The Way - Week Four: Jailhouse Rock

The Conclusion of the Series - The Way: Lessons from The Early Church

The early members of this movement were first called “Followers of the Way”—a direct reflection of their desire to follow “in the way” of Christ.  

Today we’re going to hear the story of how true freedom comes when we surrender to the idea that Jesus is the Lord.  The story of Paul, Silas, and a Jailhouse Earthquake. 

If you came in here today carrying burdens over the state of your life, things you think will never get better, a world that doesn't seem to be tilted toward what is good, right, and true...  Have I got some good news for you. 

THE WAY LEADS US TO THE TRUE FREEDOM THAT COMES FROM SURRENDER

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 

18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. 19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” 

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 

26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 

33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

The whole story begins when Paul heals a slave girl who is possessed with the "Spirit of Python"---a spirit of divination, the ability to tell the future.  The slave girl accosts Paul and Silas every day as they go to prayer and finally Paul gets so annoyed he heals her.  

A word about the translation "The Spirit of Python" is probably in order.  This is a clue that she is connected to the cult of Apollo Palatinus, the sun god and the god most closely connected with Caesar Augustus---who did very little to disuade people from making the connection.  

Augustus---and subsequent Caesars---was often known as the "son of the most high."  So you can see that something funky is going on when the slave girl keeps declaring that Paul and Silas are servants of the "Most High God."

The owners then go on to accuse Paul and Silas not of theft, or damage to property, but sedition.  Their accusations take on a nationalistic tone and also are steeped in anti-Semitic fervor.  You might find the same kind of language in the anti-Semitic laws and propaganda of the Nazis in Germany.

The magistrates of the city order that Paul and Silas be summarily stripped naked and flogged publicly.  This process was known as coercitio, the word we get coercion from, and was a way that the Romans would get evidence from suspects and make an example of them to others who might be tempted to commit similar offenses.  It was a punishment meant for non-Roman citizens and so Paul would have been exempt from it had he exerted his rights.  He didn't do so, it seems---or at the very least if he did they ignored it.

Then Paul and Silas are thrown into prison---but even that wasn't good enough for these enemies of the state.  They are thrown into the center of the prison which was a space reserved for the worst criminals, who were often put there to die.  They are put into stocks that would have stretched their cut and bleeding limbs and back in horrible ways.

Then they start singing and praising God.  Some scholars believe that they may have sung Psalms like Psalm 102:19-20:

“The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”

Or maybe Psalm 79:11

May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die. 

And they may have concluded with Psalm 107:10, 13-16

Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains, He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

Then the jailhouse rocks. Literally.

The jail comes apart crashing all around the prisoners and freeing them all from their bonds, including Paul and Silas.  When this happens the jailer comes running in and is about to commit suicide.  He knows that if any prisoners escape under his watch his life is forfeit.  That's how the Romans worked.  Suicide was preferable to disgrace.  

It appears from the text that he believes he might be the object of divine retribution for the way he treated Paul and Silas, who now appear to actually be servants of "The Most High God."

But the prisoners, including Paul and Silas, are all still present and accounted for despite the fact that they could have taken off and run to freedom.

Then the jailer asks an incredible question:  "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

This is really a question for the ages, isn't it?  A better translation of this question is, "Gentlemen, will you please tell me how I can get out of this mess?"  I know that when I was growing up, the preachers who used this passage of Scripture in their sermons read a whole lot into the motives behind this question.

The bottom line is this:  This jailer knew nothing of Jesus, of Heaven or Hell.  He knew that something incredible had happened, that his life was in danger, and that he needed rescue and deliverance.

Here's the cool part of the story...  No matter what his intention, the answer to the question is the same:  "Believe in the Lord Jesus..."

N.T. Wright wrote about this moment, "Believe in the Lord Jesus is always the answer to the question of how to be rescued at whatever level and whatever sense..."  When Jesus is declared as Lord of your life---all of the ways that you find yourself caught, captured, imprisoned, in dire straits... seem to lose their power.

