Singing in Prison – July 25, 2021

Isaiah 61:1-4, 10-11, Acts 16:16-34
July 25, 2021

In our story for today, Paul and Silas were in the city of Philippi.  Luke tells us that Philippi was a “Roman colony” in Macedonia – which is our modern-day Greece.  As I understand it, the Romans built cities like that for their government officials and retired military.  So, Philippi was unquestionably a Roman city!  It was a city in which all of the aspects of Roman society and culture were pervasive!  And Paul would actually use that to his advantage at the end of this story.

At this point in Acts, Paul had just parted ways with Barnabas.  He was Paul’s “sidekick.”  Maybe you remember him.  It seems there was a disagreement between them in the previous chapter.  (Yeah, it happens!  They were human!)  But they had parted ways, and now he was traveling with Silas.  Silas now became his new Tonto, his Robin, his Kato!

As we begin in verse 16, Paul and Silas encounter this young girl who had a “spirit of divination.”  In other words, she could tell people’s fortunes.  And this girl was somehow “owned” by these men who were making a lot of money from her “services.”  She probably had a sign up like they have on the Ocean City boardwalk!

Well, for “many days,” apparently, she followed Paul and Silas, and by the influence of the spirit inside her, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”  Now, that sounds like a good thing.  You’d think that would helpful for Paul and he would welcome it.  But apparently it “annoyed” him.  Maybe Paul thought it was getting in the way of his speaking to people.  Or maybe it was “putting people off” before he had a chance to speak to them.

Back in the ‘90’s I was in New York City for the Marathon.  And I don’t know if it’s still this way, but in the evenings in Times Square, there was always somebody on one of the corners preaching some message to whoever would listen.  And some of them looked pretty bizarre, and so was their message.  And people gave them a wide berth, and just kept walking, or acting like they weren’t there.  Maybe this was like that.  People were walking away, thinking, “Ok that’s weird!”

Whatever the reason, at one point Paul turns to her, and he performs an on-the-spot exorcism!  And the spirit leaves the girl.  And now Paul is no longer “annoyed.”  But the girl’s “owners” are!  And then a really bizarre scene takes place.  They grab Paul and Silas, and they drag them before the rulers of the city.  And they start to shout their accusations to the magistrates.  And then, the crowd joins in attacking them – I guess while they were making their case!  And then the magistrates join in, and they order that they be “beaten with rods.”  We can only imagine what that was like!

And notice that in these chapters there was a lot of “stirring up of people” going on!  Many people believed what Paul and the other Apostles were preaching, but many others took offence and fought against them.  And they “stirred up” others to join the fight!  And sometimes people weren’t content just to fight against the Apostles when they came to their town.  Sometimes, when they left, they followed them to the next town to fight against them there!

These were not easy times the Apostles!  People made it hard for them to preach their message.  And of course, they were often arrested, beaten, and thrown in jail – as they were this time.  There were also a number of jailbreaks in these stories!  There was one early on, which we read about several weeks ago, and then in chapter 12, Peter was thrown in jail.  And in that story, an angel came to him and said, “Get dressed and follow.”  And they walked through bars and doors that miraculously opened, and past guards who miraculously did nothing.  I almost used that story this morning.

But this one is my favorite jailbreak story!  Here, Paul and Silas were beaten – with rods – and thrown in prison.  And their feet were fastened in stocks!  And they were doing what?  They were singing!  It was a very unpleasant situation, and yet they were singing hymns of praise to God!  That’s such a wonderful lesson on living in the Joy of the kingdom, despite the circumstances.  (You’ve heard me say that before!)

I decided to use that as my sermon title today, “Singing in Prison,” because I want you to see that it was the mindset they had, even in all of the drama that was happening.  A couple of weeks ago, we read how they left their trial before the religious council “rejoicing that they were worthy to suffer persecution for Jesus’ name!”  The Apostles knew that God was with them, and they were joyous, even though so many bad things were happening to them!

Paul would later write this in his letter to the Romans:

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.”

What an amazing attitude!  Maybe those words should be on our refrigerators, so we can read them every day!

So, here they are, in prison, their feet in the stocks, and they’re singing hymns of praise.  And the other prisoners are listening – and wondering, I’m sure.  And then, all of a sudden, there was an earthquake, and the prison gates were opened, and all the prisoners’ chains were unfastened, and Paul and Silas ran off!  They bolted!  They took it on the lam!

No, they didn’t.  They stayed!  Picture that!  The cell doors were all opened, the chains were unlocked, and there they were!  And that turned out to be an act of kindness that saved the life of this jailer, who turned out to be the other important person in this story.  He saw the prison doors opened, and he was about to fall on his own sword!  Because he knew he would be put to death as punishment for letting his prisoners escape!  That’s what the Romans did.  That’s what happened to the jailers who let Peter escape in chapter 12!  Herod had them put to death!  Do you remember Herod?  What a wonderful guy!

In this case, the jailer had drawn his sword, and the boys yelled, “Wait!  Stop!  Don’t do it!”  “We’re still in here!”  With the doors standing open, they were still there!  And as I said, that was an act of compassion for this man.  And he saw their compassion and their bravery, and he probably heard them singing earlier, and he fell down trembling and asked, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”

And this is the point where we need to think about ourselves.  And I’d like us to ask ourselves today, what might we have done in our lifetimes that would have made someone want to ask that question?  “What must I do to be saved?”  In other words, “What must I do to have what you have?”  What kindness have we done, what words have we said, what peace and joy have we shown others that have made them ask that?  “What must I do to be saved?”  “What must I do to have what you have?”

Of course, it almost goes without saying that, in order for someone to want to have what we have, we have to have it.  And if you’re not sure about that, that’s a pretty important thing to think about.  That’s a pretty important thing to ask about.

And if you do have it, if you do have the faith in the Jesus Paul was preaching about, ask yourself if you are living that faith the way Jesus would have you live.  Ask yourself if you have that compassion, that peace, that joy in all circumstances.

As I’ve said many times, the world is searching desperately for those things!  And when we have them, when we live in the joy and peace we know in Jesus, people will notice!  The other prisoners – and this jailer – noticed when the boys were singing in prison.  And I’m not saying all of us will have that kind of joy.  We may not be able to sing hymns of joy if we were thrown in prison.  But we will have it in our own way.

That’s what God wants for us.  He wants us to know his peace and joy, no matter what the circumstances of our lives.  He wants us to live in the spirit these apostles had, to know the strength they knew, to know the hope they lived in.

That’s what this jailer saw.  I hope we see it, too.

Prayer

Eternal God, help us to know all of that.  Help us to be people who are so in tune with your Spirit that we can have joy in all circumstances.  Help us to be the light of the world, as Jesus said, the light of your love and grace.  And may people see your light through us.  For we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.