Malta 🇲🇹 The Necessary Place

It’s hard to describe Malta, but I’m calling it “the Necessary Place” because after visiting this island, I suddenly understand and see God’s fingers playing out through human history. I feel a little like the disciples on the road to Emaus who had their minds opened to understand the scriptures. In this case, my eyes were opened to understand Acts chapters 27 and 28. Malta is a mixed bag of carefully orchestrated weird coincidences that one cannot help but ponder what God is up to. 

I’ve had Malta on my bucket list since 2019. I had a flight scheduled to come here in March 2020 but COVID came, the shutdown happened, and my flight was canceled. Looking back now, I realize going now was the set time, and I wouldn’t have received what I received now had I gone back then. A carefully orchestrated coincidence? I don’t know. 

Malta first came to my attention while listening to a Steven Furtick Sermon back in 2019. The title of his sermon was “It had to happen”. The sermon was around the story of Paul’s shipwreck in the Bible. Acts 27:27 thru 28:12 tells the story of Paul’s shipwreck and his journey here. I remember Steven calling Malta “the Stuck place”. That place where you have done everything right but you are still suffering. That place where you didn’t expect “this” (whatever your painful “this” is) to happen to you. You can find his sermon on YouTube, I’m not going tell the sermon here. 

I became enthralled with the idea of being there physically, because I was already there spiritually and mentally. I had been sick for 3 months and after test upon test, the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with me. I had made great strides in weight loss and I was now living a healthy lifestyle. I didn’t understand why I was now stuck on a bed suffering. I had given up and told God, if this is your will then I’m ready to come home. I felt a deep sorrow for my kids – I didn’t want them to grow up without a mother, but I had given up. This was the Malta I was experiencing while listening to Steven Furtick’s message. It was a place that was devoid of God’s power and Kingdom, not because i was deviod of God’s power, but because i was ignorant of the magnitude of God’s power and kingdom. 

It wasn’t till I came here that I started to realize some of the quirky details buried in the story, and I’ll share a lot of those quirky details. It may feel sometimes that I’m trying to whip your mind with a lot of corrections so bear with me. 

Lately Paul’s words in 1 Cor 4:20 has echoed a lot in my mind – “For the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power”. However, I need words to describe and convey that power.

I’ll be pointing out the quirky curious details buried in his story just so I can point back to the weird coincidences we all face in life.

The tradition is that Luke the physician (also the author of Luke) was also a prisoner with Paul on this journey and wrote it all down. 

Luke writes that Paul while in prison in Israel, requested to face trial before Cesar in Rome because he was “also” a Roman citizen (I break here to insert a pet peeve). Saul WAS NOT renamed Paul. Saul had dual citizenship. His Hebrew name was Saul, and his Roman name was PAULOS. Jesus did not give him a new name, neither did he change his name. This common misconception of Saul being renamed Paul is because Luke calls him Saul in 7, 8 and onwards till chapter 13 where he reintroduces him as Paul. However Luke uses the Phrase “who was ALSO called” (Acts 13:9). “Also” indicates alongside, NOT replacement. The clarity on his name is neither here nor there, but I often make a point to emphasize this because we as a people – “the church (including the Pre-Nicene Church, Augustine and the rest of them)”, have wrestled with the concept of unity. We often Replace. Hence the gianormos problem of replacement theology. Historically we cannot see Saul Paul of Taurus who receives revelation. We see a Saul of Taurus who was REPLACED by a Paul after encountering Jesus, or we see Peter the apostle after Jesus, and we fail to see Simon Bar Jonah whom Jesus knew. 

I use the word ‘we’ in all of these remarks because even though I point out the flaw, I’m not separate from the body of Christ. The body of Christ is one, because Christ is one person. The church is the people and the institution. The institution is not independent of the people. The institution is the vehicle the people use for driving forward (or backwards). The vehicle does not drive itself. Except when it becomes fully automated by man-made religious dogma and rules. Then it drives the people to their peril. 

I know I’m veering off the topic of Malta and my trip here, but I’ll circle back after I make this last point I promise 😁. NAMES – names were a huge deal in ancient times. Actually names where a huge deal till it came to our generation and people started to give their children names that sounded cool and had no meaning. I’ll rephrase that. Names were a huge deal till America came into the picture 😒. 

