Scripture Text (NRSV)
Acts 16:16-34
16:16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a
slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a
great deal of money by fortune-telling.
16:17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men
are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of
salvation."
16:18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much
annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of
Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour.
16:19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was
gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace
before the authorities.
16:20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said,
"These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews
16:21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as
Romans to adopt or observe."
16:22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had
them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with
rods.
16:23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them
into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.
16:24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost
cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns
to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
16:26 Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the
foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors
were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened.
16:27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open,
he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed
that the prisoners had escaped.
16:28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for
we are all here."
16:29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down
trembling before Paul and Silas.
16:30 Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?"
16:31 They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be
saved, you and your household."
16:32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in
his house.
16:33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their
wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.
16:34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them;
and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer
in God.
Comments:
The owners of a young woman who used her powers to tell fortunes threw
Paul and Silas into jail for "healing" her and consequently ruining
their business. God then used their imprisonment to bring the jailer
and his family to Christ.
In this passage, the gospel brings its followers into conflict with
economic and judicial systems. But the good news and God's purposes
will not be hindered.
1. In this passage, everyone is bound up: slave girl, owners,
magistrates, crowd, Paul and Silas, and jailer. Paul and Silas
experience a different kind of freedom in the midst of physical
bondage. 2. Paul and Silas see opportunities in the most unlikely
places (disasters: persecution, earthquake). 3. Paul and Silas are
Incorrigible Missionaries. They never go away (keep coming back to the
places of their former persecutions); they are joyful in the midst of
"challenges"; they won't leave even when the opportunity presents
itself; they don't conform to local customs.
You can beat on someone. You can sit on someone. You can put clothes
on someone. You can even psychologically project on someone. How can
you believe on someone?
Yoo-hoo! Calling all language scholars!!!
Sally
unrelated thought - thinking in soundbytes as usual.
Only the jailer believed ON the Lord Jesus. (you can spill something
on someone, too, come to think of it, or rub lotion on someone) The
rest of his household rejoiced that the jailer had become a believer.
Is one to presume everyone else believed? I'm inclined to think "no."
This would have been a patriarchal society and the head of household
set the agenda. So it's interesting that they'd rejoiced. They must
have known something about Jesus' life-changing power.
In other words, they must have had some hope that their household
would "go Christian." I doubt they were powerless nincompoops. Maybe
they'd talked to the jailer about Jesus - the jailer seems to know
that there is something about salvation and Paul and Silas (well-known
Christians) held some sort of key.
Pondering out loud ....
Oh, and you can "lean on' someone...
Sally
It takes a slave to recognize a slave! The girl recognizes that these
men are slaves!
A slave's gift does not benefit her. It benefits her owners.
"Owners" do not want any healing. Healing = Loss of Profit.
Who does not want you well? Who is benefiting from your anger, lack of
forgivenss, racism, sexism, addiction?
Storyteller
My "prop" this Sunday will likely be my own billfold.
"Religion" is all well and good, at least until it starts affecting my
pocketbook. In this pericope, it's only after the new religion affects
the slave girl's owners' bank account that they have Paul & Silas
arrested.
Following Jesus is going to affect our pocketbook, too, I believe.
What are the economic consequences of following Jesus?
Lawyer John
storyteller: thanks for the thought-provokers. I was just pondering
what the "story" might be about.
1) a freed exploited slave girl?
2) the slave girl's owners' greed?
3) Paul & Silas' compassion for her?
4) The authorities' hostility & brutality for Paul and Silas?
4 1/2) Their miraculous prison-break?
5) The jailer's conversion?
6) His household's conversion?
I'm trying to pull it into a more cogent concept and yet there seem to
be many: compassion & justice for the exploited, God freeing those who
work for him, and the response of conversion when seeing God's works.
Sally in GA
Sally in GA, I won't claim to be a language scholar but my instructor
in a Course of Study class this past weekend commented that the use of
the English verb "believe" in much of the New Testament is a result of
the fact that there is no English verb form of the noun "faith" as
there is in Greek. So what would it mean to "faith on the Lord Jesus
Christ?" Mike in Soddy Daisy, TN
It's not too hard to imagine something like this happening in our
time! What if a television psychic spoke with a Christian and became
convinced that that way of making a living was unethical, and refused
to do it anymore? The producers or sponsors of the show could
conceivably sue the Christian for having adversely impacted their
product. (I'll leave it to Lawyer John to figure out the appropriate
charge that would be levelled...)
