Confidence - Acts 27:33-44

Despite the fact that Paul had not given him any certain, concrete reason to trust that God was on Paul’s side, the centurion and apparently the ship captain listened to Paul when he said that in order to survive, everyone had to remain on the ship. It’s really an interesting concept because we read this account with 2,000 years of hindsight and an established belief in Paul as a prophet of God, but if we consider that this wasn’t the perspective of the people around him at the time, it really makes us consider other aspects of the gospel.

For instance, Paul had warned them to stay in Crete because the weather was dangerous, but honestly, there were probably several people who had suggested that they stay there for the winter because it was already known that there was a very good chance that they would hit inclement weather. So Paul’s “I told you so” several days into the storm wouldn’t have suddenly reminded them that he had foretold this completely unlikely event. And then when he came up and said “don’t worry, we are all going to live, an angel told me so,” no one else had seen the angel, and again his assurance that everyone was going to live wasn’t so out of the realm of possibility that it’s fulfillment completely shifted their opinion of Paul.
So this begs the question, what was it about Paul that made the leadership eventually listen to him, sometimes against their better judgment? I think it has to be his confidence. If we think about “con man,” it is short for “confidence man.” I don’t know a lot about that profession, but I would imagine that it involves making your claim with such confidence that people naturally are inclined to believe whatever it is they are saying. It seems like having confidence in yourself and what you are saying helps people build their own confidence in you.
Let’s keep in mind that the centurion is a seasoned soldier, he’s used to seeing the absolute dregs of human nature. He’s probably so used to seeing fear and desperation from people in his charge that when someone displays peace and confidence instead, it’s almost jarring. Paul wasn’t afraid of being Rome’s prisoner because he wasn’t afraid to die for the cause of Christ. Paul believed that he would be welcomed into the arms of Jesus when he died, and that sounds pretty good to me.
Paul gave his warning with a firm belief that what he said was true, even when he was ignored. He talked about his angelic visitation with a conviction that it really happened and was true, even if it made his look crazy. He reassured his fellow passengers that they were going to be alright, even when it seemed like they were going to drown at any second. I think that it was all that anchored peace that Paul exuded that allowed the people around him to believe what he said, even if it seemed far fetched.
This confidence continued when Paul “besought them all to take meat, saying… I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.” That sounds pretty convincing, he seems like he knows what’s going on. Paul takes bread, “and gave thanks to God in presence of them all… then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.” Food is often a bridge builder.
Luke tells us that there were 276 people on board that ship and I’m not sure what all he’s talking about in the next few verses because he mentions a creek and “a place where two seas met” so I’m not exactly sure what he’s talking about. Apparently, they ran the ship aground and “the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.” I’m guessing that by “counsel” Luke means protocol, meaning that Roman soldiers were trained to kill prisoners if there was even a sliver of a possibility that they could escape. Pretty brutal.
The centurion, “willing to save Paul” stopped the soldiers from killing the prisoners and “commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves into the sea and get to land: And the rest, some of boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”
Paul was right, everyone survived the storm and ended up shipwrecked on an island. I wonder if the other prisoners took the centurion’s kindness for weakness and tried to run away once they got to the island, or if everyone came together and was like “oh wow, that was crazy.” I wonder if Paul’s influence and example was enough for the other prisoners to stick around instead of trying to run.
So here they are, shipwrecked on an island waiting out the winter, what a wild ride.