Friday, June 06, 2025

Two Prisoners were freed

Preached at Christ church, Billericay on 1 June 2025 at 08:00 and 10:0

recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxSah2wePag, from 25:50 to 42:10

Title: Two Prisoners were freed

Reading Acts 16:16-34

Prayer

Introduction

I’m going to talk about the Acts reading today – the story of Paul and Silas being jailed. These are the people that Jesus prayed for in our Gospel reading. We will see how two prisoners are set free by the actions of a loving God. They might not be who you’re thinking of now.

Background

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke are staying in Philippi with Lydia, who has just been baptised. Philippi was a Roman city in Northern Greece. There were very few Jews living there, so there wasn’t a synagogue. So, instead, they met at the Place of Prayer – probably a garden that gave some privacy, where they could worship God and spend time in prayer.

Slave woman with a spirit

On the way, they were met by a female slave who was possessed by a spirit that allowed her to accurately tell the future.

Fortune-telling played a major role in ancient Roman society, it affected decisions in politics, warfare, and daily life. Romans believed that the gods communicated through omens and divination, and interpreting these signs was important for keeping order and securing divine favour.

That meant her owners could get rich from her.

Most High God

She describes them as “servants of the most high god”. To the Jews, this would have meant Yahweh. To the Greeks, it would be Zeus. If you were a Greek (or Roman), being saved, would be to be freed from the powers governing the fate of man and the material world.

Spirits identify Jesus

The problem with these spirits is that they seem unable to keep quiet about Jesus. Jesus himself came across one of them. In Mark 1:24 it tells us the spirit said

"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"

And Jesus’s reply was, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"

It’s not really clear why the spirits react like this, trying to create some sort of mischief, maybe. They seem unable to ignore the God they are trying to replace.

The female slave followed Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke, shouting “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” At first this was useful. After all, she had a reputation for making correct predictions, so there is every reason to believe her now. It served their purpose, because they wanted people to come and talk with them, and that is exactly what they want to talk about.

As this goes on day after day, it becomes more and more about her show and less and less about Paul and his companions and what they are trying to do. It diverts people from the apostle’s message.

So, Paul drives out the demon. Now her owners have no chance of making money from her, their easy life is over.

Release number 1

That’s our first prisoner freed.

[break a chain]

She had been held captive by a demon, now she can live a normal life. We are not told what happened to her. I like to think that she was bought by Lydia and lived a much better life.

Revenge

Her owners dragged Paul and Silas into the market place, and left Timothy and Luke behind. That’s probably because Paul and Silas look like Jews, and the other two don’t. There was an undercurrent of anti-Semitism in many Roman towns. Notice their complaint:

“These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

Paul and Silas are accused of causing trouble – disturbing the peace might be our version of the charge.

The magistrates sentence them to be flogged and thrown into jail. They are kept in the most secure part of the jail and have their feet in stock. Imagine being forced to sit on the ground with your feet raised a few inches and kept maybe 18 inches apart. It’s a very uncomfortable way to sit, especially if you have just been beaten, and you are chained down as well, so movement is further restricted.

The slave owners have their revenge, and now the only audience that Paul and Silas have are other prisoners and their jailers. Surely this is NOT what God wants – how can this have happened?

Sing-song

We are told that during WWII, when people were sleeping in tube stations, that there was often a sing-song, or other entertainment to make the nights pass more pleasantly. Singing can lift our spirits when times are difficult. So, Paul and Silas sing hymns and pray.

Worshipping God

Worshipping God in any form will lift their spirits far quicker and further than just any old songs. In this case it seems to get the rest of the prisoners involved a little too as they are listening to Paul and Silas.

In some strange way, it may have allowed God to act. In 2 Chronicles 20, God acted while the Israelites sang praises to God, and the invading army defeated itself!

Perhaps something like that was happening here as Paul and Silas showed their faith in God.

Earthquake

Because around midnight there is a violent earthquake. Perhaps the strangest earthquake I’ve ever heard of. Instead of flattening the building, it just unlocks the doors and loosens the chains.

What happens next is even more surprising. Nobody leaves!

Jailers

Jailers in the Roman world were often ex-army, people who could be relied upon to take orders and deal with difficult prisoners. The penalty for loss of a prisoner, was that the jailer had to serve the sentence in their place. So, it is no surprise that the jailer in this prison, where he thought everyone had gone, chose suicide.

I wonder how much the jailer had heard from Paul and Silas? Did he just know them by the reputation they had built up in the town? Had he heard of the demon leaving the slave girl? He must have been aware of the singing, if not the prayers. He must have realised that they had somehow become leaders among the prisoners.

To be saved

When Paul calls out “We are all here”, the Jailer gets lights and checks, when he sees that it is true, he immediately asks Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved. He addresses them as “Lords”, which shows that he already sees something in them, but as we have already seen, it is unclear who he was expecting to be saved by.

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved

He is told, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved”. This is the consistent message of the book of Acts. It is all that is ever asked of potential converts. The jailer, of course, knew nothing about Jesus, so they have to explain who He is in more detail.

Joy (of freedom)

He goes from almost attempting suicide to the Joy of the Lord, in a just few hours. So here is our second release from prison. The jailer has been captive to his culture and the beliefs that he was taught from infancy. Now he has been freed.

[break a chain]

Paul and Silas

So, what of Paul and Silas, well, they were never really in prison at all. They were simply captured, beaten and bound so that they had the opportunity to show the jailer the glory of God, and the salvation offered to all those who believe in His resurrected son. In the next part of Acts, they are let out of prison, and use that as a witness to Christ as well.

All in prison - to be freed

Some of you will, no doubt, have the words of a hymn going around in your head now. Here's the 4th verse of "and Can It Be"...

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

This is the freedom that Charles Wesley found, and it is the freedom we have all been given. Just like Paul and Silas, our mission is to offer that freedom to others.

Amen.