LF
From the John Wesley Commentary:
Secured their feet in the stocks - These were probably those large
pieces of wood, in use among the Romans, which not only loaded the
legs of the prisoner, but also kept them extended in a very painful
manner. 25 Paul and Silas sung a hymn to God - Notwithstanding
weariness, hunger stripes, and blood. And the prisoners heard - A song
to which they were not accustomed.
They sang praises in the midst of misunderstanding that turned
brutal...
I must confess that songs of praise are not the first things that come
to mind when I see the tapes of the Iraqi prisoners and the Berg
murder.
Sally in GA
Sally in GA...
I'm not claiming to know all there is about the Greek language, but I
can tell you this: the word translated as 'on' is the Greek word 'epi'
(pronounced epee, like peppy). When used with an accusative (a direct
object) it can take on the following meanings: on, upon, in, against,
over, to, for, around, about, concerning, towards, and on rare
ocassions, among. As you can see, it's a mixed bag of possibilities.
In context then the phrase 'epi ton kurion Iasoun' could mean a
variety of things. Don't you just love Greek?
RB in PA
Thanks, Mike in Soddy Daisy (love the name of that town) and RB in PA!
That's helpful.
It's just that it's curious that the translaters would say "on" in v.
31 and "in" in v. 34. I can't shake the nagging feeling that there's a
subtle difference in the meanings within the context of those
sentences.
Sally
The slave girl is troubling me. Paul doesn't seem to be motivated by
compassion for her as much as by his great annoyance. He expels the
spirit to get rid of a nuisance, but then what happens? Her livelihood
depended on her fortune telling. Where does she go from here? How does
she live? She just seems to disappear from the story.
Leanne in AL
Leanne, I've been reflecting on that part of the text, too. I have
difficulty reconciling Paul's angry prayer "at" someone, rather than
praying "for" someone. There's a big difference! I secretly hope that
Paul was annoyed by the girl's captivity, and prayed for her to be
freed, and she was.
But even if Paul was praying "at" her, out of the least admirable of
reasons (he found her annoying), God could turn it for the good.
I have this image of a 1950's B-movie poster of Paul and Silas,
bloodied and free to escape their prison. If it really were a B-movie
plot, or even a modern action movie plot (e.g. Die Hard) they would
promptly take revenge on all the unjust people and systems that had
done 'em wrong. What happens instead: home, healing, baptism, food!!
That's how God wants the plot of this movie to go! Not the same old
crappy systems of commodification and violence - not the grinding and
deadening reality of The Way Things Are. God's storyline turns away
from all that, toward home, healing, baptism and food. I love it.
LF
LF - this is really a prepositionally challenging text, isn't it???
Praying AT someone, Believing ON someone ...
;-)
Sally in GA
Just a thought, but last week I compared Lydia to the slave girl. One
free, one bond, one listens, the other speaks although annoying, One
wealthy working (selling purple) the other working for survival
unscrupulous employers. For both Paul was looking for a plaec to pray.
Paul responds to the needs of both for freedom.
Gen
I like the aspect of singing in prison as an image of people we know
who have a remarkable, faithful spirit amid troubles and woes - death,
illness, hardship. They are examples for us. Maybe we are often like
the jailer, secure in our jobs and lives without much need for
"saving" intil something big shakes us up - "earthquakes" in life can
rattle our sense being safe, secure, "having it made." Then, like the
jailer, we may go from despair to the freedom of new life through
accepting GOd's grace. May we always have Pauls and Silases to show us
the way with songs of faith and hope. As for the slave girl, Paul was
not annoyed with her, he was commanding the annoying spirit in her to
leave her - whe too was set free. I would be interested in a
translation of the term "troubled" - does it mean was Paul angry,
worried, or concerned/ compassionate? Jim in CT.
Thanks, Jim in CT - that's pretty much where I'm headed, too.
I like Wesley's comment "they (the jailers) heard a song of which they
were not accustomed."
What songs are we not accustomed to?
I'm still trying to get used to country gospel (yeah, around here
them's fightin' words), rap, country music in general, metal ... I
enjoy R & B, some pop (especially if it's from the 70's and I know all
the words), opera, and classical.
But those aren't the SONGS I'm not accustomed to; they're the musical
GENRES I'm not accustomed to. How do we determine, for the sake of the
gospel, what songs others aren't accustomed to? And can we do them
while shackled?
