ACC ~ Acts 27 v33 - 38

OVERVIEW:

Another prophetic message and gesture was Paul’s effort to take care of those who were “given to” him. Because of certain terms in the account of the meal, some commentators wonder if Luke intends this to be a eucharistic sharing. This is most unlikely. As one commentator says, this is not a meal of thanksgiving but one of hope. For the Fathers, however, the ecclesial parallel is in some ways inevitable. First, because some of these comments emerge within the church, in homilies or in commentaries designed to aid in the preparation of homilies. Second, Ammonius has already hinted at the baptismal nature of their journey, which was the doorway to full participation in the communion of the body of Christ. Chrysostom does not go so far as to see the meal as a Eucharist, and yet he is explicit that Paul’s role mirrors the lessons of the church, where we enter to be taught, through participation in Christ, true knowledge of the world around us as a hopeful place of passing and beneficial hardship. This knowledge comes through the testing even of the one who bestows it. The irony is that the centurion who was free needed his prisoner who was in chains, and the pilot needed one who was not a pilot. Bede draws the parallel that no one escapes the tempests of this world except those nourished by the bread of life.

Arator makes an explicit connection between the Passover of Exodus, celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish calendar, Christ’s final meal and crucifixion and Paul’s meal here. Ammonius, however, keeps the event narrated a simple meal that Paul uses to initiate his companions into piety but that opens up to what is done in church.

27:33 | Paul Urged People to Eat

THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF THIS WORLD. CHRYSOSTOM: Look, just as in a church, they are instructed by Paul’s true knowledge. He saved them from the midst of danger. It is part of the divine plan that Paul is disbelieved; he is to be believed only after he is tried in action. So this is what happened: he urges them to partake of nourishment again and persuades them. He himself is the first to partake, thus persuading them not only by word but also by action that the storm in no way harmed them but rather benefited their souls. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 53.

THE WORK OF THE CONDEMNED JUST MAN. CHRYSOSTOM: With the ship in danger and shipwreck awaiting, the prisoners were saved through Paul. Imagine what it would be like to have a holy man in a house. For many are the storms that assail us, even more fierce than those storms of nature. But God is able to forgive us, if only we obey the holy men as those in the ship did, if we do what they command. For they are not only saved but also carry the faith with them. Even if the holy man is a prisoner, he does greater things than those who are free. The centurion who was free needed his prisoner who was in chains, the skillful pilot needed him who was not a pilot, or rather, who was the true pilot. For it is not a vessel such as this that he steers but the church of the whole world (for he had learned from him who was also the master of the sea), and [Paul] does this not by the art of humankind but by the wisdom of the Spirit. In this vessel are many shipwrecks, many waves and spirits of wickedness, “conflicts on the outside, fears within.” That is why [Paul] is the true pilot. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 53.

AN ALLEGORY OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. BEDE: A most beautiful allegorical sense is evident in this passage, when Paul persuaded the men he had promised would be saved from shipwreck to take food; also in the fact that in the middle of the night they were kept from going wrong by four anchors in the violence of the waves; and that with the coming of day they climbed out onto a point of land. No one escapes the tempests of this world except those who are nourished by the bread of life, and one who in the night of present tribulations depends for all his strength on wisdom, fortitude, temperance and justice will soon, with the shining forth of divine help, reach the port of salvation which he had sought, provided that, unencumbered by things of the world, he seeks only the flame of love with which he may warm his heart. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 27.33.

BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY. ARATOR: Let us examine by what formula the memorable mysteries of the godly figure have significance: the multitude was ordered to be fed from the flesh of a lamb at that time when the lights of the first month shone forth, on the day proceeding from this number [fourteen]; when the protection of this [flesh] had been tasted, the free [multitude] deserved to avoid the darkness of the Nile. Paul at a similar interval persuades those whom he wishes to take out of the sea of the world to feast with him and to taste sacred food. He is following the esteemed footsteps of Moses. The actions of Moses and Paul, if looked at intently, are different in their locations but alike in their causes, and the repeated deliverance is raised out of one font: in it Christ is the Lamb, [and] Christ too is considered the Bread from heaven, which he himself also teaches. One who will have consumed Jesus in his body is free from the Enemy, nor do Pharaoh and Egypt now keep their powers. Immediately all the weapons of the demon are sunk in these waters, from which he who had been a captive is reborn as a child. The surge of the salty depths is also left behind, and the marshes of the foul serpent are overcome. Christ lavishes pastures upon his rescued flock, in their own names, as true Shepherd to one who now eats. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 2.

27:36 | All Were Encouraged

GIVING THANKS BEFORE EATING. AMMONIUS: “He took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat.” Since Paul saw that they had believed out of necessity and that the time was not opportune to announce Christ to them, as they were broken in spirit and uncertain, he teaches them some piety, namely, not to break bread before giving thanks to the one God, and then to eat. And he teaches us the same, and the way of celebrating Eucharist appears to be this: “We give thanks to you, God, because you deigned to allow us to live until now, without eating bread. Therefore giving glory to you, we break bread for sustenance.” CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 27.35-36.