by David Riley
After pushing his way through the slower swimmers advancing to shore, Demetrius was one of the first to arrive. He dragged himself up on the sand and rested for a few minutes. As the number of survivors arriving on the shore increased, he decided it was time to find a more private place where he could survey the crowd. He was wanting to find both Paul and Temeros. With any luck, maybe Paul drowned!
He stood and immediately found himself staggering in a circle trying to regain his balance. Someone nearby snickered as they watched and he glared at them as he steadied himself. He was able to make it to the tree line and leaned against one of the trees. Slowly his vertigo subsided and his stomach settled.
He saw a few soldiers circulating, evidently counting the people. They passed by him preoccupied with their chore, and once he was tallied, he moved along the trees until he was at the far end of the beach.
The water closest to him was cluttered with boards, planks, boxes, and other varied detritus of the ship. There were a few wooden boxes that had floated to the beach, and as he glanced at them, he was surprised to see the snake, his snake, slithering onto the sand. He hurried over and snatched it up, grabbing it carefully behind its head to avoid being bitten. Since he no longer had his silver dagger, the snake may come in handy when he tracked down Paul. Maybe it would provide a way of escape since it would be hard to blame a snakebite on him.
He saw a piece of cloth nearby and with his clumsy left hand smoothed it out on the sand. He held the snake down on it as he carefully folded the corners up to form a pouch and quickly grabbed them together securely. He picked this up and faded back into the trees to continue watching the survivors.
He saw the Centurion, Julius, and knew that he had been with Paul. He must have dragged Paul to shore with him. Finally he spotted him sitting on the sand surrounded by other survivors. There seemed to be a steady stream of people coming over to talk to him. Probably they all felt like he was some kind of hero for saying they would survive. Big deal! He could have said anything and they would have fawned all over him. Demetrius muttered and cursed under his breath as he glared at him.
One of the islanders walked by carrying a basket of bread and fruit.
“Hey, you!” Demetrius called out gruffly. “Bring me some of that! I’m starving! I’ve been waiting for you. It’s about time!”
The young man frowned briefly but walked over to offer him something. Demetrius roughly grabbed a handful of fruit and a piece of bread and turned away without a word of thanks. The man watched him go with a shake of his head before turning back to the other needy souls on the beach.
Demetrius settled down to sit at the base of tree where he could still keep an eye on the beach and the general location of Paul. Eventually there would be a chance.
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At Temeros’ revelation that his father was Paul’s attacker, Luke and Gaius were shocked.
“If he came all this way to attack Paul, he probably won’t give up now. We better find him! Let’s go see if anyone has seen him!” Luke suggested.
Gaius agreed. “I am feeling well enough to get up. I’ll help. If he’s walking around unguarded, he may still be causing trouble. We need to make sure Paul is safe and warn him.”
The three men made their way quickly up the beach where they saw Julius walking in their direction with a blanket.
“What’s going on?” he called out. “Are you sure you should be up walking around? You better eat something.” He held out a piece of fruit and a cup of water.
Gaius realized how famished he was as he took the food and ate it greedily. As he did so, Luke informed Julius of the need to find Paul’s attacker and of Temeros’ discovery that the man was his father.
Julius looked around. “I left Paul in the group right over there. I don’t see him now. We better check on him!”
The men picked their way through the scattered survivors to where Paul had been and asked those seated there where he was.
“He said he wanted to help and was going to gather some firewood. I think he went into the trees there at that pathway,” one of the prisoners said.
With a growing sense of concern, the men quickened their pace as they made their way to the path and plunged into the trees. There were several people on the path, their arms loaded with sticks and small branches as they were returning to the beach. The searchers scurried past them as they went deeper into the trees.
Soon they saw Paul up ahead in the distance. He was alone but appeared to be fine. They all breathed a sigh of relief and slowed their pace.
“You three go on to help him and I’ll head back to the beach to look for his attacker,” Julius said.
Gaius, Luke, and Temeros nodded assent as Julius turned back. As they walked more slowly toward Paul, another movement caught their attention off to the left. The trees obscured the view. Gaius told Luke and Temeros to go on and he would investigate. They heard him crashing through the underbrush as he searched.
As they approached the bend in the path where Paul was gathering sticks and brush, suddenly another figure appeared, rushing toward him with a guttural cry. Luke quickly jumped to Paul’s side, knocking the sticks from his arms as he barred the path. Temeros ran to intercept the attacker.
“Paul, you killed my wife and destroyed my life!” the man was shouting. “I have been waiting a long time to find you and make you pay!” He reached to his belt where a cloth pouch was hanging and jerked it free.
Temeros jumped in his direction, tackling him and knocking the bag to the ground. As Temeros was scrambling back to his feet, the man already had the bag and was hurrying to open it, but his clumsy left hand was slowing him down. Just as the bag opened, the man screamed out in pain, jerking back his left arm. Blood was beginning to drip from a gash on the side of his hand. Temeros reached him in time to see a snake slithering away.
“He had a snake!” he called out to Luke. “I think it bit him! What do I do?”
Luke rushed over. “Do you still have the knife?”
Temeros had almost forgotten but quickly pulled it from his belt.