I don't like the "I'm going to Heaven nyah, nyah, nyah, NYAH, nyah!"
songs. Yet those very songs have a meaning that some find profound and
life-saving and I just don't see it. Yet, if someone sang one while I
was jailing them, it would carry a very different meaning.
Context, if not everything, is nonetheless an important factor.
I wonder ... how can we HEAR a song to which we're not accustomed? In
our context, it's the song of a hundred or so new neighbors about to
move into our area this Summer - and neighbors who are younger and of
a different skin shade than our congregation. Can we hear their song,
and not insist on persisting in our own song?
their song ... moving is stressful, sending your kids to a new school
is stressful, being African American and going to a caucasian church
is stressful, DWB is stressful (driving while Black), taking on a
mortgage is stressful ... can we hear their unfamiliar-to-us song and
let it transform us?
I get the NYTimes headlines and I followed the link to a Simon Cowell
interview this morning. He said, "sometimes the song just washes right
over you." Unfortunately, he wasn't referring to the contestants'
usual offerings.
If we rigidly insist that ours is the CORRECT song, then we'll never
hear another's. That's just sad.
Maybe I'll give "When We All Get to Heaven" another chance. :-)
Sally in GA
"How Can I Keep From Singing?" When Paul and Silas were singing in the
darkness in the prison, they were truly free. The magistrates and
jailer could take nothing from them that they weren't prepared to give
away freely. Jail could not take away their faith, dignity and hope.
The threats of captors, to deprive them of liberty and hurt them,
could not break their faith. (How indeed do we read this and not think
of the pictures from Abu Ghraib prison?)
Fr. Maximilian Kolbe was imprisoned in Auschwitz. There was a prison
break, and a man escaped. The Nazi jailers selected ten men to die for
the one that escaped. One of the ten begged not to die, because he had
a wife and family. Fr. Kolbe stepped forward and offered to take the
man's place.
To me, that is a demonstration of true freedom, especially from the
primal fear of death. In our culture, freedom is often reduced to the
option of choosing between consumer products, or choosing between
political parties that are more alike than dissimilar. Big whoop. True
freedom is the freedom of Fr. Kolbe and Paul and Silas, the freedom to
trust in Christ and live with and in him.
So we sing in the night. Meanwhile, as if to show us that imprisonment
and injustice is temporary, God shakes the foundations and brings us
to a place of hospitality, healing and worship. Paul and Silas went
back to the prison, but they went with "the foretaste of the feast to
come" still in their mouths.
LF
I wonder what Paul and Silas would be singing in prison. If it was me,
I'd be singing the blues. when you're in prison, maybe you've 'got a
right to sing the blues'. I don't know if Janis Joplin is considered a
'blues singer', but she certainly sang about trouble like it was real.
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose". Music helps me
add another dimension of expression to the words I use. If I was in
prison, and praying to God about my trouble, it would probably sound
like the blues. I wonder if God likes to listen to the blues??? Hoping
that others have thoughts about 'singing the blues'. Connie in Sask.
Having just spent last weekend on an Epiphany with 30 wonderful
teenage girls incarcerated in a Texas Youth Commission facility, I can
tell you that some of the most glorious singing I have ever heard is
by those who are in prison on the outside, but free on the inside.
Paul and Silas singing is a sign of the freedom which they enjoyed in
Christ Jesus.
Wow! What a wonderful coincidence to find that the lectionary reading
for my first week back from the prison is this reading.
Gary in TX
Connie in Sask I will tell you that the girls on the Epiphany liked to
sing "I Can Only Imagine" and "Shout to the Lord." They also enjoyed
"Lean on Me."
I'm preaching on Lessons Learned in Prison.
Here are some thoughts from my experience last weekend.
?Singing can be exceptionally good in prison.
You don’t have to be incarcerated to be in prison.
Sometimes people have to go to prison to get out of prison.
Gary in TX
Or is it a parallel with resurrection? Paul and Silas as good as dead
in the inner dungeon. The jailer's job not much better, and add an
earthquake for good measure. The jailer about to suicide rather than
face the consequences of allowing the prisoners to escape. Everyone is
baptised - die with Christ, raised to new life. Or am I drawing a
really long bow here?
unsigned: that's kind of a long bow, but it could work as a metaphor
for how the resurrection transforms our lives with life anew.
