Paul in Malta by Rev. Norman Langenbrunner

 
St Luke records in his Acts of the Apostles (28:3) that on his voyage to Rome, Paul, having escaped from shipwreck, found himself on the island of Malta. The natives of the place received him warmly, but concluded that Paul was being punished for a crime when a snake bit him as he sat around a campfire. They expected him to swell up and die, but when Paul showed no signs of poisoning the islanders began to think of Paul as a god. In the story in Acts, Luke implies that he himself was present on Malta. We can only speculate that this event inspired him to record these words of Jesus in his gospel account: “I have given you the power to tread upon serpents…and nothing will harm you” (Lk 10:19). Paul on several occasions faced death, but he believed himself kept safe by the power of Jesus Christ.