I have what feels like a terrible confession to make: I wish I loved the last 7 chapters of Acts. But this long section feels long-winded and repetitive. Mind you, there’s lots of action: riots, shipwreck, trials, threats, accusations, more trials, speeches, storms, mobs rising up, shouting, strutting government officials, landing on and then sailing from exotic islands in the Mediterranean.

Paul is something like the calm at the eye of the storm, pleading his court cases by asserting that he is after all a Roman citizen, and seizing the chance (while he has the floor) to reiterate his own conversion story, and the straight up Gospel about Jesus.

The story ends in Rome – where Paul’s life ended. I’ve traipsed around Rome trying to discern roughly where he lived and was under house arrest – and maybe where he died and where he’s buried. Much uncertainty. A first century prison on the edge of the Roman Forum – the Mamertine, recently reopened? A church nobody visits on the edge of the Jewish quarter – San Paolo alla Regola? The basement of an apartment building in Trastevere? And the Basilica of St. Paul “Outside the Walls”: is he really buried there?

There’s a lovely irony here. We might speak of Paul’s fourth and final missionary journey, with Rome (the epicenter of the empire) as his climactic destination. But he went there under arrest to be tried – almost as if God somehow co-opted the Roman legal and military machinery to get Paul where God wanted him to wind up!

I’ll leave it to you to read Acts 22-28. Really, there’s a lot of action and high drama! But this email will mark the end of my remarks to you on the Book of Acts – and in fact, on our year-long journey through Luke and Acts. And what a journey it has been. I’ve learned so much, as I hope you have.

If you have any perspective on these things, or any favorite moments, or any lingering questions (which we hope we all have!), please bless me by clicking reply and sharing. That would mean so much to me. As always, it’s a great privilege and joy to spend these moments with you. Thank you for reading – and more importantly, for caring about the things of God.