I like the talk about singing in prisons - and I can't help but think
of Johnny Cash. He had a way of singing about the hard life, and he
used that singing to return a bit of freedom to currently-incarcerated
individuals. The inmates could relate.
I'm thinking about spiritual freedom - the girl was set free from the
spirit and her owners; Paul and Silas were freed from prison because
they'd already been set free by Christ, and the jailer was set free
with new life in Christ.
As LF observed, "how could we NOT sing?"
Which brings me to a little example from my church:
We're in the middle of merging with another church (their congregation
is merging with ours into our building). They're somewhat different
from us and that was shown last Sunday, when we had a joint worship
service. The "new" church has a group of musicians whose songs have
brought me to tears a few times and I invited them to play 3 songs
during that worship. They play Southern gospel and, as I said earlier,
that's not my preferred genre.
However, I was again moved to tears by one of the songs. The man who
wrote it sang it and it was his testimony and it mentioned how he'd
had a hard life singing in bars before, but now sang for the Lord, all
thanks to this church whose people didn't care what he wore, or what
he looked like. You can't NOT sing - what's moving isn't hte genre,
but the content.
Last night, at Bible study, I was informed that "some people" didn't
like it because it's too different but that it'd probably be ok
because it wouldn't be every week. All I could think of to say was,
"Oh, I hope they DO play every week."
Talk about a preacher feeling deflated!
Sally in GA
There's a movie, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."
I never watched it, but it's a catchy title. Has anyone ever seen it?
Sally
Sally,
Perhaps you don't need the internal pressure a balloon but the freedom
of wings. With wings, the comments of the earth bound can be left
behind.
The wind is beneath your wings.
All that hot air just to say, don't let them burst your bubble.
Tbowen, Rome - G
Connie in Sask;
Most blues singers will tell you that the blues is actually a
celebration of life. Expressing such strong emotion is one way those
who are oppressed find a sense of freedom. Yes, there is a lot of "my
man or my woman done me wrong" but if you listen to these lyrics you
will find out something about strength. About a year ago, I heard
Dallas Holms sing "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" as a blues song. It
was amazing! If you are familiar with the tradition of music in the
African-American church, which uses a lot of blues forms and styles,
that somehow seems appropriate. And yes, Janis Joplin was a blues
singer ( as was Johny Cash)- I like her version of Kris
Krsitofferson's "me and Bobby McGee" much more than any of the others
Sally- haven't seen the movie, but I believe that "I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings" is a poem by Maya Angelou (It may be the title of
one of her books of poetry). If I can find it, I'll post it here (and
I have a feeling that it will end up in my sermon somewhere :-)
revgilmer in texarkana
Found It! (ain't the web just wonderful!)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till
the current ends and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares
to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his
bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens
his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed
for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft
through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
lawn and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a
nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he
opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed
for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
Maya Angelou
Revgilmer in texarkana
Has anyone noticed that the reason the slave girls owners are upset
with Paul and Silas (lost money) is not the reason the give to the
authorities (They are Jews). Have we ever done this or known someone
to do this? The reason we are upset with another is not the reason we
tell them. Therefore, we keep being upset even when someone fixes what
we told them was the matter.
MM in OH
Here's something I just noticed. Paul and Silas, the heroes of the
faith, are singing and praying and decline to escape when the prison
is shaken. That is understandable. But what I do wonder is why the
other prisoners, who had been listening to them, and presumeably are
not in the heroes-of-the-faith crowd, don't escape. Had they been so
profoundly affected by Paul's and Silas' witness that they had the
strength to stay put? Why wouldn't they have left? Does that strike
anybody as odd? Like the slave girl, when their contribution to Paul's
and Silas' story ends, they just quietly disappear. JE in NE
MM: Will Willimon in his Interpretation commentary on Acts has quite a
biting commentary on the accusations given by the slaveowners. What
follows is my paraphrase.
Note that the slaveowners don't tell the truth: that these men
"negatively impacted our projected earnings" in business jargon. Their
accusations against Paul and Silas are: they are disturbing the peace
(and who likes a troublemaker? everyone wants to live in a peaceable
country). More than that, they are troublemaking foreigners with a
different religion. (hmmm - we should teach them a lesson, then send
them back to where they came from)More than that, they are
troublemaking foreigners who are trying to change our sacred
traditions, heritage, way of life. (How dare they? Let's get 'em!)