Names were so important that Jesus gave his close disciples new names. God gave Jacob and Abram new names. It’s also why Moses changed Hosea’s name to Joshua (Yehoshua). However, there’s a difference in God’s change. It’s not replacement. It’s an exchange. God absorbs the old to himself and becomes the one that helps that person attain to the new name he’s given them. Simon Bar Jonah is not the Rock (Peter) outside of Jesus. Abram is not a Father of many nations (Abraham) by his own will or ability etc. Paul never replaced Saul. Jesus called him Shaul in Hebrew which means “Asked”. But Paul on the other hand comes from the Latin which means “stopped”. 

Now, we can look at Paul’s story and say well he was “stopped” in his tracks on his Damascus journey.. but again, the reality of his name is neither here nor there. It’s the fact of progressive revelation that’s important. Before he was “Known” as Paul the apostle, he was Shaul the Benjamite. Shaul the benjamite received revelation on who the Messiah truly was, and he was well equipped to complete the task of “apostle to the Nations”. You will see this part of his identity play out in how he tracks time.

Ok, I’m sorry for taking us around that mountain. Back to the story of Paul’s visit to Malta. 

Luke writes that while they journeyed to Rome for the trial they experienced terrible storm that left them drifting at sea for months. When they made it to a harbor called Fair Havens in Crete (Greece), Paul had suggested (maybe strongly demanded) that they spend the winter there and not try to travel any further under this perilous weather. However, the owner of the ship and the captain of the ship overruled his words. They were more concerned about their asset – the ship. The harbor was not situated in a spot that would protect the ship from the storm. They figured they could coast along the island and make it to Phoenix another harbor also on the Crete island which was a better location that offered protection for their asset (or source of income). I wonder how many times we make decisions because we want to preserve our Job or our source of income. I think of Jesus’s parable of the feast in Luke 14:16-24. Most of those who made excuses used their Job as the excuse. Well except for the guy who just got married and needed to spend time with his wife. 

When the captain of the ship and the entire crew of 270+ prisoners set off, Little did they know what was ahead of them. As soon as they set off they got hit by a grand master storm that made all they had suffered prior to that moment look like baby steps. This tornado even had a name. Its name was called The Northeaster. I read this at first and thought it was called the North Eater 😂

They soon lost all hope while drifting in that storm for months. When they lost hope they stopped eating and pretty much started waiting for death. It is at this point of the story when Paul observes that the feast of Yom Kippur is now over that he encourages them to eat, as he himself has been encouraged by the angel that visited him the night before. 

Sitting here in a hotel room in Malta, I began to wonder what months in a scary storm would have made him feel like. Earlier in the day, we had taken a boat ride on the Mediterranean to the neighboring island of Gozo, and although the weather wasn’t too bad, it was a frightening experience for me. I felt my stomach churn in and out and I had this awe  and fear of the strength and magnitude of the Mediterranean. Imagine Paul experiencing that stomach churning fear for months unending. It’s also at this point that I realize the Malta I thought I was experiencing while listening to Steven Furtick’s sermon wasn’t Malta. At that time of my life, I was experiencing the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is life being life, and if we must Journey from point A to point B, we must experience and know the Mediterranean. Imagine Peter and the other disciples being stuck on the Mediterranean. They would have died from the fear alone 😂. They didn’t even let Jesus sleep on the small lake of Galilee. 

When Paul encourages them to stop waiting for death and eat, he reprimands them for not listening to him, but then he also reintroduces himself and makes them aware that he belongs to “A GOD”. It is at this point he begins to show the POWER of his GOD. First is prophecy. He lets them know first you didn’t listen to me, but here’s what’s going to happen next. And what happens next, happens according to his words. But it’s clear Paul isn’t encouraged, and neither does he encourage anyone until he first receives his encouragement from God. He writes in 2 Cor 1:4 “who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”.

