John 17:20-26

John 17:20-26

"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 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. ²⁴ Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

John 17:20-26, the conclusion of the prayer of Jesus, becomes a prayer for the readers. The conclusion of this final prayer of Jesus is that the witness of the church might bear fruit. Jesus prays for those who believe through the word disciples. That word is a present reality. The text refers to future believers in Jesus, especially those who believe Jesus is the Son of God.  They come to believe through the disciple's word.  They are Gentiles and Jews. Abiding and mutual indwelling as John views it involves abiding in a sphere of being, and this abiding in love is the union that unites believers to each other, as well as to Jesus and the Father.[1]

²⁰"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one. Sadly, the phrase has become, to many, a cliché - and as such has become the rallying cry for the ecumenical actions among many denominations. Since the ecumenical implications of these verses were scarcely in Jesus' mind, it is important that we examine this passage in the context of Jesus' whole prayer, and his hope for the witness that would follow his death. The Holy Spirit binds believers together, being present in the church in the proclamation of the gospel and celebration of the sacraments by which the Spirit draws believers into the fellowship of the Son and confirms them in it.[2] In the gospel of John, "oneness" is a central symbol. Jesus and the Father are one (10:30; 17:11), and Jesus desires all who come to faith to be one (vv. 21, 23). There is to be one flock and one shepherd (10:16). Even seamless robe of Jesus (19:23-24) and the untorn net (21:11) show this wholeness, this oneness, in John's gospel. The work of Jesus has been to gather the people, save them and unite them into one. When Jesus prays that the disciples will be one, he asks that they may all live in God, as Jesus dwells in God. While believers desire "oneness," oneness has its contrast in unbelief and/or distance from God. John describes that state as being lost or scattered (17:12; 18:9). The oneness of those who believe in Jesus has two prominent features. First, they believe in Jesus, and their belief is more than adherence to Jesus, but a full appreciation of who Jesus is: One with the Father. Secondly, those who have faith unite in their commission to preach to other humans, with the belief that faith will result from this work. If the Paraclete bears witness to Jesus, the Paraclete has also done this through the disciples and future believers (15:26-27). The unity of the believers has its model in the unity of the Father and the Son - unity that is fundamentally a united purpose, expressing itself in a common mission and message. Verses 21b-23 has a strong parallelism in words. Heavenly unity is a source and model for the believing community. I am not sure how we can read this today without acknowledging that he disunity of the church is a scandal.[3] As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one. Jesus says that the oneness of the believers flows from giving to the believers the glory that the Father has given to him, so that unity comes down from the Father and the Son to the believers. The action, therefore, of the believers is not the primary source of unity, but the relation of the believers to the Father and the Son and the relationship of the believers to each other. Visible unity must be visible enough to challenge the world to believe in Jesus, offering the same type of challenge that Jesus first offered to the disciples: a challenge to recognize God in Jesus. The Spirit draws believers into the glory that he receives from the Father. In the act of the glorifying of Jesus as the Son, which also glorifies the Father in the Son, believers share in the fellowship of the Son with the Father. Therefore, they also share in the glory of God by which the Son changes their own lives into imperishable fellowship with the eternal God.[4]Arians used this verse, suggesting a moral unity between Jesus and the Father.  Because glorifying by the Spirit effects the union of the Son with the Father as well as our own union with and in God, as we see here, Moltmann could link the consummation of salvation history in eschatology with the consummation of the Trinitarian life of God in itself. When all things are in God and God is “all in all,” then the economic Trinity is subsumed in the immanent Trinity.[5] The believers participate in the common glory of the Son and the Father.[6] 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. The unity and indwelling visible among the followers of Jesus challenges the world to believe in Jesus' mission.  Believers are to be one now, to have an effect on the world.  The gift of glory leads to the unity of believers and this in turn challenges the world to recognize Jesus.  Through the disciples, the world will get another chance.  The unity of believers will prove to the world that God has loved them.  Part of that unity is the love they have for one another. ²⁴Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.The prayer anticipates the passion of Jesus at this point. The love present within the Trinity is present because God is eternal love. [7] ²⁵ "Righteous Father, an interesting way to address the Father, given that the righteousness of God is so meager in the teaching of Jesus.[8] Jesus then says to the righteous Father that the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." The prayer anticipates the passion of Jesus at this point. Jesus made God's name known to those who believe in him - this is in the past. Jesus' name has already proclaimed to them, and they will continue to do so. In the future, believers will make known Jesus' name to others. There will be a continuation of Jesus' ministry through the Paraclete and believing community. Whereas Jesus was with them only for a brief time and will come again only at the consummation, the Spirit will stay with them always in 16:14.[9] Kasemann emphasizes the theme of separation in John, yet the New Testament distrusts the world.  One might wonder if the hope of joining Jesus in heaven precludes the apocalyptic hope we find in other parts of the New Testament. No, for though John has a realized eschatology, it does not preclude looking to the end.  The goal of Jesus here is not so much a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1), but the gathering of souls into Jesus' heavenly home. This prayer ends on a theme of the indwelling of Jesus in the believers. It suggests a strong Covenant Theology. The discourse begins in 13:34 with a new commandment of love, and this new covenant - John has no explicit Eucharistic body and blood - recalls the Sinai covenant, when the glory of God that resided on the mountain came to dwell in the tabernacle, which was amid Israel (Exodus 24:16; 40:34). Jesus is the new tabernacle, and the divine glory dwells in him (1:14) - the human longing for the indwelling of God (cf. Isaiah 7:14) is accomplished in the Christ event. At the end of the prayer, in a covenantal setting, Jesus now promises to give the believers the glory that God gave to him.] [In verses 24-26, Jesus' wish is that believers be with him.  We hear that God has already united the believers to Jesus here on earth.

