Acts 28:1-6: a reflection

1When we had escaped, then they learned that the island was called Malta. 2The natives showed us uncommon kindness; for they kindled a fire and received us all, because of the present rain and because of the cold. 3But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet Justice has not allowed to live.” 5However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed. 6But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

Shipwrecked on Malta, Paul is gathering wood for a fire when a viper, driven out by the heat, fastens on his hand. The islanders, seeing this, at once conclude that Paul must be a murderer: he escaped the sea, but Justice has not let him live. But when Paul shakes off the snake and suffers no harm, they swing to the opposite conclusion, deciding he must be a god. In both cases, they read a snap judgment about Paul from his circumstances, and in both cases they were wrong.

Notice how quickly, and how wrongly, the islanders judged Paul from his circumstances. When misfortune struck him, they assumed it proved his guilt: surely a snakebite meant he was a murderer being punished. And when the misfortune passed, they swung to the opposite extreme, deciding he was a god. Both judgments were snap conclusions drawn from his circumstances, and both were wrong. They assumed that misfortune proved guilt, and then that deliverance proved divinity, reading too much into what happened to him.

That tendency, to judge people by their circumstances, especially to assume that misfortune proves guilt, is one we share and should guard against. We can look at someone struck by misfortune and assume, like Job's friends and these islanders, that they must have done something to deserve it; or read too much into others' circumstances, drawing snap conclusions about them. But misfortune does not prove guilt, and circumstances are a poor basis for judging a person. Do not assume that those who suffer misfortune must deserve it, or draw hasty conclusions about people from their circumstances. The islanders were wrong in both their snap judgments; guard against the same error, of reading guilt into misfortune or drawing conclusions about people from what happens to them. Suffering does not prove guilt; do not judge others by their circumstances, as the islanders wrongly judged Paul.

Lord, shipwrecked on Malta, Paul was bitten by a viper, and the islanders at once concluded he must be a murderer being punished by Justice; but when he was unharmed, they swung to the opposite conclusion, that he was a god. Both were snap judgments from his circumstances, and both were wrong. Show me that tendency, to judge people by their circumstances, especially to assume that misfortune proves guilt, which I share and should guard against. I can look at someone struck by misfortune and assume, like these islanders, that they must have done something to deserve it; or read too much into others' circumstances, drawing snap conclusions about them. But misfortune does not prove guilt, and circumstances are a poor basis for judging a person. Keep me from assuming that those who suffer misfortune must deserve it, or drawing hasty conclusions about people from their circumstances. The islanders were wrong in both their snap judgments; guard me against the same error, of reading guilt into misfortune or drawing conclusions about people from what happens to them. Suffering does not prove guilt; help me not judge others by their circumstances, Lord, as the islanders wrongly judged Paul.