Acts 16:16-34; John 17.20-26
Our dramatic Bible story for today started with a slave girl who had the gift of telling the future. This was no natural gift – she was possessed by an evil spirit, and didn’t have any choice about what she said, any more than she had choices about other parts of her life. Slaves were common in the Roman Empire, it was an accepted and normal part of society. Some people belonged to other people, and had no rights in their lives at all. They could be bought and sold, they could be made to do backbreaking work with no pay and no rest, and they did not have control over any part of their lives, not even their own bodies. Today we see that as horrific – although there is still modern-day slavery, just not as visibly. But in our reading, surprisingly the slave girl recognises Paul and Silas as slaves of God – she keeps shouting it out, day after day.
That sounds like an impossible claim! Slavery is awful – how could anyone be a slave of God? We don’t believe that God wants slaves! But from the slave girl’s point of view, Paul and Silas’ complete surrender to God’s call looks like slavery. They have submitted to God – they have made him Lord of their lives. Now of course there is a huge difference between voluntary surrender and forced slavery. She is stuck with her masters and with the spirit that speaks through her. As followers of Jesus we know freedom in obedience – Jesus invites us to share his yoke, like cattle paired up as they pull a plough. We know that our lives work better when we walk with Jesus.
Still, Paul and Silas weren’t very happy about the spirit of the slave girl announcing their mission in such a negative way, and in the end, Paul shuts it up by throwing it out of the slave girl. Her owners are furious – they have lost out on a valuable source of income.
Do you think that our income can ever become a form of slavery? Can we be weighed down by where we get our money from? That could be obvious if we have a dreadful job, or if our job forces us to do things we know are wrong. But how about if keeping our job, or our source of income, becomes an endless worry? Nothing wrong with the money itself, but worry can be a huge burden, just like walking around with a ball and chain. The world has become a lot more unpredictable recently and we are all vulnerable to worrying about what the future holds – so maybe this is a challenge to us to hand over the worries to Jesus and walk with him instead.
The owners of the slave girl stir up trouble for Paul and Silas. They are attacked and beaten and thrown into jail. It’s all gone horribly wrong! Don’t you think it would be natural for them as they sit in chains, bruised and sore, to be blaming each other and wishing they had never reacted to that slave girl? If it was me, I am sure I would be pretty miserable! This time, the chains are real and heavy, probably rubbing on the places they have been beaten and forcing them to sit in uncomfortable positions.
We probably all have real constraints on our lives, that can sometimes seem like chains. Are there any responsibilities that sometimes get you down? Do you have an illness or disability that stops you doing something? Are any of your relationships burdensome, even some of the time? They can rub on us, make us irritable or frustrated. We can’t always ignore them and thinking about them can make us low.
But look at Paul and Silas! They are praying and singing hymns!! Unbelievably cheerful! I doubt whether they felt good, but they have made a choice. They are not doing a life of Brian, always looking on the bright side – they are letting God into their situation. They are talking to God about their experience and they are lifting up their hearts to him in worship. They are not being bound by the physical chains, instead their spirits are free to be with God and see through his eyes. This is not an easy choice!! But I do recommend it!
When we meet a challenge, can we see beyond our own limits? Sometimes we are just so overwhelmed we have to ask God for help – when our daughter Frances was diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome, we were shocked and didn’t know how to respond. The hospital staff found us a space in a storeroom to be on our own, and as we reached out, quite out of our depth, God met us and spoke to us. He reassured us that he would be with Frances and use her life to bring people to know his love. That promise was fulfilled over and over, in ways we could never have expected, but at the time what we needed to hear was that God had not forgotten us, and that Frances was not a mistake.
But there are plenty of times when the challenges facing us are more mundane and we forget that God is on our side. What do you do when people say mean things about you? When you can’t find a parking space when you are already late? When you are having an argument with someone close to you? Are those times when you could pray and sing a hymn? Imagine how that might change things! You don’t even need to be in a holy mood – God acts through our willing hearts, despite our feelings!
So now we get to the most dramatic part of the story: there is an earthquake and the prisoners’ chains are physically broken. Instead of running away, they reassure their jailor and he becomes a follower of Jesus himself. God can act in amazing ways to break the chains that bind, whether emotional or physical. Prayer does not just make us feel better – it allows the Holy Spirit to act in power, and when he does, lives are transformed. So let’s pray, for ourselves and for others that God may be made know through a breakthrough into freedom!
I want to finish by considering another aspect of chains. Chains can bind us. But they can also join us! How many of you are wearing a cross or another decoration on a chain today? Were you given that chain by someone who loves you? Does it remind you that you belong to Jesus? We are all connected by love – all links in the chain that begins and ends with God. In our gospel reading this morning, Jesus is saying to his disciples, starting at verse 21: ‘As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us’, ....and on in verse 23, ‘I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.’ Each one of us is drawn into God’s presence through Jesus – not just for our own sake, but for the world to know God’s love.
Chains that bind, chains that link: where is God speaking to us this morning? Is he leading us into freedom through obedience, or is he drawing us closer to him to be a witness for others?
Let us pray:
Father God, thank you for your word to us. Help us now to take that word deep into our hearts and live it out this week. Point us to those you are calling us to, and help us to respond in the ways that you guide us. Amen