Tharséō: Courage Given by Presence
What is your favourite verse I am often asked. Goodness! It's like choosing your favourite vital organ. Truth is, we need them all. But there is one that moves me for a particular reason; the love of the brotherhood.
In 2009, I was travelling home from Rome, a city layered with history and ancient stories. As the car moved toward the airport, a roadside sign caught my attention: Via Appia—the Appian Way. In that instant, my thoughts leapt back nearly two thousand years to the biblical account of the Apostle Paul.
In A.D. 58, Paul had travelled that very road—not as a visitor or pilgrim, but as a prisoner, escorted by armed guards on his way to stand trial in Rome. I imagined him walking along those stones, weary, uncertain, and facing an unknown future.
Yet something extraordinary happened on that journey. Word of Paul’s arrival reached the Christian community in Rome, and they chose not to remain at a distance. Luke, Paul’s companion, records the moment:
“The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they travelled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us.”
These were not nearby landmarks. The Forum of Appius lay sixty-four kilometres from Rome—a grimy stopping place the poet Horace once described as crawling with frogs, gnats, and dishonest innkeepers. The Three Taverns, only slightly closer, stood fifty-eight kilometres from the city. And yet the believers walked. Step after step, mile after mile, they came—not to change Paul’s circumstances, but to offer him their presence.
They came because they loved him. They came because he needed them.
When Paul saw them, Scripture tells us he “thanked God and took courage.” The Greek word used for “courage,” tharséō, carries a gentle and intimate meaning: to be strengthened from within, to be emboldened in a way that quiets fear and steadies the soul. Scripture does not say, but I imagine Paul giving way to tears as I did when I pondered on it.
This scene has always moved me—not because of its historical detail or geography, but because of the depth of love it reveals. It raises a searching question for every generation: how far are we willing to walk to encourage someone who is struggling? How much inconvenience would we endure simply to stand beside a fellow believer in their hour of trial?
I can’t help but wonder—how many would walk that road today? How many would take those same steps, driven by love and faith, just to give a weary soul the courage to keep going?
Acts 28