This is a powerful and moving passage of Scripture, containing as it
does extraordinary examples of God's power (Acts 19:11), a heartbreaking
farewell (Acts 20:18-38), and yet another instance of Paul's inspiring
faith (Acts 20: 22-24). In many ways these two chapters are a microcosm
of much of the entire book of Acts.
Those aren't the only noteworthy features of this passage, however. Acts
20:35 is, to my knowledge, the only place in the entire Bible where we
find an agrapha, a quotation from Jesus' earthly ministry that does not
also appear in the canonical Gospels (indeed, this phrase is next quoted
in the First Epistle of Clement, which was written a couple decades
after Luke completed Acts). Not only is this a literary curiosity but it
also speaks to the importance of oral history in the growth and
expansion of the early church. The sayings and teachings of Jesus were
carefully preserved--without the benefit of a "paper trail--"so
effectively as to be instantly recognizable when those teachings were
finally written down.
As we head into the holiday season and its clamoring tornado of
messages, let us hold fast to "The words the Lord Jesus himself said:
'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (Acts 20:35).
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