19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities… - Acts 16:19
You remember that story of when Paul and Silas were in the prison, and began singing hymns of praise to God? They start singing, and everyone in the prison is listening to them, they bound in chains, but that doesn’t stop them from singing praises to their God.
Paul and Silas were simply continuing in their current situation to do that which they knew in their hearts to be right. But why were they in jail in the first place? We know that many times the apostles were put in jail because of their opposition to the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem, and some were in jail because they stood against oppression of the Romans. However, in this instance, we find that the reason they are in jail was because of the owners of a slave girl.
As we read Chapter 16 of the book of Acts, we find that a young man named Timothy comes to the faith, and begins traveling with Paul. Paul moves on into Asia minor, to Philippi, and then to a smaller city called Thyatira. While they were in that city, a slave girl who had a spirit of divination, meaning she saw and understood truth, was following Paul around proclaiming that they were slaves or servants of the Most High God. It seems that this would not have been anything to bother these apostles, that was there ministry, and that was their mission.
However, they were also foreign travelers who wanted to be able to speak peacefully, and not cause any kind of ruckus. The preaching of Christ and the kingdom to come in those days, typically came of public places where all kinds of ideas and philosophies would be shared. It was a safe place for persons to speak their peace, and as long as it remained peaceful no one bothered them. This slave-girl was causing Paul and his companions to get a bunch of attention outside of the meeting place, and this made Paul nervous, and as scriptures puts it, “annoyed” with this girl. Paul proceeds to cast out the spirit, which causes the slave girl’s owners to be upset because they seemingly had been making money off this girls gift. They have Paul and Silas flogged and arrested for causing a disturbance.
What is interesting about this story is that the reason for Paul and Silas to be in the prison is because someone outside the faith lost their means of wealth. A means which was based on cruel and unjust treatment of another human being – slavery.
While much could be said, and much has already been written on the injustice of slavery, I want to focus, here, on the response of the missionaries.
Paul and Silas, though they had done nothing wrong in the sight of God, though they remined righteous in their actions, were put in jail because of a human injustice, were beaten because of human insecurities, and were (like Christ) treated as the worst of criminals being put in the innermost cell, and fastened with chains in the stocks. Yet, they chose to continue praising God. They chose to continue singing, they chose to live into hope. This is the message we need to hear today. That when the world seems out to get us, when the world is worried about itself, and its means, while the world is focused on things that are not eternal. We, those who follow Christ, should focus on what really matters. We should continue to sing praises to God. It isn’t always easy to do so, but God is righteous, God is just, God is eternal, and we who focus on the goodness of God remain focused on hope. Let us continue in the hope that awaits us tomorrow.
Grace & Peace,
Sam