Centurion - Acts 27:13-32

The centurion and the ship captain decide against listening to Paul and head out to sea “by Crete.” It didn’t take long for a storm to hit the ship with “tempestuous wind.” Let’s just keep in mind that storms of this magnitude are notorious during this time of year and in this area, so a storm hitting the ship isn’t some crazy phenomenon or something that is clearly “punishment from God.”

We learn a little bit about Roman sailing from Luke who tells us the different measures that they took to ensure their own safety such as letting “her drive” which I assume means letting the wind take the ship where ever it goes, using “helps, undergirding the ship… the next day they lightened the ship; and the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.” I don’t really know what any of this means but I’m going to guess and say that they threw everything absolutely not necessary off the ship to make it lighter. It also appears that the non-prisoners unshackled the actual prisoners and so they could help with everything that the ship needed done.
After several days of this storm, everyone is pretty defeated. From what I’ve seen by just being a causal observer of weather patterns, is that storms, even the heaviest ones, are crazy for a few days but then burn out. I guess I don’t know much about storms in the ocean but this one is no joke. Paul finally speaks up and says “hey, I told you guys that we should have stayed in Crete.” But here’s where Paul’s speech stops being an “I told you so” and takes a very different tone because he says, “be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear Not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.”
I wonder if the angel’s admonition to Paul was an indication that Paul was afraid too. It’s also interesting that even though nothing outside of the ship changed, meaning that the storm didn’t lessen, Paul’s attitude had completely shifted and he was happy. Paul also happened to mention that they “must be cast upon a certain island,” and after 14 days of the storm, “about midnight, the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country.” I wonder if the idea of shipwrecking had been a possibility the whole time or if they just started considering it because Paul said it.
The night watchmen are trying to get to the shore but it is night and they are having some problems making sure that the ship doesn’t hit the rocks. They drop four anchors, which I don’t understand why, and “the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship” but Paul told the centurion “except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.” This time, the centurion decides to listen to Paul.
I just think it’s interesting that, like I said, a storm during that time of year was not uncommon, and really, besides reassuring everyone that they were going to live, Paul hadn’t offered any other advice that had been helpful at that point. He had reminded them that he was right and that they should have stayed in Crete, but again, that wasn’t necessarily the big reveal that it might appear to be because we have 20/20 hindsight.
So if he hadn’t really done anything quantifiable to demonstrate his higher connection to diety, then what was it that caused the centurion to start listening to Paul over the worldly authorities like experienced sailors and captains? My guess is that it was probably Paul calm, determined demeanor while everyone else was freaking out. And that goes back to the power that comes through discipleship.