Introduction
(Acts 16, 16-24 was read beforehand).
(Then the blues about the jailer were performed).
Today we are talking about this person from the song, a jailer. I deliberately use this old-fashioned word because the head of the prison at that time is not really comparable with a prison warden or warden today. Nowadays, there are regulations, we live in a constitutional state, prisoners have rights and the aim is to re-socialise prisoners.
Back then, around the year 50 AD, things were very different. On the one hand, there were virtually no custodial sentences, but suspects or convicts were locked up until they received their punishment, which could be corporal punishment such as beating, chopping off limbs, pillorying or the death penalty. Sometimes people were also locked up until they had paid a fine. Torture was also not uncommon.
There was also a lot of arbitrariness in the treatment of prisoners, so I think the word jailer is more appropriate than prison governor or prison warden. But today we're talking about this jailer and he had the blues.
We heard the prequel (Acts 16:16-24) earlier, which I don't want to go into too much, we heard the song and now I would like to look with you at what really happened.
Go to the prison...
That sounds a bit unreal: An earthquake and the shackles fall off and the doors open? Depending on how old and dilapidated the prison was, that's quite possible. There were cracks in the wall, which caused the iron that held the chains in the wall to come loose and some of the doors broke off their hinges and stood open - every prisoner's dream!
But people didn't leave, why not?
It's strange how it all started in prison anyway.
Paul and Silas prayed and praised God with songs and the other prisoners listened to them.
But that only happened at midnight. I think it was for the very banal reason that the two of them first had to come to terms with the unfair treatment. After all, they were beaten up in public and wrongly arrested.
But praying and singing pious songs in prison? You would probably expect ridicule from the other prisoners. But apparently Paul and Silas were credible. They probably also used a language that the other prisoners understood. Then as now, the level of education of people in prison was rather low. There was probably nothing in the way of pious technical terms.
And then came this earthquake. Nobody expected it. Every now and then things happen that nobody expects. Perhaps this is connected to the prayers of Paul and Silas, but they will probably not have prayed for the prison to collapse.
But that's an interesting question: what were they praying for?
It would have been obvious to pray for their own release. They were unjustly imprisoned.
As Germans, we might find ourselves saying "I know my rights" in such situations. I want to get out of here! That's all understandable and I don't think they were completely free of these thoughts either, even if they weren't German.
In fact, they probably had a wider view. Why did God allow this to happen? I think that after this period of coming to terms with their situation, they began to look at the people around them. The question of why did this happen to me was no longer important. They were now in this place and praised God and thus also testified to Him. Praising God doesn't necessarily have to be something private, you can also praise someone publicly and they praised God publicly. They were there in this prison and there were people around them who were listening to them.
That would probably have been reason enough to go on this humiliating and painful journey to prison.
Asking yourself why a situation happened is not fundamentally wrong. Reflect, analyse, why did what happened happen? And of course you can also ask God. But you shouldn't stop there.
What can God do through me right now, where I am? I am also travelling with God now, in this situation. How can I make a difference in his favour here?
The prison is shaking
But that's not all. Then comes this earthquake.
Suddenly a completely new situation arises. The prison is so damaged that the doors are open and the chains have come loose from the walls. The prison is no longer actually a prison.
Sometimes you are overwhelmed by events. You find yourself in situations that you didn't expect. This corona period is also one of those situations that nobody expected.
The jailer sees this and thinks the obvious: Doors open, prisoners away. Now the punishments in the Roman Empire for dereliction of duty were sometimes very harsh and he had to reckon with a public execution. He probably didn't want to endure this pain and shame and therefore wanted to kill himself.
I'm glad that in our society today such mistakes are no longer penalised so severely and that you usually get a second chance.
But what did he do wrong? What could he have done to cause the earthquake?
Perhaps we can also find a parallel to the coronavirus era here. Life has been shaken up unexpectedly and suddenly there are no more certainties. Many people are afraid of economic ruin, especially those for whom there is no help from the state, such as the self-employed, freelance artists and people with similar activities. Up to now, they have only had good words and Hartz IV.
You somehow managed and then it was over. You're not an airline, you're just a small artist who is no longer allowed to perform because you're not allowed to perform anywhere.
From a health point of view, this was certainly sensible, but why are corporations and employees being supported and freelancers and solo self-employed people being left out in the cold by politicians?
Let's get back to the jailer. I don't want to condone the way he did his job, by the way. He was certainly a child of his time and in those days prisoners were sometimes treated very inhumanely, but that doesn't justify his behaviour.
We can already empathise with him a little. His whole life was in ruins. He was facing the death penalty anyway. And that's why he wanted to kill himself. That's a very special kind of blues.
And how do the prisoners behave? Why don't they leave? That's hard to say, I think they stayed with Paul and Silas. What the two of them said and sang must have impressed the other prisoners so much that they stayed and didn't leave. Of course, we don't know how much the Roman authorities were after escaped prisoners anyway, but I think that some of the prisoners could well have escaped.
But they were all still there. And even Paul and Silas didn't blame the jailer for the abuse and prevent him from throwing himself under the knife.
The new jailer
Then the jailer asks for a light so that he can enter the prison. It was simply dark in the dungeon. This is a nice symbol for the fact that he later realises his own darkness and asks for help from the apostles.
He goes in and prostrates himself before the two, trembling with fear, and says to them, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
From prisoners in the dungeon, they become "masters"! The jailer sees that these two have something, something divine. This term "masters" was also used in ancient Greece when people spoke of gods coming to earth in human form. This belief was part of the Greek religion at the time.
This choice of words gives you an idea of how the jailer felt.
He asks: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" In other words, he realises that he needs salvation, that he is lost, that he is living in darkness.
And Paul and Silas replied: "You don't have to do anything, but believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you will be saved." And apparently they had just realised that the household would also be saved by the jailer.
And they told him and all those who lived in his house about Jesus. And they were all baptised. And while Paul and Silas were preaching, you can already see the first change in the jailer. He tended to their wounds, he showed compassion. I have always found it fascinating when people are changed by Jesus Christ, when forgiveness, compassion and love for one's neighbour enter a person's life.
Incidentally, this passage is sometimes used as a justification for baptising babies, but this does not fit because the word of Jesus was first told to all those who lived in the house and then they were baptised. Babies can't be told anything yet.
And in the end, everyone in his house rejoices, having found faith in God.
So you could say: happy ending or rather: happy beginning.
It would certainly be interesting to see whether and how the jailer changes in his dealings with the prisoners over the following period. How does he deal with difficult prisoners, for example? The description of the subsequent everyday life of everyone who found Jesus in the Acts of the Apostles would certainly have gone beyond the scope of this Bible book. But I am sure that a process of change was set in motion for him and his people. We can read even more in the letters in the Bible about how people cope with life on the road with Jesus.
Whatever unexpectedly shakes up your life, the chance to start anew with Jesus Christ or to start anew is of course always there.
And let us pray to be ready to tell others about Jesus in situations like Paul and Silas, even if the circumstances are very unpleasant.
Summary
Let me summarise.
- The jailer was probably a rather unpleasant type who treated Paul and Silas very harshly.
- Paul and Silas do not stop at the question "Why me!", but testify to Jesus Christ in the situation in which they have found themselves, and obviously very credibly.
- The prisoners have the choice of staying with Paul and Silas or running away and staying.
- Sometimes life is so shaken up that you are completely confused, that you perhaps even realise that you need salvation, that you need God.
- Just as the jailer was given new life through Jesus, this is the most important thing for every person. You can start anew with Jesus.