Foundations were shaken

Acts 16:16-34
Paul and Silas in Prison
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2016%3A16-34&version=NRSVUE
 
In this passage, there are three different characters who experienced some kind of imprisonment. First, the woman with a “spirit of divination” (v.16) was a slave whose owners used her for her gift to make money. Some may interpret that she was enslaved by this spirit, but it wasn’t her gift that imprisoned her. It was her owners who profited off her. Paul released the spirit within her, and, therefore, released her from being exploited.
 
Because of Paul’s actions, he and Silas wind up in jail – a literal imprisonment. After they were flogged, the jailer put them in the “innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks” (v.24). While Paul and Silas were imprisoned, they prayed and sang hymns to God. They had just been beaten severely in the public square and thrown into jail in a foreign land, yet they worshiped God.
 
Often, when we are imprisoned, we don’t always praise God. We may become angry, lash out, or blame others, but we don’t always turn to God. We may pray for deliverance, but rarely do we worship and trust God to be with us during our imprisonment. How we react and respond during our times of imprisonment reflect our faith, and people are always watching and listening. As verse 25 says, “the prisoners were listening to” Paul and Silas as they worshipped God during their imprisonment.
 
And, this shook them to their core. The earth responded to the Spirit’s presence and their foundations were shaken. The doors were opened and “everyone’s chains were unfastened” (v.26). Not only Paul’s and Silas’s, but everyone’s – even those who were listening! The power of prayer and worship ripples out to all who are present and imprisoned, even the ones who aren’t even praying themselves and even the ones who don’t even realize they are imprisoned.
 
The jailer’s job was to follow orders to imprison people, yet he wasn’t aware that he was imprisoned by their system of oppression. When he “woke up” and realized that the prison’s doors were open, he assumed the prisoners escaped. Any prisoner would seize the opportunity to escape! Yet, these prisoners didn’t. Their foundations were shaken, and so they wanted to stay in the presence of the Spirit. Their chains were already unfastened, so what other freedom waits for them elsewhere?
 
When he assumed the prisoners had escaped, the jailer knew he would be held responsible, so instead of suffering from the hands of Roman soldiers, or even his co-workers, he began to draw his sword upon himself. Paul stopped him and yelled, “Do not harm yourself, for we are here!” (v.28). Paul stopped the one who imprisoned them from harming himself. If the jailer continued with his plan, Paul and Silas would have another opportunity to flee from prison. Instead, Paul responds with compassion and mercy. He, too, knows his true freedom comes from Christ.
 
This shakes the jailer’s foundation. He was so moved, he “fell down trembling” (v.28). This larger-than-life, strong soldier was brought to his knees in awe. He didn’t even know that he needed to be saved until he experienced Christ’s compassion and mercy through Paul and Silas. He knew he couldn’t go back to imprisoning people. He was imprisoned in their system, yet now he and his household received Christ’s redeeming grace. He responds with radical hospitality by inviting those he once imprisoned to join him around his table.
 
The power of the Spirit shakes the foundation of their lives. What they knew before is rattled and released through their prayers and praise as well as through the compassion and mercy extended to their oppressor. Everyone’s doors are opened and their chains are broken as they receive their freedom in Christ.
 
Reflection Questions:
When you feel imprisoned, what do you do? Do you become angry or do you turn to God?
When was the last time you “fell down trembling”? Reflect on the Holy Spirit’s presence in that moment and how you responded afterwards?
Have you experienced this kind of freedom? Has your foundation been shaken by the Spirit?
 
Pray: Come, Holy Spirit, and shake us to our core! Make us fall down trembling in awe of your presence.
 
Act: Extend a gesture of compassion and mercy to someone who may be harming themselves in some way. Extra points if it’s someone who is causing you harm.
  
*New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America.