TIME TO HEAL
ACTS 28:1-11
NASB
1 When they had been brought safely through, then we found out that the island was called [a]Malta. 2 The [a]natives showed us extraordinary kindness; for because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all. 3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out [a]because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the [a]natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, “Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, [b]justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 However he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.
7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us courteously three days. 8 And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with recurrent fever and dysentery; and Paul went in to see him and after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him. 9 After this had happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured. 10 They also honored us with many [a]marks of respect; and when we were setting sail, they [b]supplied us with [c]all we needed.
11 At the end of three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had [a]the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.
28:1 [a]Or Melita 28:2 [a]Lit barbarians 28:3 [a]Or from the heat 28:4 [a]Lit barbarians [b]Or Justice, i.e. the personification of a goddess 28:10 [a]Lit honors [b]Or put on board [c]Lit the things pertaining to the needs 28:11 [a]Gr Dioscuri; i.e. Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Zeus
NLT
1 Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. 2 The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.
3 As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. 4 The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.” 5 But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. 6 The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.
7 Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days. 8 As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him. 9 Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed. 10 As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.
11 It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island —an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods[*] as its figurehead.
[28:11] The twin gods were the Roman gods Castor and Pollux.
Around 400 BC, a Greek physician rose above his peers to become what many consider to be “the father of modern medicine.” Hippocrates became the first medicine man to declare publicly that diseases occur from natural causes, not because of evil spirits or punishment from the gods, and he spent twenty years in prison for separating medicine from religion. He also resisted the philosophy of his contemporaries, who aggressively diagnosed and treated diseases, often causing more harm than good. He believed in the body’s ability to heal itself, so he prescribed immobilization, cleanliness, soothing balms, and plenty of rest. He opens his work Precepts with this simple bit of wisdom: “Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”[232] Therefore, he believed in giving the body both time and opportunity to heal.
Four centuries after Hippocrates passed on, another physician accompanied Paul on his harrowing journey across the Mediterranean. As an intellectual successor to Hippocrates, Luke undoubtedly approved of the time his patient would spend on their island refuge. As King Solomon wrote a thousand years earlier, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1). Among these appointed times is “a time to heal” (Eccl. 3:3).
I find it strange that in our modern, “enlightened” era, when medicine has advanced light-years beyond the knowledge of Luke and Hippocrates, we have so little room in our theology for rest or the biblical concept of “time to heal.” We want people to “get over it.” If you have spent much time trying to recover from an ailment that cannot be explained by an X-ray, if you have been trapped in the dregs of depression, if you have grieved deeply the loss of a loved one and you can’t seem to recover, you’ve undoubtedly heard from someone “Snap out of it!” or “Get with it!” Hippocrates was right. Healing is a matter of time. It is, indeed, a matter of opportunity, which few today want to offer.
After a long ordeal in Caesarea and this two-week crisis at sea, Paul undoubtedly enjoyed this three-month rest before pushing on to Rome. But more than his personal rest and health would be affected in Malta —God would bear witness through the apostle by healing many on the island. Times of physical, mental, and emotional healing, whether miraculous or the result of normal processes, offer an opportunity to express and reflect on the compassionate and redeeming power of the gospel in one’s spiritual life. This same power would ready Paul for the next stage of his journey.
— 28:1-2 —
Soon after arriving, Luke learned the island was named Melitē [3194] (now known as Malta). The term rendered “natives” (28:2; barbaros [915]) is a reference to foreigners that derives from the sound of foreign speech, which seems like babbling. Greeks and Romans looked down on any who did not speak their “civilized” language as culturally and intellectually inferior. The people of Malta descended from the Phoenicians, who had colonized the island as far back as 500 BC and, despite occupation by the Romans in 218 BC, remained a fixture on the island.
The people of Malta showed the shipwrecked travelers “extraordinary kindness” (philanthrōpia [5363]), warming them with a fire and extending hospitality.
— 28:3-6 —
Luke illustrates the character of the natives with a story about Paul suffering a snakebite. Paul threw a bundle of sticks on the fire and a snake latched onto his hand (28:3). The natives were familiar with their wildlife and knew the serpent to be poisonous, so they expected the apostle to swell up and die. Their superstition led them to believe that justice had caught up with Paul, supposing him to be a murderer, since he was obviously one of several prisoners (28:4). Their words personify justice (dikē [1349]) as a Greek goddess, “Justice herself” (NET). The inhabitants, though Phoenician in culture and descent, probably attached their superstitions to Greek deities. They thought unseen forces were punishing Paul, but when he didn’t suffer any ill effects, they supposed him to be a god himself (28:5-6)!
By now the apostle had seen a lot and had been worshiped as a god before (14:11). Luke doesn’t conclude the story to show Paul’s response. By now his readers could guess. Instead, he transitions to another incident the apostle used for evangelism.
