Burning the Midnight Oil
AM Psalm 87, 90 • PM Psalm 136
Hosea 1:1-2:1 • Acts 20:1-16 • Luke 4:38-44
When people see photos of where I went to college—Pepperdine University, in Malibu, CA—they often say, “If I’d gone to school there, I never would have studied!” The beautiful beaches certainly were distracting to some students. Not to me, though. Sadly, I studied all the time. By senior year, I pulled an all-nighter about once a week. I nodded off in class once or twice, not because I was bored, but because I’d been up all night writing a paper. I also drifted off once in slow-moving traffic between Los Angeles and San Diego. Fortunately, I snapped awake before anything tragic happened, but that moment was a wake-up call in more ways than one.
Our reading from the Acts of the Apostles includes some kindred spirits for my college self. The Christians in Troas decide to pull an all-nighter, because Paul, who has just spent a week with them, is going to leave the next morning. After sharing communion, Paul “continued speaking until midnight.” The narrator does a lovely job setting the scene, telling us that there were many lamps lit in the upstairs room where Paul was teaching. It sounds like the eager learners were imitating the wise bridesmaids in a parable of Jesus, keeping their lamps lit and staying awake as long as they could.
Not everyone could stay awake, though. A young man sitting on the windowsill was overpowered by deep sleep, “while Paul talked still longer.” Then, the slumbering man fell three stories to his (temporary) death. Paul went downstairs, fell upon this man, and brought him back to life. That probably would have been a good time to call it a night, but instead, Paul went back upstairs and kept on talking until dawn! The word translated as “converse” in the NRSV is related to “homily,” the word Episcopalians often use interchangeably with “sermon.” I find a bit of comfort thinking that even the apostle Paul himself put people to sleep with his homilies once in a while!
Staying up all night teaching and learning was Paul’s idea of a good time. At the end of this reading, we find out that Paul cuts Ephesus from his travel itinerary, because he wants to be in Jerusalem by Pentecost—the Greek term for the Jewish festival of Shavuot. The festival of Shavuot involves staying up all night to study Torah. (Today, it also involves eating cheesecake.) On his way to Jerusalem, Paul has built the stamina of early Christians so they can stay up all night studying, though staying up all night obviously can be hazardous. One should never sit on a windowsill or drive while drowsy! But, I’ll be thinking of Paul’s all-nighter at the Easter Vigil this year, grateful that we still have some room in our faith for staying up past midnight, crowded together with candles lit, thrilled by the possibilities of new life.
Written by Lora Walsh
Lora is passionate about discovering the literary qualities of the Bible, praying the Ignatian examen daily, and deepening our faith through dialogue with other religious traditions. She holds a PhD in Medieval Christianity.