HE KNEELED DOWN, AND PRAYED WITH THEM ALL

This was how Paul brought to a conclusion his meeting with the elders of the church at Ephesus. He had sent a message to them from Miletus urging them to join him there, v. 17. When they arrived, he reminded them in moving terms about his ministry among them, vv. 18-21, 26-27, 31, 33-35. He unfolded to them his personal expectations of suffering and his willingness to face martyrdom for the sake of Christ, vv. 22-24. He told them that he would never meet them again, v. 25. He warned them about his fears for the future of the assembly, in particular, his certainty that false teachers would become active among them, drawn from their own number as well as from outside, vv. 29, 30.

That discourse must have solemnized the Ephesian elders. They felt most keenly his prediction ‘that they should see his face no more’, v. 38. They were reduced to tears, and fell on his neck and kissed him, v. 37. These are remarkable words, and surely refute the suggestion sometimes made that Paul was a hard and legal man and an authoritarian teacher. He had won the hearts of the Ephesians and cared about them intensely.

But where could Paul find comfort at a time like this? Our text supplies the answer, ‘He kneeled down, and prayed with them all’. To kneel helps us to remember our littleness in God’s sight, though other postures are acceptable to Him:

• ‘And when ye stand praying, forgive’, Mark 11. 25;
• ‘Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord’, 2 Sam. 7. 18;
• ‘And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed’, Matt. 26. 39.

Reverence is clearly possible irrespective of posture, though we should definitely shun being casual and careless in our approach to God.

Paul ‘prayed with them all’. This went beyond praying for them all, though the Apostle certainly did that. We might envy those elders the joy of hearing Paul’s prayers for them, but he wanted to hear their prayers for him. This was no one-man prayer meeting! The content of the prayers remains unknown, but we cannot doubt their earnestness.

We would do well to borrow more often the disciples’ cry: ‘Lord, teach us to pray’, Luke 11. 1.