Singing in the Face: Acts 16:16-34 - Fourth Sunday of Easter

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

19But 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. 20When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews 21and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." 22The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly 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. 27When 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. 28But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." 29The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34He 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. (NRSV)

dungeon zoom window by AndreyFollow on flickr. CC BY 2.0

   

“Open mouth, insert foot.” We’ve all done it. Something or someone aggravates you, and you end up giving away a piece of your mind that you can’t afford to lose.

 

We’ve seen this a lot over the last two years of the pandemic. The Covid mandates, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and soaring prices have made life difficult for all of us. But a few have let these things get the best of them, and in the heat of the moment, they decide that they’re not going to take it anymore—always with their words, and sometimes with their fists. The next thing you know, they’re sitting a jail cell, facing possible prison time, hefty fines, the loss of their job, and cell phone videos of the whole incident going viral on social media. All because the flight attendant asked them to pull their face mask up over their nose, what are the fast-food drive-through put onions on your hamburger.

 

In today’s reading, we witness the Apostle Paul putting his foot into his mouth, landing himself and his partner Silas in prison.

 

It happens, innocently enough, when the two men are ministering in the city of Philippi, in modern-day Greece. They were on their way to a quiet place to pray, when they encounter a slave-girl who had what was called a “python spirit,” which supposedly enabled her to tell the future—and generated lucrative prophets for her owners. She followed the apostles on their way and shouted out, “these men are slaves of the Most High God who proclaim the way of salvation!” Paul, we are told, becomes very much annoyed, and orders the spirit to come out of the girl.

 

Predictably, this enrages the girl’s owners, who drag Paul and Silas before the magistrates. It’s interesting their choice of words here—they don’t complain about their loss of income. They complain that Paul and Silas were violating Roman cultural norms—which was a far more serious offense. They stir up an angry mob that strips Paul and Silas of their clothing and has them beaten with rods. Then they’re thrown into the most secure cell in the prison, with their feet chained in stocks.

 

To make matters worse, Paul hadn’t done the poor slave-girl any favors. There was no child protective services agency to save this girl from her enslavement. The bible doesn’t tell us about what happened to her, but likely, her situation went from bad to worse.  

 

Paul really made a mess of things. At this point, he and Silas were faced with the very real possibility that their ministry—and their lives—were over. So, they pray and sing hymns to God.

 

Praying, I can understand. But singing? That’s an audacious thing to do—especially for someone who’s been beaten to within an inch of my life. For one thing, Paul and Silas risked having the jailer come down and beating some more to shut them up. 

 

This makes me curious: what songs did they sing? If we had to guess, they sung from the official hymnal of the people of God: the book of Psalms. Perhaps Psalm 23, which we all love, or hymns like A Mighty Fortress or On Eagle’s Wings which are based on Psalms.

 

For millennia, the people of God have sung in the face of adversity. Sometimes, we do, too—such as when we have a funeral liturgy here in the church. But not nearly as often as we should…

 

The reason why, I think, that it feels so strange to sing in hard times is because we know that doing so is going to unleash an uncontrollable torrent of emotions. In America, that’s a sign of weakness. It might even be perceived as discourteous.

 

But here’s the thing: when you’re faced with something devastating, whether it’s the loss of a loved one, a national tragedy like the War in Ukraine, or even something as terrifying as what Paul and Silas were going through, words fail. There’s nothing you can say to make it all better. However, if you do not express your emotions and healthy ways, they will come out in unhealthy ways.

 

Music and singing, do what simple words cannot—they draw out the fear and pain from our hearts and put it out in the open, that we might share in it together. Hymns take this one step further, because they reinforce God’s promises to us. God’s gift of music makes it possible to get through the impossible.

 

As Paul and Silas sing the hymns, God’s presence so filled that desolate place that the walls began to shake, and suddenly, everyone was set free. The jailer was so afraid what was going to happen to him for all the inmates escaping that he was about to commit suicide, but Paul stops him—and the next thing you know, he and his entire household are baptized.

 

Music gives freedom to those in bondage to pain and despair, and it also draws people into the presence of Jesus. It embodies the joy and hope of the Lord in a way that’s practically irresistible. Martin Luther said it best when he said, “next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise.”

 

We are so blessed that God’s gift of music is very much a part of our common life—and music is absolutely vital in reaching new generations of believers. It’s hard to know exactly what it will take to keep our congregation going strong and ensure that the children of our community grow up to know Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, we will move forward praying and singing. The songs we sing are one of many ways God makes a way where there is no way.

 

And as long as we are here, we will sing our songs and make the rafters shake as God’s presence fills this space. We will sing when the pain is too much and words fail us; we will sing when we are afraid. We will sing in the face of our enemies, and we will sing in the presence of God. When God answers our prayers and brings us to deliverance, we will sing out our praises and thanksgiving.