died too, so that Christ could live through him by the Holy Spirit.
That’s why Paul could follow the Spirit anywhere. He knew the One leading him loved him and had given himself for him on the cross.
This Is Our Story Too
We may not have fallen out of a window like Eutychus, but every one of us has fallen into sin. And by God’s grace, he has lifted us up. His Son gave his life for us so that, through the Spirit, Christ can now live through us.
Whatever your fall has been, you are not beyond his reach. Grace is for the ones who fall. His mission through the Holy Spirit is yours, too.
Watch the Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed Acts 20:7–25 on YouTube today.