When they run aground according to Paul’s words, they land on Malta. The scripture says the “barbarians” here showed them much kindness. I realized after coming here that Luke wasn’t using that word loosely or coincidentally. Neither did that word mean what Steven Furtick had said it meant in his message. The word meant foreigner. It’s the people they met when they landed that were the foreigners on the land. They met Romans. You will understand when I tell you the brief history of Malta. When they make the fire, Luke writes that a snake slithered out and fastened itself to Paul but Paul shook it off. The fact about this part of the story is that there are 5 species of snakes native to Malta and non of them are poisonous. However, the Roman foreigner whom they met when they landed wouldn’t know this. They would have been used to seeing vipers in Rome and would expect to see Paul fall down and die. They were also used to a goddess of justice whom the Roman’s worshiped and they expected her to act, but what they suddenly got introduced to was a God who was far above their presumptions and superstitious beliefs. 

Quick history lesson. Malta isn’t just a small island that Paul randomly ran aground on. Malta has played a strategic role in all of the known human history. The first settlers on the island were farmers from Sicily who migrated there for better land and home for themselves. Then the Phoenicians (Queen Jezebel’s people) made it a strategic outpost and built their own cities and temples. Much of Phoenician culture and historical sites can still be explored. The whole story of sacrificing children to Molech which they taught the children of Israel was practiced here too. Interesting fact about the Phoenicians – it’s the Greeks who called them Phoenicians, they called themselves Canaanites. In their day they were the seafaring power of their time (it’s why king Ahab makes an alliance with them by marrying the princess Jezebel). 

Fast forward a few hundred years to Roman era, and the Romans also make this a strategic outpost and built their own city called Melita (Translated as Malta). It’s this city that Paul and the rest of the survivors are transported to. Here, Publius, a Roman with a Roman name, who was chief man of the island entertained them for 3 days and had his father healed – again a demonstration of the Power of the Kingdom of God. It’s interesting that at other points, Paul makes a point to correct the people when they think he is a god every time he performs a miracle, but Luke makes no documentation of Paul correcting them when the folks on Malta think he is a god. 

I think this place was necessary for Paul because he had to learn Roman culture from the Romans living here before making it to Rome. Paul spends 3 months here but there are no letters to the Maltese. Instead we have a giant letter to the Romans.

After Paul’s time and the Roman era comes to its end, the next power to occupy Malta are the Arabs. They renamed and rebuilt the Roman city of Melita into what’s known today as Rabat and Medina. Funny story – I went exploring Medina and got lost in this maze of a city. I didn’t enter the city with a map, so I didn’t know where I was, or where I was going. I asked a shop owner for directions to get out of the city. Pointing forward and to the right, she told me to just keep following the road and the road would show itself to me. I thought; what an awkward way to give directions, but her choice of words quickly reminded me of Jesus’s words “I am the way”. I followed the direction she pointed towards, but the road didn’t show itself to me like she said. Instead the road became more complex with turns I didn’t understand. I whipped out my phone to use Google map and like magic I was out of data. The GPS wouldn’t work 😳. I decided to ask for more directions. I asked a young man I saw coming from the direction ahead of me “is this the way out of the city?”. He responded with “yes, it can be. This is A way out”. He had a strong Nordic accent, and again, I thought; what an awkward answer. I kept walking and finally came to an exit gate. It’s at this gate I understood his response. The city was built with multiple exit gates. Not knowing where you are could take you to an exit that’s in the opposite direction of where you’re going. I quickly remembered why Jesus said I am “The way”, and I am “The door”. Just like Arab Medina, there are many roads (Religions), and many exit gates, but they don’t all lead to the same spot (The Father). Follow the wrong exit gate and you’ll be saying hello to an uber ride in hell fire where the uber driver won’t stop talking about things you have zero interest in hearing. True story 😂.

When the time of the Arabs is over, they are kicked out by the Normans, and then comes the crusades and great orders – the Franciscan, Augustinian etc… In 1291 when Acre (last stronghold of the knights Templar in Israel) fell, the Knights are kicked out of Israel, and the Knights of Saint John’s Order found themselves homeless. They stay for a short time in Cyprus, then settle on the island of Rhodes for 200 years until Sultan Suleiman of the Ottoman Empire  kicks them out of Rhodes. They then become homeless for 7 years until Emperor Charles of the Holy Roman Empire (the Roman Catholic church) offers them the Island of Malta as their new home. Much of Malta today is defined by the knights of St John’s Order. 

They fend off the ottomans, and Malta would play a major role in World War 1 and world war 2, but that’s another history lesson for another day 😊.