Acts 20
(1) Paul Tours Greece & Returns to NW Turkey
After the uproar in Ephesus died down, Paul met with the Jesus-followers there, encouraged them, and said his goodbyes.
Then he went to Macedonia [northern Greece] and visited the surrounding regions, giving them lots of encouragement.
Then he went to Greece, where he stayed for 3 months until the Jews started plotting against him again. After Greece, he originally planned to sail directly to Syria, but he made the last-minute decision to go back through Greece on his way back to Syria. Here are the people who accompanied him:
Sopater (Pyrrhus’s son from Berea)
Aristarchus and Secundus (from Thessalonica)
Gaius (from Derbe)
Timothy
Tychicus and Trophimus (from Asia [western Turkey])
When the group arrived back to Macedonia, everyone else went ahead to Troas [NW Turkey] and waited for us there. After the days of Unleavened Bread, Paul and I boarded a boat in Philippi and spent 5 days sailing to Troas. When we landed, we met back up with everyone and spent 7 days there.
(7) Young Man Resurrected
During our stay in Troas, we got together for dinner on the first day of the week, and Paul started talking to everyone. Our plan was to leave the next day, so Paul kept talking til midnight. We had a lot of lights turned on, but we were in an upper room and there was a young man named Eutychus who was sitting on the window sill trying not to doze off. As Paul kept talking, Eutychus fell asleep and ended up falling three stories out the window. Someone at the bottom picked up his lifeless body, but Paul ran down, threw himself on Eutychus’s body, hugged him, and said,
“Don’t worry, because his breath/life is in him.”
Then Paul went back upstairs, finished eating, and kept talking to everyone until dawn. When Paul left, everyone was incredibly relieved to have Eutychus alive.
(13) Paul Visits Turkish Islands
Then we got on a ship in Troas and set sail for Assos [which was a nearby city still on the NW coast of Turkey]. But instead of joining us on the ship, Paul made arrangements to travel by land and meet us there. When he met us in Assos, he got on our ship and we all sailed to Mitylene [which is an island south of Assos].
The next day, we sailed further south to the island of Chios.
The day after that, we continued down the coast to the island of Samos.
And the day after that, we landed in Miletus [which is on the mainland of SW Turkey].
(16) Paul Commissions Ephesian Elders
Paul had decided not to stop in Ephesus, because he was hoping make it to Jerusalem in time for the day of Pentecost. But while he was in Miletus, he sent a message to the Ephesian church, inviting their elders to come visit him. When they arrived, here’s what he told them:
“You guys know that I stayed with you ever since the first day I stepped foot in Asia [Turkey]. And you saw how I was humbly serving the Ruler like a slave, even with all the tears and hardships that entailed, thanks to the Jews. You saw how I wasn’t shy about telling you anything that would benefit you. I taught out in public and in the privacy of people’s homes, telling both Jews and non-Jews to turn towards God and depend on Jesus the Chosen One.
“Well, now I’m now going to Jerusalem, because the Spirit is holding me hostage, and I have no idea what will happen to me there. All I know is that the Different Spirit ends up testifying on my behalf in every city that throws me in prison or gives me grief. But it’s not like I view my life as valuable anyways—I don’t cling to it as if it’s something precious or anything. My only concern is to finish my course and finish serving in the ways Master Jesus gave me: telling the good news of God’s generosity.
“I went around telling all of you about God’s empire, but now I know that none of you will see my face ever again. I can’t be held responsible for anyone’s blood, because I didn’t ever shy away from telling you about God’s master plan.
“Closely watch over yourselves and the entire flock, because the Different Spirit has appointed you to be their overseers. You need to shepherd God’s church that He acquired with his own blood. When I’m gone, fierce wolves will step foot into your community, and they won’t spare the flock. There will even be people from your own group who rise up and say distorted things to pull disciples away and towards them. Stay vigilant. Remember the way I spent 3-nonstop-years strongly encouraging everyone day and night, often to the point of tears.
“Now I place you in front of God and in front of His beautiful message. And that message can build you up, give you the inheritance, and do the same for everyone who’s been purified and is now free from guilt.
“I never went after anyone’s money or belongings. You guys know how I used my own hands to meet any needs that me and my teammates had. By doing all those things, I’ve shown you how we should work hard to help the weak. I’ve shown that we should remember Master Jesus’s words when he said that ‘Giving makes us happier than receiving.’”
(36) Ephesian Elders Say Goodbye
After finishing his speach, Paul knelt down and prayed with them. A lot of tears were shed, and everyone huged Paul and gave him a kiss. They were sad about the part where he said they’d never see him again. Then they accompanied him to his ship.