— 28:7-10 —
An inscription found on the island refers to the chief magistrate as bearing the title of prōtos.[233] Luke refers to a “leading man” (prōtos [4413]) named Publius, which was a popular name among the Romans; this suggests that he was a Roman who owned an estate on Malta. He extended hospitality to the group over a three-day period (28:7). The father of Publius was laid up with “fever and dysentery” (28:8; dysenterion [1420]). Some described the malady as “bloody flux” because the intense diarrhea contained blood and mucus. Today, we know the cause to be a parasitic bacteria or amoeba; in Paul’s day, superstition still attributed many ailments to evil spirits or angry gods. Patients usually contracted this ailment by contacting the fluids of infected people, so epidemics were not uncommon. Those who did not recover usually died from dehydration. Dr. Luke notes the presence of a fever as well, which suggests a bacterial form known as Marlow syndrome, which can be particularly difficult to treat.
Paul prayed over the man, and God healed him. The context suggests an instantaneous healing, which explains why so many others came to see Paul. Everyone on Malta suffering from various diseases came to be cured as well (28:9). Luke doesn’t state how Paul used this opportunity for the gospel, but we can surmise based on his character throughout Acts that he did. After a generous and gracious farewell from the locals, Paul and his men boarded an Alexandrian ship bound for Rome.
— 28:11 —
In this verse, Luke offers a couple of clues which, combined with other historical records, help establish a fairly reliable date for their departure. According to Pliny the Elder, the sailing season opened “on the sixth day before the Ides of February,”[234] which corresponds to February 8 on our calendar. If they were on Malta for three months, they crashed on the shores in early November, which means they had earlier left Crete after the fast of Yom Kippur in late October. Therefore, this would suggest a late date for the fast that year. In AD 59, “the Fast fell on or about 5th October, much later than in any neighboring year.”[235]
They boarded an Alexandrian ship that featured the twin sons of Zeus (Dioskouroi [1359]), Castor and Pollux, the patron gods of sailors. As Paul and his men boarded the ship, one wonders if they felt a sense of irony. Whose deity saved the crew and passengers from almost certain death three months earlier?
Paul might have had the opportunity to recuperate on Crete during the three-month wait for the passing of winter if the ship’s captain and the centurion had heeded his advice (27:10-11). The apostle had been through a lot in the past couple of years, and his time in Rome would be just as intense. Regrettably, Paul’s advice went unheeded, so they ended up enduring a harrowing, two-week odyssey at sea that resulted in the loss of the captain’s ship and its valuable cargo. Only by the grace of God did all 276 people wade onto the shores of Malta. The centurion’s poor decision notwithstanding, the Lord would prevail. He would make sure Paul got his much-needed respite —if not on Crete, then on Malta, with its mild winter months and abundant sunshine.
APPLICATION: ACTS 28:1-11
For Those Who Heal
Very few people in the world have experienced the kind of instantaneous healing the people of Malta received from God through Paul. One touch, and a moment later their symptoms had vanished and full strength had returned. Usually, however, healing is a process. It takes time. Occasional setbacks punctuate a patient’s progress toward a full recovery. Sometimes during long periods nothing happens —no progress, no regression. Then suddenly a dramatic improvement surprises everyone. Hippocrates was right: “Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”
With that in mind, let me offer two principles that may encourage those who are healing. They apply to physical recovery, but they’re just as valid for those healing from other kinds of wounds: Tragedy. Divorce. Unemployment. Infertility. Bankruptcy. Depression. Death of a loved one.
Here’s the first principle: The one who takes time to heal should be respected, not resented. Those who are healing often struggle to express themselves because they lack the energy to communicate. Inside, they’re screaming for compassion: “I’m trying to find myself. I’m trying to put it together. Stay with me. Love me through it. Accept me in it. Don’t write me off.” Many feel guilty for being a burden to others during their recovery, and they suffer more when family or friends grow impatient with their pain. No one hates the healing process more than the one who’s going through it. So give those who are healing a lot of grace. And tell them how much you respect them for continuing the healing process without giving up.
The second principle: The one who is healed will be better equipped to help others. While suffering the utter privation of Auschwitz during World War II, the psychologist Victor Frankl found relief when thinking about how his present suffering might be used in the future. He wrote,
Suddenly I saw myself standing on the platform of a well-lit, warm and pleasant lecture room. In front of me sat an attentive audience on comfortable upholstered seats. I was giving a lecture on the psychology of the concentration camp! All that oppressed me at that moment became objective, seen and described from the remote viewpoint of science. By this method I succeeded somehow in rising above the situation, above the sufferings of the moment, and I observed them as if they were already of the past.[236]
No one will understand the loss of a baby like a parent who’s suffered the death of a child. Who else but a former psychiatric patient will understand what it means to go through intensive therapy, emerge whole, and then recover self-respect? Divorce care is run by people who have been divorced. Recovering addicts know how to lead others out of addiction. The difficulties and tragedies we survive make us real to people suffering what we once suffered. I have found this principle to be incredibly valuable when I’m in the process of healing. It helps to think about how we might use today’s painful experiences to help others in the future.