Lucky
Acts 20:7-12

This morning I am going to read a short story from Acts 20.  I have made one small modification to the text.  I think you will notice it.

Acts 20:7-12  On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.  There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.  Seated in a window was a young man named Lucky, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead.  Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "He's alive!"  Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left.  The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

I suspect you noticed the change.  This is typically called the story of Eutychus.  What you may not have known is the Greek name Eutychus in English is “Lucky.” 

The question I want to ask this morning is why was he?  Why was Lucky, lucky?  I understand this is a bit of an odd question.  But I think this is the question Luke wants us to ask.  Luke is often times very subtle in his points.  He assumes you are willing to think and dig a bit.  He has left some hidden jewels beneath the surface of this simple story.  He wants us to explore for these jewels by asking why this guy’s name was Lucky.

Luke makes a big deal out of names. Even in the paragraph right before the Lucky story Luke makes sure we get a bunch of names.

Acts 20:1-5 When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia.  He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, where he stayed three months. Because the Jews made a plot against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas.

It was important to Luke to get everyone’s name in the story.  So, when we come to Eutychus I think Luke wants us to recognize we have a guy in our story whose name is Lucky and ask why.  So, we will.  Why was Lucky, lucky?

He certainly was not lucky in that he was most likely a slave.  The Greek word for young man in verse 12, “The people took the young man home alive.” can also be translate servant or even slave.  When combined with the name Lucky – which we would use for our dogs – it is mostly likely that Eutychus was a young slave.  This would not be the most desirable of occupations in the Roman Empire. He wasn’t lucky because of his job. 

This would also explain why he was sleepy.  We have Sunday’s off.  But in the Roman days slaves didn’t get any days off and nobody got Sunday off.   The Jews had Saturday off, but not Eutychus.  He would have worked all day Saturday and then on Sunday he would have hurried over to church on Sunday evening.  So, by the time he had gotten up early worked all day, got to church, about dark, ate a meal with everyone and began listening to Paul preach, he was tired already. Then when Paul went on and on and on it was more than he could handle.  He was sleepy and dozed off.  He was not lucky that he was tired and had to listen to a preacher go on and on and on…  I was waiting to see if there were any “Amens.”

Now, unfortunately, - that would be un-Eutychus-ly – he was sitting in the window of the third story.  This is also interest and helps us with another clue.  This was probably an apartment building.  The Romans built huge multiple apartment buildings; where lots of people were packed into small living areas.  If that were the case, it was already dark, lots of oil burning lamps were burning; everyone had already breathed up the air in a crowded little living room. There was no chance of him staying awake.  So, far Lucky wasn’t.  

All the factors lined up for disaster.  Eutychus had worked all day; ate a meal with the brothers, it was dark, it was a small tightly packed room; Paul preached from sundown to mid-night and Eutychus was sitting in the window of the third floor.  To make it worse there were no Starbucks anywhere near there! Can’t you see his head nodding as he fights it?  Is there anything more miserable than fighting sleep?  Have you ever noticed when people sleep in a sermon they think the preacher can’t see them as well as they can see the preacher?  Anyway, out the window he went down three stories and splat on the concrete below.  I’m sure he didn’t feel very lucky as he woke up right before he hit the ground. 

As a preacher I am thinking this had to be a show stopper to Paul’s sermon, as well.  It is hard enough to preach through the little distractions we have here, but someone falling out the window to his death, makes it a bit difficult to keep on preaching.  But, Paul is slick and he incorporated this disturbance into the sermon. And that is a clue to why he was lucky. 

Paul runs down the stairs out on to the ground and raises Eutychus back to life.  The wording here in verse 10 in the Greek is a bit awkward.

YLT Acts 20:10 And Paul, having gone down, fell upon him, and having embraced him, said, “Make no commotion, for his life is in him.”

Was he dead or just mostly dead? The Jewish view of death is he was mostly dead.  They believed the spirit hung around for three days after death. That was why Jesus waited three days to being Lazarus back to life.  That is why Jesus himself was dead for three days to be resurrected; they waited until they were completely dead.  Anyway Eutychus was just mostly dead.  He had fallen from three stories, note the interesting number.  Still Eutychus was not very Eutychus; he was mostly dead.

At this point in the story there is one of those hidden jewels which Luke wants you to discover.  What Bible stories come to mind as Paul embraces Eutychus and brings him back to life?
-You have to think of Elijah and Elisha; notice the amazing connections.

1 Kings 17:15-24  She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.  For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.  Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing.   She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"   "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.   Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?"  Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!"  The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived.  Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!"  Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth."

-Elisha is similar.
2 Kings 4:32-37   When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch.  He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD.  Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm.  Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.  Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he did. When she came, he said, "Take your son."  She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

-And do you remember Peter from Acts 9?
Acts 9:36-41  In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor.  About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room.  Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, "Please come at once!"  Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.  Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 

Paul is Elijah and Elisha and right there with Peter!  His sermon was shown to be the word of the Lord because he raised the boy back to life! 

Here is where it gets really interesting.  The whole scene suddenly takes on a different meaning. Here is where we find out why Eutychus was Lucky. Let’s put the facts all together
-One, it is on the first day of the week.  Christians began celebrating Sunday as the day of worship early on.  The move from the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Lord’s Day was because what? The Resurrection – Ah Hah!  This story is all about the resurrection.

-Two, this story, as well as Elijah’s and Peter’s, all happened in upper rooms.  Did you know that all of the biblical examples of taking the Lord’s Supper are in upper rooms? Remember the Last Supper?

Luke 22:8-12  Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked.  He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?'  He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there."

-Three, they broke bread, which is how Luke describes the Lord’s Supper.  They had already broken the bread of fellowship. And notice that when they got back to the upper room after raising Eutychus they took it again.  It was too good of an object lesson to pass up.  Paul’s sermon had to be about the Lord’s Supper and Eutychus was this amazing object lesson!  Isn’t that a cool jewel?
 
This was why Lucky was.  He is the demonstration of the Lord’s Supper!  What better object lesson is there than this.  Eutychus dies and is resurrected right then and there from the third floor. Paul goes back to preaching and preaches until dawn! I bet no one else went to sleep.  Paul used Eutychus as an example of their lives.  Eutychus struggled in life to do right but couldn’t, he went to sleep.  Then he fell into sin and there he died.  But in Christ, just like baptism he is brought back out of death to live again!  Don’t you think Paul said that he was Lucky!  Not in the gambling sense, but in the blessed by God way!  All of this is tied up symbolically in the Lord’s Supper. 

Let’s not skip the last verse of this story. Here is another jewel.

Acts 20:12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

The word comforted is parakale,w parakaleo which sounds a whole lot like paraclete the name of the Spirit in John 14.  Wow!  The boy went home and they were comforted.  That is an amazing jewel!   That is why Lucky was.

This morning we have waited until now to do the Lord’s Supper.  While I run get the folks out of Kid Kare, I want you to quietly reflect.
-I want you to go to your upper room; that place in your heart where you are close to God.
-While in your upper room I want you to think about how lucky you are, not lucky in a gambling sense, but in the blessed by God way. All spiritual blessings are in Christ Jesus. 
-Think about whenever you fall asleep to his love, he wakes you up and renews your life in him.
-If you are mostly dead, like Eutychus, allow him to bring you back to life.  Perhaps that even means baptism. 
-Allow yourself to feel the comfort of being home with the Spirit. 

You have a lot to be thankful for – you are surely lucky, not in the gambling sense but in the blessed by God way.  Quietly think.  I’ll be right back. 

Los Alamos Church of Christ
August 31, 2008