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Week Sixteen, Day Three

Acts 16: 19-40

The owner of the slave girl managed to get Paul and Silas arrested, beaten and thrown in jail. Now, imagine how you would feel at the end of that very bad day. Stripped in public and beaten with rods, then shackled hand and foot, and thrown in a nasty dark and dank cell. What a pity party would have ensued for most of us, especially considering that all of this had been done to them because they helped a poor, possessed slave girl.

Not Paul and Silas, though. The familiar text says, “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”(16: 25) Later in life, Paul will write, “If we live we live unto the Lord and if we die we die unto the Lord. Whether therefore we live or we die, we are the Lord's.” (Romans 14: 8) In this story, we see that attitude toward life lived out. No self-pity, no cynical resignation, no resentment or bitterness, and no depression.

Years later, Paul will write a letter to the church that gets established here in Philippi. It is the book in the Bible that we know as Philippians. In Philippians 4: 11 Paul wrote, “… for I have learned in whatever circumstances I find myself, I can be content.” Such talk might ring hollow to some, but those to whom he wrote the letter knew that it was true. Regardless of the unfair abuse, Paul found a place within himself to be at peace, not because of the circumstances, but despite them.

As they prayed and sang, an earthquake occurred that actually sprang open the prison doors. When the jailer discovered this, he began to commit suicide because, as we saw earlier, he would have been executed for allowing prisoners to escape. Paul stopped him in just in the nick of time. Of course, if Paul had been quiet they all could have escaped, but Paul was more concerned for the jailors' wellbeing. As a result, this man became a Christian. Paul baptized him and his whole family.

I can't help but wonder how many people might follow Jesus if they saw more followers of Jesus who cared more about them than they did themselves. It makes a powerful witness because it happens so seldom.

Blessings,

Michael Piazza
President, Hope for Peace & Justice

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