When Paul answers the jailer in the way that he does it's not a changing of the subject---it's a deepening of it.  

He doesn't avoid the answer to the jailer's specific question, but he does take the question deeper answering what has been described as "world-deep, heart-deep, God deep questions," that lie underneath the jailer's specific need for deliverance.

What does this deliverance look like?  Not what you'd expect, I can assure you.

Think about the story we just read for a moment... and more specifically think about the people in the story.

Because Paul declares that Jesus is Lord, the slave girl is set free from her slavery to a false god, and an idolatrous belief system that trapped her and enslaved her.

But she was still a slave wasn't she?  That didn't change.

Paul and Silas are free in Christ, this much is evident.  They believe that Jesus is Lord and it's this belief that results in behavior that lands them in prison after being cruelly flogged.

Doesn't seem really all that fair, does it?

And what about all of the prisoners in the jail?  The whole place falls apart, their chains are loosed, they could totally make a break for it and find some freedom---maybe catch a camel train to Egypt or something---join the Syrian Foreign Legion, or the People's Front of Judea (Monty Python joke),,,

But they don't go anywhere... they stay right there in the jail.

Weird, right?

And then there is the jailer who is in charge of the jail.  He was feeling pretty good about himself before the earthquake.  His life may have not been perfect by any means but at least, he could tell himself, he wasn't as bad off as the poor buggers in his jail...

Until his whole life falls apart and he realizes that what he thought was freedom is really a prison.

And this question---the one that is at the heart of this story---is simply this:

Where do I find true freedom?  And the answer comes back: Surrender.

What is holding you captive today?  What is happening in your life right now that feels like it can't change, it can't get better, and feels otherwise hopeless?

Okay.  How do you feel about your job?  Do you find yourself thinking about work all of the time---either because you love what you do, or you don't?  Maybe you come home and can't wait for some peace and quiet so you can start doing work again.  Or maybe you come home and sit around stewing and stressed because you are miserable about having to return to your job in the morning.

Maybe you are held captive by addiction.  And here's where it gets tricky because we always hold up certain kinds of addictions and condemn those, but let a whole bunch of other things go without so much as a second glance.  

But let's say for the sake of argument that maybe you are addicted to some pretty devastating things---like alcohol, drugs, or pornography.  It feels a lot like being in prison sometimes doesn't it?

There are other prisons to be sure---prisons of self-indulgence, bad relationships, self-destructive behavior, information...

And then for many of us, there are the prisons we create out of fear---fear of what is happening in the world around us, fear of losing what you have, fear of the unknown... 

Or we build prisons based on our firmly held beliefs that are almost always grounded in fear.  We don't have to look far to see how fear can twist the minds of people to do unspeakable things. 

What I'm about to say may land on some of us... but I'm not leaving here today without saying it.  The fears that so many American have right now have created a culture that not only glorifies violence, it revels in it.  

This culture of fear has sustained a system within which free access to handheld weapons of mass destruction is considered a right that must be protected more than our children, people shopping grocery stores, church attenders... 

We also fear that nothing will change, and maybe we've grown so used to this fear that we've resigned ourselves to it. 

And yet, the Spirit of the Risen Christ is still loose in the world, and resurrection is happening all around us.  If we would only catch a glimpse of what we could be, how the world could be... 

If we would see a vision of a world made right, a world wherein the words of the ancient prophet Isaiah come to life and, "swords are beaten into plowshares..."  

If we could see what it looks like when the Spirit of Christ is realized in every heart and in all of Creation---we would never stop striving for that, never stop chasing after it, never stop believing that the prison walls will shake and Jesus will set us free.

Surrendering your life to Jesus won’t eliminate the challenges you face in life. But it will set you free to find the courage and the peace to face them. 

But you need to know this:  

1. Surrender happens when you realize God’s address is at the end of your rope. 

2. Proclaiming Jesus is Lord of your life is less about piety than purpose.

THE WAY LEADS US TO THE TRUE FREEDOM THAT COMES FROM SURRENDER