The story of Paul’s shipwreck on Malta is quite incredible. It’s one of those stories that sounds exaggerated because so many bad things happened all at once, but the story is very much real. Paul was on a ship with hundreds of other men, some of which were other prisoners. There were bad winds and storms and Paul urged the centurion not to continue on or else there would be loss of life. The centurion instead listened to the pilot and owner of the ship and continued on. A very bad northeaster storm hit and they began dumping cargo and tying the ship together so it wouldn’t break apart.
Paul told them that they should have listened to him but also urged them to eat because they had been fourteen days without food. He also said that he had a vision from God that everyone would be safe and that they would land on an island. After striking a reef, the boat began to fall apart and they were about to kill the prisoners, but because the centurion wanted to save Paul he kept them from carrying out the plan. Had Paul not been likable and vocal about God’s plan, this would have turned out very differently.
The people of the island were unusually kind to them and Paul ended up healing the chief of the island’s father: “It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him” (Acts 28:8). After that, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases came and were healed by Paul. This story is a reminder that we need to be the hands and feet of Jesus wherever we go. In the most extreme and bizarre circumstances, Paul remained faithful to God and he blessed many people in the process!