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.