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Acts 27:39-44. The ship carrying Paul and other prisoners to Rome has weathered a terrible storm and come to what the crew hopes is a place to land. At daybreak, they see land they do not recognize, but notice a bay with a beach. Hoping to bring the ship ashore, they cast off the anchors into the sea, raise the foresail, and head for the beach. But the ship runs aground, with the bow becoming stuck, and the stern broken up by the surf. The soldiers intend to kill all the prisoners lest any escape as they attempt to go ashore, but the centurion stops them, wishing to save Paul's life. The centurion orders all who can swim to head for shore and gives the others planks to cling to. "And so it was that all escaped for land."

 

Now that we've reached the end of this ship's journey, I am seeing it all in terms of Paul's fulfillment of his duties, mainly as a prophet, but also as priest,.and ultimately as king. The whole story shows us how, if we stay in touch with God, do His will, and perform our duties, we help Him build his Kingdom here on earth in amazing ways.

 

When the ship captain and owner wanted to set out from a safe harbor as winter approached, Paul warned them against it, saying he perceived that if they did there would be much loss, of cargo and the ship, but also of lives. This perception of Paul's came from being in touch with God. It was a prophetic message that was disregarded, and the ship set sail. I have written before about how prophets often suffer in kind of a Catch-22, either being ignored when they know calamity is ahead (which will affect them, too), or being heeded by enough people that calamity is averted, but the naysayers continue to believe there was never anything to worry about and the prophet is seen by them as a fool or a reactionary. (There are also the prophets, like Jonah, who are reluctant, and feel like justice has not been served when an errant people are saved, but that is clearly not approaching prophecy in the right way.)

 

This ship's journey gives us an amazing beginning-to-end view of the efficacy of prophecy and why it is so needed. Paul's first warning is ignored. He could have decided then and there not to share any further messages, since no one listened to him the first time, but he did not. Paul is a better person than that, for one thing, but also Paul is on the ship! If it goes down, so does he, so he has an interest in saving it. If we think of the ship as the Church, or our family, our community, our country, or even the world, we can see how this applies to all of us. We are all in this together, if they go down, so do we!

 

Because Paul was ignored, the ship encountered a terrible storm and became lost at sea. Most cargo and supplies were thrown overboard and the situation looked very dire. Meanwhile, Paul had another vision, this time assuring him that no lives would be lost but that the ship would be. God's plan didn't change, but Paul's prayers and good works lifted up all on board so that they all became part of this floating "church" and so were all to be saved. The lesson from this for us as prophets is if we are ignored or scorned when we share God's messages, we must not resent it or retaliate, but rather retreat into prayer and continue treating all with charity. Prayer and charity are never wasted, and they will help us get through to people if and when there is another message to share.

 

When Paul shares his second message, he makes sure to remind everyone that if they had listened to him the first time they would not have faced the storm. Paul is not acting with malice or judgment here, there is no place for Paul to be judgmental - the storm was something that had to happen in order to get everyone on board ready and willing to listen to God's Word. Our storms and sufferings in life serve this same purpose; to (hopefully) make us turn to God and hear Him more clearly. This is true individually, but also for our communities and groups like, again, our families, church, and country. If any are going off track, God often allows a storm in order to change our perspective and bring us back (hence the many storms the world is suffering through right now!). 

 

Having reminded his shipmates of his first warning, and having delivered his second message and assured all that the ship will be lost but there will be no loss of life, Paul gained their trust and attention. Then it was time for Paul to begin also acting as priest. The people on board the ship have been through terrible ordeals together, they are now ready to come into communion, and yesterday we saw Paul break bread with them in a miraculous fashion very reminiscent of the Mass. This is Paul as priest, but he would not have been able to get to this point with the people unless he had been a prophet first.

 

Now, in today's reading, the people on board the ship have become a community. They belong to one another in a way that they didn't before, or didn't realize before. They have broken bread together and reached the point of being a "church," so now it is time for them to go out into the world and begin building the Kingdom of God. Day breaks and they see land. Still attached to the safety of the ship, they try to "take it with them," but Paul's prophecy is soon borne out and the ship is lost.

 

Now we see the final test of whether the people on the ship are a community ready to be saved. The soldiers want to kill the prisoners so as not to be punished for losing any of them. As we approach the Kingdom, are there people we don't want to join us there, or who we are afraid might get us into trouble there? If so, we are not ready for the Kingdom yet. Fortunately, the centurion orders the soldiers not to go through with their plan, thus taking the burden off of them - if there is any escape, the centurion will pay the price, not the soldiers. This is a truly Christian act by the centurion, this man has become a Christian at heart, at least, and it is all due to Paul's fulfillment of his duties. Note that the centurion saves all of the prisoners, even though his main purpose was saving Paul. Thus, Paul is shown in his final role as "king", sharing in Christ's kingship so that even a Roman centurion is serving God's kingdom ahead of the Roman Empire.

 

This one story is a perfect microcosm of how we can change hearts and minds, and save lives and souls, just by fulfilling our duties as priests and prophets and always doing God's will as we journey together with all towards God's Kingdom. This is how it is done, this is how the world will be saved!