The motion in John's gospel is downward and outward, and this prayer reflects that movement. Jesus descends to speak the truth of God and mounts up to God by means of the cross. In coming down and going up, Jesus gathers people to himself; up from darkness and lostness; from unbelief into life with God. To dwell in God and have God in one's life is "oneness." When Jesus prays that the disciples will be one, he asks that they dwell in God. Jesus is the One the disciples know as Lord and God (20:28), and he prays that for all eternity he may be in them.

We need to discuss the ecumenical element of these verses. Does it refer to church unity?  If so, it is important in ecumenical discussion.  Some would stress the diversity of Father and Son, however.  In addition, B. Haring suggests it as a model for church organization.  Note that unity has its origin in divine action and is not just a human endeavor.  There is a vertical unity with Father and Son and a horizontal unity of believers symbolized in love.  The fact that this union must be visible enough to challenge the world is against a purely spiritual union.  Jesus challenged the world out of his unity with the Father.  The community of believers challenges the world through its unity with Father, Son, and one another.

What does this prayer for unity mean? Jesus did not establish an organization. To fulfill its mission, however, the church of the first century gradually organized. Concerns grew regarding how Jewish and Gentile factions could remain unified. We need to share those concerns. I think of the differing cultures we see expressed in Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal, high church, low church, and so on. The history of the church is far more about dividing and multiplying than about unifying. Yet, beneath these changes, the desire to follow Jesus is what unifies. 

The prayer reflects a basic reality of life on earth. Life is interrelated. We are part of an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Reality has a structure of interrelatedness. Ponder the way our economics depends upon interrelationships. You may use a sponge made by a Pacific islander and a bar of soap by someone from France. You may drink coffee from South America or tea from China. You may drink your cocoa from West Africa. Your toast may depend upon an American farmer and the local baker. In other words, before you finish breakfast, you have depended upon half the world. The universe has such an interrelated structure and quality. We are not going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.[10]

Yet, this passage often leads people to suggest that we ignore real differences.  

