Book of Common Prayer

⁹ Quite a bit of time had now elapsed, and sailing was becoming dangerous. The Fast had already come and gone. Paul gave his advice.

¹⁰ “Men,” he said, “I can see we’re going to have trouble on this voyage. It’s going to be dangerous. We may well sustain heavy losses both to the cargo and to the ship, not to mention to human life.”

¹¹ But the centurion put his faith in the helmsman and the ship-owner rather than in what Paul had said. ¹² Unfortunately, the harbor was not suitable for wintering, so most people were in favor of going on from there to see if they could get to Phoenix, a Cretan harbor which faces both south-west and north-west. They would then be able to spend the winter there.

The storm and the angel

¹³ Well, a moderate southerly breeze sprang up, and they thought they had the result they wanted. So they lifted the anchor and sailed along, hugging the shore of Crete. ¹⁴ But before long a great typhoon—they call it “Eurakylon,” the Northeaster—swept down from Crete, ¹⁵ and the ship was caught up by it. Since the ship couldn’t turn and face into the wind, it had to give way and we were carried along.

¹⁶ When we came in behind an island called Cauda, we were just able to get the ship’s boat under control. ¹⁷ They pulled it up, and did what was necessary to undergird the ship. Then, because they were afraid that we would crash into the Syrtis sandbanks, they lowered the sea-anchor and allowed the ship to be driven along. ¹⁸ The storm was so severe that on the next day they began to throw cargo overboard, ¹⁹ and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard as well, with their own hands. ²⁰ We then went for a good many days without seeing either the sun or the stars, with a major storm raging. All hope of safety was finally abandoned.

²¹ We had gone without food a long time. Then Paul stood up in the middle of them all.

“It does seem to me, my good people,” he said, “that you should have taken my advice not to leave Crete. We could have managed without this damage and loss. ²² But now I want to tell you: take heart! No lives will be lost—only the ship. ²³ This last night, you see, an angel of the God to whom I belong, and whom I worship, stood beside me. ²⁴ ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul,’ he said. ‘You must appear before Caesar, and let me tell you this: God has granted you all your traveling companions.’ ²⁵ So take heart, my friends. I believe God, that it will be as he said to me. ²⁶ We must, however, be cast up on some island or other.”

Jesus is anointed at Bethany

14 Passover—the Feast of Unleavened Bread—was due in two days. The chief priests and the lawyers were plotting how to seize Jesus by a trick, and kill him.

² “We can’t do it at the feast,” they said. “The people might riot.”

³ Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon (known as “the Leper”). While he was at table, a woman came up with an alabaster pot containing extremely valuable ointment made of pure spikenard. She broke the pot and poured the ointment on Jesus’ head.

⁴ Some of the people there grumbled to one another.

“What’s the point of wasting the ointment?” they asked. ⁵ “That ointment could have been sold for three hundred dinars, and given to the poor.”

And they were angry with her.

⁶ “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why make trouble for her? She has done a wonderful thing for me. ⁷ You have the poor with you always; you can help them whenever you want to. But you won’t always have me.

⁸ “She has played her part. She has anointed my body for its burial, ahead of time. ⁹ I’m telling you the truth: wherever the message is announced in all the world, the story of what she has just done will be told. That will be her memorial.”

¹⁰ Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests, to arrange to hand Jesus over to them. ¹¹ They were delighted with his proposal, and made an agreement to pay him. And he began to look for a good moment to hand him over.