“Cut across the fang marks and let the blood wash it out. It may be the only thing we can do!”
Demetrius looked up to see Temeros approaching with a small silver knife and immediately grabbed at it with his good right hand.
“Temeros! My son! What are you doing? Where have you been the past few years?” he cried out angrily. “I’m your father! How could you abandon me and join up with people like this! You should know better!”
Temeros tried to wrench his hand free of his father’s vise-like grip. “Let go! I need to do this or you may die!” he said with tears in his eyes.
But Demetrius would not yield. Within minutes the fire in his eyes began to fade and his breathing became ragged as his grip finally relaxed. By then, Luke and Temeros knew it was too late. The venom had already spread through his system.
Temeros wept as he knelt by his father. “Where have you been? Why did you attack us the night of the fire? I thought you were dead and I have been on my own for the past three years now.”
Demetrius looked at Temeros sadly. “I thought you had died too. I have been searching for this devil, Paul, to make him pay for what he did to us. I can’t believe you are here. Why are you with him?”
“These men saved me. I have learned the truth from them and I know that Jesus is the son of God. Let Paul pray for you and maybe God will still heal you,” Temeros pleaded.
At this, he scowled and drew back, crying out “Never! That man will never have a part in my life!” He shook his fist at Paul, and with a shuddering breath, he collapsed back to the ground, his breathing irregular and shallow. His left arm was now swollen up to twice its normal size and there was blood from his nose. Suddenly he convulsed and in a moment sagged back to the dirt path, limp and no longer breathing.
Temeros stared at him, tears running down his face. Luke approached and put an arm around his shoulders. Paul stood nearby as well.
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��I’m so sorry. There was nothing you could do,” Luke said. “You can only help someone if they are willing to be helped.”
Paul nodded. “It is the same with our spiritual life. God has provided everything as a free gift to us in Jesus, through his death and resurrection, but unless we accept that gift and admit our needs, we cannot be saved. We can only trust in the mercy and grace of our Lord to watch over his soul.”
Temeros nodded sadly. “I understand. He made his own choice.” He wiped his eyes on his tunic. “I never had a good relationship with him. The beatings and punishments and the attacks verbally and physically on my mother caused me to hate him. Now, I just pity him. I hoped he would change when he knew his life was ending.”
Gaius had arrived just in time to see Demetrius breathe his last. After a moment, he cleared his throat.
“Let’s go back to find Julius and report what happened. I’ll send someone to gather his body and we can discuss what to do.”
They stood and helped Paul gather the sticks that had been scattered. They walked slowly back down the path to the beach, supporting each other. They walked over to the nearest bonfire and stood there for a moment.
Paul began placing the armload of wood on the fire, and suddenly he cried out in pain, dropping the sticks. As he raised his arm, the same snake was hanging, having bitten him on the arm. It evidently had slithered to a hollow stick and Paul had gathered it up with the other firewood.
Luke and Temeros panicked, having just witnessed the deadly nature of the snake’s venomous bite, but Paul just shook his arm, actually smiling, and the snake fell into the fire. He wiped his arm on the tunic and the blood disappeared.
Luke rushed over to examine him. “Where is the bite? We need to cut it to get the venom out!” But there was no bite mark to be seen.
Paul chuckled softly. “Don’t worry. God has already told me I will stand before Caesar. You don’t think this serpent will be able to stand in the way of His plan, do you?”
The people that had witnessed this were staring openmouthed. Some of the islanders that were tending the fire were whispering to themselves that this must be one of the Roman prisoners. He seemed to always be guarded. Now, he was bitten by a snake so the gods must be punishing him for his crimes. They watched, waiting for him to fall into the fire or to at least scream in tortured pain.
But nothing happened! They watched him for the next few hours, expecting symptoms to start at any moment, but he seemed to have not suffered any ill effects. They had heard the rumors circulating among the soldiers of the man who had died from a bite from this very snake, succumbing within minutes. But this man was not affected at all! They began whispering that he must be a god and this word spread all the way to town.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The weather on Malta had been turbulent for the past two days as the storm made landfall. Storms were not uncommon at this time of year, but this storm was memorable. It came in suddenly with heavy downpours, strong winds, and a few hailstones. The villagers had huddled in their houses as the walls and roofs rattled. Then, as quickly as it had arrived, the storm departed, moving west out to sea.
The people emerged to the chaos left behind. There were branches down everywhere, and even a few taller trees uprooted. Thankfully the houses stood triumphant through the storm, a little worse for the wear but still standing. Anything that was not secured had blown about, and the children were assigned the task of gathering the scattered items. The rain continued but much gentler than the day before.
The islanders felt fortunate to have come through such a strong storm with minimal damage after a full day of strong winds and rain. Little did they know of the ship that had been carried along by the same storm for a full fourteen days with no way of escape.
There was a small town a short distance inland from the beach. The leader of the island, Publius, lived there with his elderly father as well as his daughter, Alexandra. His wife had died when she was a toddler, succumbing to dysentery as the accompanying fever spread through her system. The first several years after her death were difficult, but the townspeople rallied around him and supported him and his daughter, helping to raise her. As the years passed, she was beloved by all of the islanders, who considered her part of their families as well. Now, she was nineteen and was a great help to her father.
