“When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos.”
Acts 20:36-21:1

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MAY 19, 2025

As we saw last week, Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, and he’s in a hurry. He wants to arrive in time for Pentecost if possible (20:16). So, though he does not stop at Ephesus, he does call for the elders of the Ephesian church to meet him at one of his stopovers. Last week, we saw some of the profoundly significant words they exchanged. Today, Paul says goodbye to them.

The narrative reads like the minutes of an important meeting. But then it grows softer, more intimate as they kneel together and pray, weeping, embracing, kissing each other. Then this: “After we had torn ourselves away…”

What incredibly evocative words. Have you experienced a goodbye like that? I can think of a few in my life, and each signified an enormous change. Either I expected to never see the other person again, or knew that if I did it would be under vastly altered circumstances.

Weeks ago, we read that among the community of Jesus’ early followers, there was no sense that houses or food or personal possessions or even social status belonged to them as individuals anymore; they shared all this in common because they had a different understanding of ownership in light of their risen Lord: they belonged to each other.

As stunning as that is for us to imagine, it’s even more stunning to see how purposely this mindset moved across cities and regions. The brothers and sisters who follow Jesus in vastly different places weep and kiss each other as they say goodbye, using phrases like “tore ourselves away from them” to describe saying goodbye.

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • Do you have people you long for and rely upon this deeply?
  • In what ways can Christians in the United States learn from this new set of kingdom priorities?
  • What is dangerous and life-giving about belonging so deeply to a group of people that you no longer view your life or your possessions as your own?

 

Church Reading Plan: Numbers 28; Psalm 72