The jailer who became friend

Acts 16:16-40 (selected verses)

16 One 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. 17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you[d] a way of salvation.’ 18 She 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.

19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities….22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely….

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly 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. 27 When 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. 28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ 29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ 31 They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ 32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34 He 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….

40 After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.

This story is well-known. Some verses have been dropped from the reading to make it to make it a bit shorter.

The “slave-girl” was being used by her owners to make money, they were taking advantage of her. But that was not the primary reason Paul cast the evil spirit out of her, he was frustrated her loud proclamation was making it more difficult for the team to talk about Jesus in ways that would be heard by the people of Philippi, a megaphone (loud words) is not always the best way to tell the story of Jesus and why that story matters.

That a variety of approaches are needed to speak the good news about Jesus is evident in the conversion of the jailer. Most likely he would not have been moved by a loud proclamation of who Jesus was, but in his moment of despair he was ready to hear the possibility of salvation. In his moment of crisis there was someone who spoke the words he needed to hear. The jailer’s response is dramatic, baptized in the middle of the night. He goes from being the jailer of Paul and Silas to being a fellow Christian with them, showing compassion as he bandaged their wounds and fed them. 

Salvation in this case is both spiritual salvation and the saving of the jailer’s life. In offering us salvation we are saved for heaven, but we also experience salvation in this life as hope and faith grow. That is not to say that life is without problems, rather it is to say that we have someone who goes with us, walking with us through the challenges of our lives.

PRAYER:

Lord God, you offer salvation both physical and spiritual in Jesus Christ. So often we focus on one or the other, ignoring the fact that you are the author of both. Teach us to recognize the salvation you offer both physically and spiritually to the world, to our communities, to our friends and to us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.