Chapter 19 - Death by Long Sermon

Acts 19 includes one of the more interesting, maybe troubling, but somewhat quirky stories in the Bible. Verses 1-6 contain again a list of names and places. We see once again that the missionary journeys of Paul and others were largely unplanned and lacked a clear “strategy”. As a theological professor I heard recently said, “It seems often that the Holy Spirit is an enemy of management and order”.  
In verse 7 something else strange happens. The account ends with a miracle, but the occasion for the miracle, the incident itself is questionable in terms of mission. 
Paul is preaching in an upper room at night and he “speaks until midnight” as he has a plan to leave the next day. He wants to get everything said that he feels needs to be said before he departs the area. Apparently his speaking was less than enthralling. The 8th and 9th verses say, “And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.” 
Many many times, in my time as I preacher, I have had people fall asleep during sermons. I have never, to my knowledge, had anyone die from the boredom. Paul and others run down to where Eutychus has landed and apparently died and Paul says to the others that “life is in him”. It is not entirely clear from the text, the original language, whether Eutychus actually was dead. Still. It’s a strange story to tell and a strange miracle if it is a miracle. It’s also a comfort that some people found even Paul to be quite boring.