They lived in one of the nicer houses, suitable to his status as the chief man of the island. It was large enough for each of them to have their own room as well as an extra room for any visiting dignitaries from the mainland. Alexandra helped to manage the household, cooking and cleaning and mending for her father and grandfather.
Lately, her duties had expanded to caring for her ailing grandfather. He had come down with dysentery, suffering a lot of distress in his stomach and having trouble maintaining his nutrition. He seemed to be getting worse, and she and her father grew more concerned as each day passed without improvement. Publius did not say it, but he was well aware of the similarity of his symptoms to those his wife had suffered at the time of her death.
The day the storm broke, a few of the townspeople had gone to the beach and hurried back spreading word of a ship that had foundered on the sandbar at the entrance to the bay. They rallied several to gather blankets and food to share with the survivors and shuttled back and forth the half mile to the beach.
Alexandra was eager to go see the excitement, but her grandfather was particularly ill that day, beginning to spike a fever and looking flushed. She needed to stay by his side. Her father was busy meeting with the ruling counsel as they considered how to recover from the storm damage in addition to providing for the sudden influx of people that had washed up from the wreckage with nothing.
As the day wore on, some returned from the beach talking excitedly about one of the men that seemed to have some magic power. They told the story of a large poisonous snake that had somehow jumped out of the fire and bitten him on the arm. All expected him to fall to the ground with convulsions as he died an agonizing death, but he merely smiled as he dropped the snake back into the fire and watched it burn. They swore there was not any visible bite on his arm where the snake had fastened itself securely.
As more people took up this tale, word was passed along to Publius of this powerful visitor. The counsel urged him to invite the man and his traveling companions to the town so they could meet him. Although Publius knew that stories could get easily exaggerated, he wanted to appease the counsel, so he sent a messenger to find this man and bring him to the town.
Soon a small delegation arrived, led by a few of the townspeople. They were ushered into the house, and Publius was surprised to see two Roman soldiers, one of whom was a centurion, flanking the man Paul. He appeared to be a prisoner but Publius noticed the respect and deference the soldiers seemed to pay to him.
“Welcome!” he said, motioning for them to be seated. “I’m sure you must be starving after your ordeal. I’m anxious to hear all about it but first let’s get you something to eat.” He gave orders to his servants who were waiting at the door with trays of food. They quickly entered and served them plates of bread and fruit as well as hot stew.
Publius and the soldiers immediately began to eat, but Paul paused as he bowed his head in thanks to God. Publius noticed this and looked at his guests quizzically but said nothing. Soon, all were enjoying the meal. It was the first hot food Julius, Gaius, and Paul had had for many days, and they could not remember a meal that was more satisfying.
Soon, they were finished and the dishes were cleared away. Publius sat back and looked at his guests. “Now, please tell me about your journey!”
Julius, being the senior officer present, started the tale, providing the background and purpose of the trip but soon Paul joined in. His skill as an orator was unmistakable, and all of the men present were captivated by the tale. Even Julius and Gaius found themselves caught up in the story, though they knew what had happened.
When Paul shared his angelic vision and the mess
age from God, Publius began to chuckle assuming it was a joke. He was surprised to see that the soldiers did not show any evidence of disbelieving this implausible account. Their apparent belief and Paul’s conviction that this was true caused him to wonder.
“And so, most excellent Publius, here we are. We were saved just as God promised, none even injured in the evacuation from the ship. I praise God that He has once again proven Himself to be faithful to me as His servant. And we are truly grateful to you for your hospitality to us in our time of need.” Paul finished his report and sat down.
Publius looked at the soldiers as he considered what he had heard. “Centurion, do you agree with this summation? Is this true that you survived for fourteen days in one of the worst storms any of us have seen? And that you were saved by the hand of God?”
Julius looked down at his hands as he mulled this over. Clearing his throat he looked up and met Publius’ gaze. “I must admit I have not believed such things before, but I can tell you we were hopelessly lost, about to die, and Someone or Something intervened. Our ship should have long ago been swamped by the waves in the storm, and yet here we stand, alive to tell the tale. Having heard Paul’s teaching on the ship and his report that God spoke to him…” He paused, realizing what he had come to believe. “Yes, the God that Paul serves saved us.”
Gaius nodded in agreement. “I must agree. I was trapped in the hold of the ship alone, sure of my impending death, and I felt the hand of God as I was rescued.”
Paul bowed his head and briefly closed his eyes as he heard these men testify to God’s intervention.
Publius had a sober look on his face as he considered this. “And what about the snake? I heard you were bitten by a deadly snake and yet survived. The people who reported this to me claimed you have magic powers.”
Paul smiled at that as he shook his head. “No, your excellency. I have no power of my own. Only what God works in and through me. Yes, the snake bit me, and yes, it was a deadly snake. We had ample evidence of that just a few minutes before. But God, who made the earth and all that live on it, is greater than any snake. He chose to protect me. He has already promised I will go to Rome and stand before Caesar. If He promised it, there is nothing that will stop it from happening.”