No wonder the crowd eats it up and joins in. These appeals to
patriotism, racism, and xenophobia would be equally effective today.
Manipulating the public with simple emotions to disguise economic
policy for the gain of a few is a time-worn favourite. But maybe I'm
just bitter and cynical because I'm not an investor in Halliburton or
Bechtel. At least Acts shows us how old this strategy is.
LF
Interesting poem, I know why the caged bird sings. I saw the movie and
read the book of Maya Angelo's life story. She was left by her parents
to live with her grandmother in Arkansaw. When she moved back with her
mother as a pre-teen she was raped by her mother's boyfriend. When she
told her family what the man did to her, her uncles "handled it" And
the man mysteriously turned up dead. She felt the guilt of indirectly
causing a man's death, so she vowed she would never speak again. For
several years she did not open her mouth. Imagine the heart of a poet
who dared to speak. A teacher noticed her love for books, and so she
say under a tree one day and encouraged Maya to read the words of the
book aloud. She began to call out the words of the book and that
brought her back from her death of silence. Maya Angelo is in her
seventies now, and has written poems that are beautiful, such as
Phenominal woman. She has read her work at the white house. Thank God
this African American giant did not stay locked in her inner most cell
from abuse, but sang her way out through words. Gen
JE in NE - I've always wondered that myself. Perhaps the jail was
otherwise empty, or the innermost part was somehow isolated???
One time some friends and I were in a fender bender in the snow. The
other driver drove off and while we were filling out the report, the
cop invited us to sit in his car to keep warm. We noticed there were
no handles on the inside and one of my friends said, "I always
wondered why the criminials didn't just jump out!"
Sally
LF - true; we don't like troublemakers, but those are the ones whose
song is often the most profound, coming from our innermost
sanctums/cells (notice the intentional pun). It's from the fiber of
our beings.
The freedom we most seek isn't from restrictions, but towards liberty
- the fulfilling of our purpose in life (just to tie in to the
Purpose-Driven life study we're doing). We're most free when we're
fulfilling God's purpose in life, when we're looking up rather than
looking around. The stuff that's around us is mere distraction.
I'm not exactly a Rick Warren fan, but I've always liked his ability
to cut through the distractions.
What holds us hostage? For me, it's often the baggage I still keep
carrying around - from my upbringing, to baggage from my 1st
appointment. I won't be truly free until old stuff quits making me
anxious. - and, Tbowen, as you said, my bubble will be less likely to
be burst.
Sally in GA
Tbowen - it's good to hear another NGa-er on this site. I looked you
up in the face book to see who you were. See you at Conference!
Revgilmer - thank you for the text of hte poem.
I think I'll be incorporating it somewhere, too. Did the verses come
out correctly? Of course, I guess I could Google it, too.
Sally
Sally, I don't think am in the face book. I do hope we can say houdy.
Can you email me who/where you are? pastortom@roman.net
Perhaps we know someone in common.
Tbowen - Rome, Ga
What about a children's sermon for this text? Any ideas?
Beth in FLA
I'm wondering what it would be like if the power of God (earthquake
here) really shook the foundations of the prisons, unfastened all the
chaines, and broke open all the doors, leaving us all to begin again
on equal footing? If we could all just sit there together in that
liberated rubble and wonder what to do next "what must I do to be
saved?" Then discovering that we all were mysteriously children of the
same God, we might rejoice. Saturday night thinker.
Back to the preposition issue: I ran across this on "stories for
preachers and teachers" that my predecessor has installed on the
office computer. Neat little analogy, really, and thought anyone who's
desperate enough to be checking here at 5:00 (EST) PM on a Saturday
might be able to use it! :-)
I'm combining this with Acts 1:1-11. "Why are you standing there
looking up?" - well, if you must know, it's because looking around
depresses me!!! I know where my help is from .. and I know where my
eternal home is ... what I forget is not that God is "up" there, but
that God is down here with us - and offers us this help, home, hope
... blah blah blah ... every day.
And unpacking the bags (oh, that's just soooo 80's) and trusting God
frees us to live for him. yada yada yada ... that's what liberty is
believing ON him - laying down on him (see following). - is looking,
not necessarily physically UP, but looking to someone much greater
than anything we conceive of on earth - including resurrection power.
don't you sometimes feel like you're preaching blabbety blah blah
blah????
Sally in GA
