Acts 20:25-38 “Saying Goodbye”

This part of Paul’s “summer travels” is a critical point. You have heard the aphorism “We will never be here again.” Or, perhaps you like “You can never step in the same river twice.” This becomes very much a poetic moment in Paul’s walk with Jesus. He knows that he will never see Ephesus again. He knows he will never gather with this group of disciples again. He knows in his heart that his own martyrdom now comes before him.

We really do not have a word in English for this feeling of knowing that we will never be in this place and time again. This sense or feeling defies words. So, in English we have instead the three dots at the end of a sentence, which means we do not know what happens next, but this part of life is finished. If you come to the end of a five-hundred page novel, and the last sentence ends with “dot, dot, dot”; well that is the feeling that Saint Paul is having now in the port of Miletus as he has called the leaders of the church to him.

Does everybody remember the crawling text at the beginning of the Star Wars movie series? “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. . . .”

I have been asked why I decided to write the book “We the West”--about what it means to be alive now in this time in Waimea. In the book, from chapter to chapter, I point out not really “the history” of Waimea, but rather just that in our hearts we mourn because we will never see the Menehune hiding in the trees again. We will never see the cane trucks running to the mill again. We will never eat a poke bowl from Ishihara again. The yellow shower trees planted by Kamehameha III are being chopped down. I could go on and on (dot, dot, dot). Make the most of today! Be in the moment. Gather with your loved ones. Carpe diem. Because. . . .(dot, dot, dot). We never know what comes next. The present is called the present because it is a gift from God.

The poem “A Farewell” by Willaim Wordsworth talks just about a “spot” that is so dear. . . .It is described as a “nook at sunset.” Of course the poem is about his coming to his own death. To be sure, every farewell in your life brings you closer to that final farewell when you breathe your last.

“Farewell, thou little Nook of mountain-ground,

Thou rocky corner in the lowest stair

Of that magnificent temple which doth bound

One side of our whole vale with grandeur rare;”

The people and places we love and remember now are just the first step on the stairway to God’s heavenly temple.

As we have followed the journeys of Paul, we have seen how he has always surrounded himself with good people. Most everywhere he stops, he seems to pick up more souls who then go on with him on his journeys. Now, something has happened. He has been run out of Ephesus. He has been run out of Thessalonica and Beroea. He has been in essence laughed out of Athens.

Our scripture states that Paul has felt the Spirit was moving him on towards martyrdom. In many ways he has already suffered as a martyr. He has been rejected so many times, and yet he has continued on with the mission to spread the Gospel. But at this time, we get the sense that he cannot take anyone with him where he has to go. He has to face what the Spirit has set before him alone.

We should recall that when Jesus was about to be arrested, he went to the Garden Gethsemane and prayed. He asked his disciples to stay close by, but they all fell asleep. Jesus found himself strangely alone with others around him. I think tht is what Paul must be feeling now too.

As Paul is meeting with the elders of the church in that town of Miletus he states that the leaders of the church must take care to watch over the flock. He is turning over the mantle of leadership to them. He will no longer be able to shepherd the church as he had before; therefore, they must now take on the role of shepherd for the new believers.

Aletha Kaohi points out in the movie that was played at the library that “a Kahu is one who takes care of the dirty work of the Alii (royalty). We really should not call pastors ‘kahu’ but rather Kahuhipa, the one who takes care of the flock.”

The idea of the faithful shepherd goes way back in the Bible. Perhaps the most famous reference is in Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. . . “ In the book about Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller, entitled A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. The author is a real shepherd. He discusses what it really means to shepherd a flock. According to him, it is a lonely, twenty-four hour a day, non-stop job. He notes that when the shepherd is there, the sheep behave. When the shepherd leaves, the sheep start butting heads with each other. Then, the wolves come and thin out the flock. Then, they overgraze and become weak. Then, they are not smart enough to move to greener pastures.

We are sheep. That is the truth. I am not trying to fleece you (ha, ha). We have to know who our master is. The Lord is our shepherd. The lord is our master. There is a wonderful calm and gentle power in recognizing that Jesus is Lord of your life.

When Paul tells the leadership of Ephesus to watch over the flock, this is again not just be Christian but rather being truly Christ-like. As a shepherd of the church, you must do the job of Jesus in watching out for other’s souls. As a church leader, it is not just about talking the talk, or even walking the walk; it is about flocking the flock!

In the Gospel of John we can hear Jesus himself telling Peter and the disciples three times over that that is their new calling in ministry. John 21:15 and on, “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘feed my lambs.’” Twice more Jesus asked this of Peter, telling him then to feed his lambs. To follow in the Way, to be truly Christ-like, one must do what Christ has commanded and feed the flock.

As Paul finishes talking with the elders, and before they kneel and pray together while weeping for Paul, Paul introduces one last idea. That is the idea of grace. Paul repeats Christ in verse 35 by stating again that it is more “blessed to give than to receive.”

To be truly Christ-like is to understand that everything in this world was given to you by God. We have not and could not have ever earned the right to even come into this world. We could never do enough while we are here to earn the right to spend eternity with God. Everything is contingent on our receiving grace, that which we did not earn, from God!

Somehow we acknowledge that in our lives, but then we do not apply it to our daily living. If we did, we would not be worried about rising gas prices. We would understand that God created the oil and gave us the gift of fire for internal combustion. It is not really ours so much as that which has been given by God. And so when the gas prices get to the point that only God can afford to drive anymore, then give that back to God! It was all God’s from the start.

Everything in this life is but by the grace of God. It was God who created first out nothingness. All we have had to do is to receive all of God’s blessings. Now, the greater call is to give. For unless we give the message of eternal salvation, others will not receive this gift. That is why when we follow Christ, we switch from thinking that it is better to receive to realizing that it is better to give. That is what Christ did for us. He gave his life that we may have eternal life.

As Paul heads on his life’s journey, thinking that he is going to meet the same end as Christ, he becomes ever more Christ-like in his personal ministry. So, we too should become in ours. Amen.