The Message, June 1, 2025: "My Chains Are Gone," Acts 16:16-34

Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
June 03, 2025

 

“My Chains Are Gone”
A Message by Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
Acts 16:16-34

            I want to begin by thanking Reverend John Fiscus for his message last Sunday. At the time he had no idea that he was offering the set up for our message this morning. We begin right where he left off …

            For those of you who may not have been with us, last week we met Lydia, a God-believing woman that heard Paul and Silas preach and teach and was their first conversion in Europe. She and her whole household were baptized, and then she welcomed Paul and Company to stay with her while they were in Philippi. As a merchant of purple fabric, Lydia was at the top of the social ladder. As a vendor of purple fabric, she would have been someone featured by the first-century edition of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” rubbing elbows with royalty and the powerful.

            This morning, we met a woman that was at the opposite end of the social ladder. The slave girl in today’s passage would have been at the bottom of that ladder. As a slave … and a woman … she would have essentially been a non-entity. Except that she was possessed by a very powerful spirit. As it turns out, the slave girl was not nothing.

            She was possessed by a “pythos” spirit, which was a very well-known spirit. It was the same spirit that the Oracle of Delphi possessed. The Oracle of Delphi was one of the most famous sooth-sayers in all of history. So famous in fact, that it is likely that many of you are familiar with the Oracle of Delphi. The fact that the slave girl was possessed by the same spirit made her special and very popular. Luke attests to that fact when he reported that the slave girl was making a lot of money for her masters.

            And then Paul ruined everything by “saving” her.

            After following them around for several days tormenting Paul and Silas, Paul had had enough and called the spirit out of the girl in the name of Jesus Christ. I do not want to get too far into the weeds here, but we will dip our toes into the weeds just a little bit.

            We do not know exactly why Paul got so annoyed. We can speculate. Perhaps it was the simple fact of someone following them around for several days yelling at them. That would annoy most anyone. But it was likely something more than that. It could have been that in a Roman pagan city a reference to the “God Most High” would not have been understood to be a reference to Yahweh, the Lord of Heaven and Earth. Rather, those in the city of Philippi would have been more likely to understand the reference to Zeus, or one of the gods in their pantheon of gods and goddesses. It could also have been because the pythos spirit recognized the Spirit of God … the Spirit of Jesus Christ … in Paul and Silas, and that was why it was tormenting them. Perhaps Paul’s intention was to set the girl free from the tormentor.

            Whatever the case may have been, Paul invoked the name and the Spirit of Jesus Christ and called the spirit out of the girl. He saved her. However, she did not ask to be saved. She did not seek out salvation. In fact, she probably did not want it. With the spirit removed, she had lost that which made her special. She had lost that which made her master a lot of money, and we can only assume that her life as an ordinary slave got dramatically worse.

            We can also assume that the lives … and the bank accounts … of her masters also got dramatically worse. And because of that, they decided to seek retribution against the ones who stole their Golden Goose. They employed racial prejudice against Paul and Silas and accused them of disturbing the Pax Romana … disturbing the “Peace of Rome.”  They utilized lies and deceit to have them arrested, tried, beaten with rods and tossed into prison in the deepest and most secure cell possible. They were shackled and locked away in the inner cell.

            Which brings us to the heart of our story.

            The jailer had one job … guard the prisoners securely; make sure that they do not escape. But as we heard, in the middle of the night a violent earthquake rocked the foundations of the prison. The ground shook so hard that the doors of the cells swung open. The earth trembled such that the shackles and stockades broke loose. The guard awoke and he just knew that he had failed. When he saw that the cell doors were open, he knew that the prisoners had escaped. He failed. In an honor and shame culture his failure brought shame upon himself, and upon his family. He would therefore do the “honorable” thing and fall upon his own sword.

            But … Paul saved him.

            He called out, “Stop! We are here! We did not run away. Do not harm yourself.”

            The jailer called for the torches to be lit, and he saw that Paul, and Silas, and the others were still there. Ironically, he then DID fail in his assignment. He led the prisoners out of the prison and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

            I should point out here that the jailer did not know anything about “salvation” as we know it. He was not asking about eternal or abundant life in God’s Kingdom. The word “saved” in first-century Greek referred to being ‘rescued’ or ‘delivered.’ The jailer’s question had to do with a very practical matter. He wanted to survive. He was essentially saying, “Sirs, what can I do to get out of this mess?”

            Of course, Paul saw the bigger picture. Paul saw the bigger mess, the larger issue at hand. He said to the jailer, “Let me tell you about Jesus Christ. Let me tell you about the Kingdom of God.”

            In the Kingdom of God, people are not thrown into prison for helping a young girl be set free from a powerful spirit.
            In the Kingdom of God, people are not exploited and used as tools to feed another’s greed and avarice.
            In the Kingdom of God, people are not asked to perform tasks that are inconsistent with their morals or their sense of right and wrong.

            “In the Kingdom of God, you …. Mister Jailer … would not be struggling with this dilemma. So, become a member of that kingdom rather than the empire to which you now belong. Proclaim that Jesus Christ is your Lord. Follow the Way of compassion, and justice, and generosity and you will live a whole new life. You will be free! Yes … YOU will be free! You will live in God’s peace … not Rome’s.”

            Sadly, we do not know what became of the slave girl. Set free from the spirit, we can only hope and pray that she was able to live a new life herself. Perhaps she was able to experience some peace. Perhaps she too found her way to a life in Christ.

            We do know that setting the slave girl free enabled Paul to set the jailer free. As a civil servant, he had been a “slave” to Rome, but through the power of Christian love and community and compassion he had been set free.

            Now, as we read this story twenty centuries later, what are we to make of it? How does it speak to us?

            My guess is that most of you have never been in shackles or placed in handcuffs. Most of you have not been locked in the stocks or tossed into a prison cell. However, there may be some of you that have felt as though you were being held captive by something. You may feel as though you are being held prisoner by doubts or fears. You may be held prisoner by expectations that you have for yourself or those that others have for you. You may feel as though you are being held prisoner by some guilt or shame. You may feel tethered or bound by insecurity. You may wear the shackles or the chains of prejudice or hatred.

            What we learn from this story is that the power of God was at work the whole time. We are assured that God is more powerful than a python spirit. We learn that God is more powerful than any of the chains that bind us. We are reminded that God is more powerful than prejudice, or hatred, or fear. Our faith tells us that God is the giver of life, and peace, and joy.

            We also learn that life will not always be easy. We know that there will still be days that are painful. We know that there will still be struggles along the way. But Jesus taught us that he is with us. He taught us that God is with us all the time. No matter what.

            The chains of fear are broken. The chains of shame are broken. The chains of intolerance and hate are broken. The chains of doubt are broken. And because of that we can sing.

            Be still, my soul! the Lord is on your side;
            Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
            Leave to your God to order and provide;
            In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
            Be still, my soul! your best, your heav’nly friend
            Thru' thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

            Our chains are broken. Let us live in the love and peace of God. Amen.

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