Acts 20:9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

Eutychus, whose name means “fortunate,” had the misfortune of falling out of a window and died. But he was fortunate to have the apostle Paul around to raise him up. Why did he fall out of the window? He was sitting too close to the window when he fell asleep. He fell asleep while Paul was preaching.

Eutychus didn’t mean to fall asleep; but he did. Whose fault is it that he fell asleep? Maybe, Paul was at fault; he preached too long. It was near midnight and he talked on and on. Hey, preachers, don’t preach too long.

Still, Eutychus should have kept awake. But then, I try to understand why he fell asleep.

It was midnight, anyone would be sleepy. I believed there were others who fell asleep too. The unfortunate thing was that Eutychus was sitting too close to the window and as he dozed off, he fell off the window. I’m sure he had tried to keep awake. We experienced it too in our lives. At times we were just too tired and couldn’t keep our eyes open.

Perhaps, he was too tired. He had a hard day at the farm. Yet, even though he was so tired, he tried to make it for worship. He didn’t want to miss a single worship service. This is faith; putting God first above our own comfort. One shouldn’t give excuse that he is tired and could not come for worship.

I like to commend those who make it for Thursday night bible class even though they have a hard day at the office. These brethren are tired but they want to listen to the word of God. Sometimes one or two may find it hard to keep awake, but they keep on. They know their presence mean a lot to the bible class teacher and to other brethren. They want to encourage the bible class teacher and the brethren by their presence. They know their attendance will only help to strengthen their own faith. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).   

But there is a sleep that is worse than physical sleep. It is called spiritual sleep. It is a spiritual condition that causes some to ‘fall asleep’ and to relax to the point where they can ‘switch off’ to their responsibilities of being Christian. On any Sunday, you can see people doing all kinds of things during worship. They ‘switch off’ their minds to worship and switch on their phones to do something else. They are on Facebook, What’s App, and even play games. They are asleep to the worship but awake to other things. God warns: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14).

If you see a man sleeping at the roadside and a car is reversing towards him, what would you do? You will try to wake up the sleepy person. You will warn him of the danger that is coming to him. Likewise, Eutychus would not have fallen off the window if the brother sitting next to him would just give him a nudge on the shoulder.  We are our brother’s keeper. We need to wake up a brother who is spiritually asleep (James 5:20).

Eutychus is a lesson for all of us. Indeed, I’m sure he probably came to that meeting very tired but still he wanted to be there to hear the Word of God. I’m sure he had tried to fight off that sleep. I’m glad it was just physical sleep he was suffering and not spiritual sleep.

Brethren, we need to work hard sometimes at staying awake, spiritually-speaking. If you are spiritually asleep, it’s time to wake up.

Jimmy Lau

Psa 119:97  Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.