Paul in Rome

A long straight road paved with stone. A prisoner walking with his guard. And there, coming the other way, a little crowd of strangers, waving, running to meet him. They have walked a very long way just to say: welcome.

Paul has had quite a journey. He set sail from Judea as a prisoner bound for the emperor's court. A terrible storm wrecked the ship off the island of Malta, and everyone on board swam or floated to shore. They spent three months on the island. Now it is time to finish the voyage. They board a ship from Alexandria that had wintered at Malta, a ship with the sign of the twin gods Castor and Pollux on its bow. They stop for three days at Syracuse, in Sicily, then at Rhegium. A south wind blows, and the next day they reach Puteoli, the great harbour of Italy.

At Puteoli, Paul finds fellow believers, and they invite him to stay for a week. Then the group sets out on the road to Rome. But news travels ahead of them. The believers in Rome hear that Paul is coming, and they set out to meet him. Some get as far as a market town called the Forum of Appius. Others wait at a place called the Three Taverns. Paul had written them a long letter years before, saying how much he longed to see them. Now here they are, in person. Luke tells us what happened in Paul's heart. “Whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.”

In Rome, Paul is allowed to live on his own, with a soldier guarding him. After three days, he invites the leaders of the Jewish community to visit. He explains that he has done nothing against his people or their customs, but was handed over to the Romans. “For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain,” he tells them. They say they have received no letters about him from Judea. But they would like to hear what he thinks. About this new group, they say, we know that everywhere people speak against it. So they set a day, and a large number come to his lodging. From morning until evening, Paul explains the kingdom of God, trying to persuade them about Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets.

Some are persuaded. Others will not believe. As they begin to leave, still arguing among themselves, Paul quotes words the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophet Isaiah, about people who hear but do not understand, and see but do not perceive. And he tells them that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen. Then Luke ends his whole book with a picture of open doors. “And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.”

The Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns were real stopping places on the Appian Way, the great Roman road running south from the capital. The orator Cicero mentions both in his letters, a century before Paul. The Forum of Appius lay about forty-three Roman miles from Rome, and the Three Taverns about thirty-three. Some of those believers had walked well over a day's journey to greet a prisoner they had never met.

Paul in Rome. You'll find it in Acts chapter twenty-eight, verses eleven to thirty-one. A prisoner who took courage from friends on the road, and then spent two years welcoming everyone through his door. So here is a question to carry with you. Who could you go out of your way to welcome and encourage, the way the Roman believers welcomed Paul?