A reading from Acts (16:15-40).
15When
Lydia and her household were
baptized,
she
urged us, saying,
“If
you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord,
come
and stay at my home.”
And
she prevailed upon us.
16One
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.
17While
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.”
18She
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.
19But
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.
20When
they had brought them before the magistrates, they said,
“These
men are disturbing our city;
they
are Jewish
21and
are advocating customs that are not lawful for us
as
Romans to adopt or observe.”
22The
crowd joined in attacking them,
and
the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing
and
ordered them to be beaten with rods.
23After
they had given them a severe flogging,
they
threw them into prison
and
ordered the jailer to keep them securely.
24Following
these instructions,
he
put them in the innermost cell
and
fastened their feet in the stocks.
25About
midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,
and
the prisoners were listening to them.
26Suddenly
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.
27When
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.
28But
Paul shouted in a loud voice,
“Do not harm yourself,
for
we are all here.”
29The
jailer called for lights,
and
rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
30Then
he brought them outside and said,
“Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?”
31They
answered,
“Believe
on the Lord Jesus,
and
you will be saved,
you
and your household.”
32Paul
and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him
and
to all who were in his house.
33At
the same hour of the night he took them
and
washed their wounds;
then
he and his entire family were baptized without delay.
34He
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.
35When
morning came,
the
magistrates sent the police, saying,
“Let
those men go.”
36And
the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying,
“The
magistrates sent word to let you go;
therefore
come out now and go in peace.”
37But
Paul replied,
“They
have beaten us in public,
uncondemned,
men who are Roman citizens,
and
have thrown us into prison;
and
now are they going to discharge us in secret?
Certainly
not!
Let
them come and take us out themselves.”
38The
police reported these words to the magistrates,
and
they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens;
39so
they came and apologized to them.
And
they took them out and asked them to leave the city.
40After
leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home;
and
when they had seen
and
encouraged the brothers and sisters there,
they
departed.
Word of God, word of life.
I also allude to Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21.
-----
In
today’s reading from Acts, we pick up where last week’s reading left off. Lydia, the first convert to
Christianity in Europe, has responded out of her newfound faith, with:
hospitality. She welcomes Paul,
Silas, and the others into her home.
With this offer of hospitality, the group sticks around and as they
continue to pray in the area, a girl who is a slave sees them.
This
girl, who, as a slave, has not known freedom and agency is both blessed and
cursed by a spirit of divination.
Because of this spirit, she makes money for those who own her and is
therefore deemed useful. This, at
least, means she is likely to have enough food and shelter to survive—to scrape
by. It is probably not enough to
really live off of, to save, to enjoy, to really care for herself, but it is
also more than nothing. After all,
her owners need her alive in order to make money off of her.
Then,
as she proclaims the truth of Paul and Silas’ mission, day after day, Paul gets
annoyed. Perhaps Paul is annoyed
because he thinks her reputation in fortune-telling will discredit the actual
truth of what she is saying about them, which will then discredit them and
their mission. Or maybe the
annoyance comes because as she names their situation as “slaves of the Most
High God,” she is forcing Paul to consider her and her plight as a child slave
to people who only want her for the fortune-telling profit she can make them. She is forcing Paul to really see her.
Whatever
Paul’s reason may be remains a mystery to us. All we know is that he reaches the limit, and “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.”
The
spirit of divination, the blessing and curse for this child, is gone. She is left alone with herself for
perhaps the first time in her whole young life. She is left to figure out anew who she is and what her place
will now be in the world. She is
no longer the moneymaker for her owners that she once was. What does the future hold for her
without the security of that spirit?
Will she face freedom or an even more dire situation than before? As a child, does she even know how to
care for herself?
For
the owners’ part, they get mad—and quickly. They had been making money off of this girl and we learn
that “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.” The little girl was useless to them, so
they went after Paul and Silas, dragging them before the authorities.
The
charges they bring, however, don’t even mention the girl who will no longer
make them money, whose future is uncertain. As frequently happens, economic and cultural accusations get
mixed up and swapped. An economic
complaint becomes a cultural one. The
owners decide that Paul and Silas’ jewishness is to blame.
Their
difference is threatening the status quo.
Their culture is too different, their religion too dangerous, and they
will harm the established Roman culture.
These owners face a new economic challenge without the easy money of
slave labor, and instead of questioning the economic system that lets some make
money at the expense and poverty of others, they blame cultural
differences.
As
the story continues, the girl, whose identity as a fortune-teller is lost, is
herself now lost, leaving us with questions and wonderings about her own future
and fortune.
The
focus zeros in on Paul and Silas, who are Jewish and therefore “less than” the
Romans, making it an easy decision to beat them and throw them into jail. If they are not considered full
citizens, they are also not considered full humans, and so abuse is deemed ok.
The
story so far is unsurprising.
Cultural and economic abuse and exploitation are not new to us today. Violence against unarmed men and child
slavery are still realities throughout this country and the world. Yet this story is not over.
As Paul and Silas sit shackled in jail,
they praise God. In her
reflections, our early mother in the faith whom we commemorate today, Julian of
Norwich shared that no matter how dire the situation, “all shall be well, and
all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.” In this spirit of confidence and trust
in God, “About midnight Paul and
Silas were praying and singing hymns to
God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”
Then
an earthquake literally rocks the foundation as chains and locks are broken
open. The captives are set free!
…
And yet, they remain.
The
jailer, whose terror runs deeper than the earthquake, to failure at his job and
the prospect of economic devastation, loses himself to despair. In the midst of the utter despair, the
jailer draws his sword to kill himself and the grace of God breaks in, as Paul
shouts out, “Do not harm yourself,
for we are all here.” All hope is
not yet gone. Paul and Silas and
the other prisoners could have easily escaped to freedom, but out of compassion
for even this one who is keeping them bound (and maybe out of a little shock),
they remain.
It
is in this profoundly countercultural move of love and care for the one who is
oppressing them
that the jailer comes to new faith, asking “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Because for Paul and Silas, as
followers of Jesus, their liberation is not complete without the liberation
that has been holding even this jailer in bondage.
The jailer, who is enforcing the rules and directives given
to him, serves to keep the people “in line,” especially those Jewish outsiders,
stirring up trouble, disrespecting the Roman customs and culture. The jailer serves the occupying Romans,
caught up in the system of oppression, whether or not he even realizes it.
And
that is where God breaks in.
Beginning
with Lydia and sharing their faith in words and in actions, Paul and Silas and
the growing community of believers in Macedonia know
that to follow Christ is to love others.
It
is to risk remaining captive for the sake of the one who would take his own
life.
It
is to choose love over self-preservation, safety, or security.
It
is to challenge economic systems that rely on the enslavement and exploitation
of adults and children.
It
is to speak out and even use their own power, as they did in the end, as full
citizens, to challenge and change the unjust culture and practices.
And,
as Lydia and the jailer demonstrate,
it
is to open their home in hospitality, providing shelter and food for those in need,
protecting the vulnerable, even at the risk of their own place in society.
And
it is in those moments where the Holy Spirit works so powerfully, proclaiming
Paul and Silas as “slaves of the Most
High God, who proclaim to you a way
of salvation” and staying the jailer’s sword with the command “Do not harm yourself, for we are all
here.”
That
is how the Holy Spirit comes—in the midst of even crisis and despair
with words of hope and assurance.
Promising God’s love from “the
first [to] the last, the beginning [to] the end.”
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