WILLING TO SUFFER
Opening Prayer
Lord God, as I read your Word today, give me faith to trust in all that it says, to depend on you in all that it calls me to do.
Read ACTS 16:16–24
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Paul and Silas in Prison
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’1
Paul continues his outreach in Philippi, growing the new church based in Lydia’s household. In this process he encounters a fortune-telling slave girl with a ‘python spirit’ (v. 16, in some translations), a reference to the serpent or dragon that guarded the famous Delphic oracle at Mount Parnassus. Paul becomes so annoyed that he eventually commands the spirit to come out of her in the name of Jesus. This unusual story contributes to one of Luke’s favorite themes: nothing can hinder the gospel, not even a powerful demonic spirit. It is one of a series of dramatic power encounters in Acts, all of which emphasize this important theological point about the supremacy of the Christian God.
Paul’s mission often damages the fortunes of pagan worshippers and craftsmen (as in Ephesus2). Here, the owners of the slave girl who have lost their ability to make money have Paul and Silas arrested and placed in custody. The two undergo a painful litany of punishments: they are stripped, severely flogged with rods,3 and locked in the inner cell of the local jail, with stocks around their feet. These stocks were painful wooden restraints placed around the ankles, used not just for security, but also for torture.
Once again, we see Paul suffering violence and injustice on behalf of the gospel. It seems that he has connected suffering with proclamation, and Luke presents this as the expected result of the mission. Paul teaches the new disciples in his churches, ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God’4 and he regularly models this. Acts is not triumphalist; though the gospel is triumphant, its bearers must walk the way of the cross, the way of suffering.
Apply
Following Jesus is costly: taking up our cross really hurts sometimes. Are you willing to suffer as you carry your cross, trusting Jesus? Ask God for grace to say ‘Yes.’
Closing prayer
Father, I lift up before you those you have been called to hard places for the sake of the gospel. Give them courage as they face danger in proclaiming the Good News for those who need to hear.
1 Luke 9:23 2 Acts 19:23–41 3 cf. 2 Cor 11:25 4 Acts 14:22
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