NOTES for Act 27:1-26
The angel's simple words, "God has granted you all those sailing with you," again bring us to the ancient conviction that the world, or in this case the ship, is upheld by a few righteous people. Paul, whom God has destined to visit Rome, becomes the guarantee of salvation for several hundred people: his guards, merchants, and sailors.
Obviously, the voyage would have gone much more favorably if all the passengers of the ship had understood the special role of the prisoner they were taking to Rome. This voyage becomes, as it were, a model of the whole world and of individual communities: there are those on whom this world rests, like the one Righteous One for whose sake it was created and by whom it was saved, and there are those to whom the role of these righteous ones is not obvious. But, and here the great mystery of God's providence is hidden, they can perish or be saved only together, because they are sailing on one ship, living in one country, in one world, on one planet. So today's reading sets before us a twofold task: to hold on to those on whom the world depends, beginning with that One, the Only One, and ourselves, as far as possible, to be a ray of light in our own realm: at work, in the family, in the country, and so on.