Eutychus: Staying Connected and Alert
Bible Readings
Take a few minutes to read the Bible verses listed and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in how this verse applies to you this week.
7 On the first day of the week we met to break bread together. Paul spoke to the people until midnight because he was leaving the next morning. 8 In the upstairs room where we were meeting, there were a lot of lamps. 9 A young man by the name of Eutychus was sitting on a window sill. While Paul was speaking, the young man got very sleepy. Finally, he went to sleep and fell three floors all the way down to the ground. When they picked him up, he was dead. 10 Paul went down and bent over Eutychus. He took him in his arms and said, “Don't worry! He's alive.” 11 After Paul had gone back upstairs, he broke bread, and ate with us. He then spoke until dawn and left. 12 Then the followers took the young man home alive and were very happy.
Acts 20:7-12
Memory Verse
Acts 20:9-10
9 A young man by the name of Eutychus was sitting on a window sill. While Paul was speaking, the young man got very sleepy. Finally, he went to sleep and fell three floors all the way down to the ground. When they picked him up, he was dead. 10 Paul went down and bent over Eutychus. He took him in his arms and said, “Don't worry! He's alive.”
I have a confession to make: I’ve fallen asleep in church. Maybe that hasn’t happened to you, but do you sometimes find yourself distracted from what God is doing in church? Your mind is somewhere else or you can’t focus on what’s going on in front of you. Eutychus learned a painful lesson about staying alert when he fell asleep during an all-night church service, fell out of a window, and died!
Paul was leaving in the morning. He had so much left to say to this new little church, and they were so eager to hear from him, that they all brought over their lamps and settled in for an all-nighter! What enthusiasm! God was doing something amazing here and everyone was eager to be a part of it! We don’t know why Eutychus put himself in the window. Was it a good place to see everything going or was it a comfy seat? Maybe he sat there so he could look out at the city, maybe to be alone with his thoughts. Whatever the reason, Eutychus was not actively participating in what was going on in the room, he fell asleep, and then fell to the street below. That was a steep price to pay for not being alert!
But Eutychus’ fall is not the end of the story. Paul rushed out of the house and showed God’s power by raising him from the dead! God showed his power through a sleepy young man. The whole community went home comforted. Eutychus became part of God's story that night, though next time the believers met together, he probably stayed more alert.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, Help me to stay connected to other believers so I can see ways you are trying to teach me and have me be part of your story. Amen.Related Resources
Heather Altena
Heather Altena grew up in West Michigan, moved to the West Coast, and now lives just two blocks west of Chicago. She attends Pullman Christian Reformed Church and works various teaching-, literary-, writing-, theater-, and computer-related related jobs for the Southwest Chicago Christian School Association. She and her husband, Christian, have four children in their teens and twenties and are learning the truth of the magnet on their fridge: "The first 40 years of parenting are the hardest."