This week we are looking at an event from history
that is recorded for us in a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the
book of Acts. In Acts 16:16, Luke, who is the author of the book of Acts, was
accompanying the Apostle Paul, Silas, and Timothy on what would become known as
the Apostle Paul’s second missionary journey.
Upon arriving in the city of Philippi as Paul and
his traveling companions were traveling to the place of prayer to engage the
Jewish residents of the city with the claims of Christ and the message of the
gospel, they were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. This was
a girl who was a slave and who was possessed by a demon.
As a result of being possessed by a demon, she was
empowered by the demon to predict and proclaim the futures of people. Upon
crossing paths with this demon possessed slave girl and her masters, the slave
girl cried out with a loud voice "These men are bond-servants of the Most
High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation."
Day after day, as Paul and his companions made their
trip from the city of Philippi to the place of prayer and back, this demon
possessed girl and her masters would publicly proclaim this message while
following closely behind them. After putting up with her presence and
proclamation for several days, Paul, annoyed with the situation, confronted the
demon who had possessed this girl and, through the power of the Holy Spirit,
rid the girl of the demon.
However, while the girl was now freed from the
enslavement of a demon, she was not freed from the enslavement of her earthly
masters. And Paul’s intervention on her behalf was not appreciated by the
girl’s masters, as we see in Acts 16:19-24:
But when her masters saw that their hope of
profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market
place before the authorities, 20 and when they had brought them to
the chief magistrates, they said, "These men are throwing our city into
confusion, being Jews, 21 and are proclaiming customs which it is
not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans." 22
The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their
robes off them and proceeded to order them
to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had struck them with
many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them
securely; 24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into
the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Upon recognizing that they would no longer be able
to exploit the slave girl for a profit, her masters responded by grabbing Paul and
Silas and dragging them into the marketplace. In the Greco-Roman culture of the
1st century, the marketplace was the center of civic life and also served as
the place where civil and legal cases would be heard before a local magistrate,
or judge. Luke tells us that Paul and Silas were accused before the magistrate
of disturbing the peace and order of the Roman civil and religious practices by
advocating and promoting that the residents of the city become Jewish.
You see, while the Roman Empire allowed people to
practice their own religions, to attempt to evangelize and convert Romans
citizens to another religion was strongly discouraged and was, in some cases,
illegal. Since there were very few ethnic or religious Jews in Philippi, the
men who accused Paul and Silas had very little knowledge of Jewish religious
practices and simply assumed that since they were Jewish, they were promoting
Judaism.
Evidently, there was an undercurrent of anti-Jewish
sentiment evident in Philippi. This was demonstrated not only with the charges
that Paul and Silas were accused of; this was also demonstrated that Luke and
Timothy, who were with Paul and Silas but were not Jewish, were not arrested.
As a result of the accusations and the anti-Jewish sentiment in Philippi, Luke tells
us that the magistrates pronounced a judgment where they were handed over to
the local jailer to be incarcerated for an unspecified period of time.
Now in the culture of the 1st century,
the jailer most likely was a retired Roman soldier. During this time in
history, and especially in Philippi, Roman soldiers were respected and looked
up to. And as a retired Roman soldier who was now serving as a jailer, life would
have been easy and life would have been good. A retired Roman soldier who was a
jailer would have a great deal of authority and a great deal of freedom when it
came to how he treated and handled the prisoners. As a result, jailers were
often treated prisoners harshly.
A retired Roman soldier who was a jailer would
receive good pay and would have a comfortable life that did not need much of
anything. After all, if you were a jailer, you only have one job, which is to
keep the prisoners from escaping. After being ordered by the magistrate to
guard Paul and Silas securely, Luke tells us that the jailer placed Paul and
Silas in the inner prison, which was most likely the most secure cell that was
located in the center of the prison. And
to make sure that Paul and Silas had no chance to escape, the jailer placed
both men in stocks.
Now stocks were used for low-status prisoners not
only to secure them but also for punishment and torture. You see, the stocks
could be positioned in such a way that a person’s legs would be locked into
various painful positions. The jailer, having done his job by locking Paul and
Silas in stocks after placing them in a secure cell in the center of the prison
could relax. For the jailer, life was easy. For the jailer, life was
comfortable. For the jailer life was comfortable because he was enjoying the
rhythm and routine of his life. All of his hard work as a soldier placed him in
a position to have financial stability and a comfortable lifestyle. A
comfortably simple and stress-free life.
For the jailer it was time to coast and catch some sleep because he was
confident and comfortable in his comfortable life that was smooth sailing.
Maybe you can relate to the jailer. Maybe life is good,
life is flowing with a rhythm and routine that enables you to coast and be
comfortable. Sure, there are occasional bumps in the road, but you are
comfortable and content with a lifestyle that enables you to coast through
life. You are at a place where you are able to have all of your needs met and
even some of your wants fulfilled, you really don’t need anything. Maybe you
are at a place in life where you are coasting through life because you are
comfortable where you are at in life.
However, while the jailer was asleep enjoying his
comfortable life, something was about to occur that would shake things up
literally and figuratively for the jailer. Something that Luke records for us
and that we will look at on Friday...
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