I find it hard to offer justification theologically, spiritually, or biblically for a plurality of churches that separate and mutually exclude each other. That type of plurality means a plurality of lords. Yet, good grounds for divisions exist. To study the history of the Vatican in the 14-1500s is to see that division needed to happen. Serious obstacles to the removal of such grounds exist as well. At the same time, every division is a riddle and scandal. I hope that our awareness of such division unites us in penitence. Our historical and actual division does not arise from Christ or from apostolic intention. When the risen Lord breathed the Spirit into the disciples, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the first followers of Jesus at Pentecost, the intent was not the plurality we experience today. To explain or justify is to accept it as normal and acceptable. When we turn to Christ and the apostolic witness, the call is to oneness. This oneness is the truth, regardless of history or our experience. I grant that the providential care of God is such that God has taken the scandal and turned into good (Romans 8:28).[11] We can be thankful that we have overcome many divisions of the past to the point where we do not mutually exclude each other from worship and witness together. Many Christian groups have advanced to a point where they accept the baptism from other groups and can unite in sharing the Lord’s Supper.

The theme of oneness has made me reflect upon the difficulty we human beings have in accomplishing it.

While in Vincennes, IN, I was the first pastor of the merged congregation now known as Community UMC. It was the result of the merger of three congregations, one of which had been a former Evangelical United Brethren Church. Each congregation had their unique gift to offer to the merger. At least two of the three did not have to merge, in the sense that they could have continued onward for many more decades just as they were. Yet, a respected layperson in the community began to discuss the possibility of merging. Through several months of discussions, eventually they voted to merge. A fourth congregation voted not to join. The congregations grew to know each other well before the merger. They started doing more things together. They pondered what they could do together for the cause of Christ that they could not do separately. They received some very good encouragement from the District Superintendent and from the Annual Conference. They had good lay leadership and they kept open lines of communication. They faced the challenges with courage. While we were constructing the new church building across from the High School, a moment came at a Board meeting when a difference of opinion made it look like the merger would fall apart right then. Then, one of the young men, a hog farmer who was from the church that had voted not to join, spoke a word that was from God. You could feel the tension leave the room. 

I have been thinking of the image of the church as the Body of Christ. It suggests unity. Let us begin with a simple admission.

First, unity is difficult. If you study the history of the church, you discover that the church is far more about spin-offs and breakups than mergers. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to God, said Paul, but the churches find it hard reconcile to each other. The practical difficulty is that the culture and values of a body of people are important and deserve respect. Differing aims, refusal to adapt, and differing values, will split apart an existing group and keep unification from occurring. To put it bluntly, we must not make an idol out of unity. With the same force, we must not think of division so easily, as if to say it is like going from one room to another. 

Second, we need to focus more on posture than position. The problem is not just difference. The problem is the struggle we have when we become so deep in our position that we can no longer respect the position of those who differ from us. Unity will be impossible when we have lost respect for those who differ. Yet, we are quick to defend our positions. Maybe we need further reflection on our posture. Look at the relationship between Jesus and the Father. Gaze upon its unity and togetherness. Gaze upon the love that flows between Father and Son. Here is the posture, the model, for how we are to be toward each other. We bring glory to God when we adopt that posture, regardless of the position we hold. 

Third, unity and glory go together. "The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one as we are one" (John 17:22). "Glory" is a major theme in John's gospel, and here Jesus uses it to describe both what he has received from the Father and what he has given to his disciples. We reflect divine glory, of course, rather than glorify self, church, doctrine, or position. Focusing on divine glory makes clearer the path toward unity.

In addition, what is the revelation of this glory? We know this glory through our love for God and one another. "I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them," (John 17: 26). This is akin to what Jesus says in John 15:12, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." Notice the chain of love -- the Father gives his love to Jesus, Jesus gives it to us and we give it to one another. 

An icon of the Holy Trinity was painted by Andrei Rublev in 1425. Artists always painted the last supper with peculiar seating arrangements.  Leonardo da Vinci oddly (if you think about it) put Jesus and all the disciples along the same one side of a long table, not just so we could study their faces and gestures, but so we might acknowledge a place for ourselves across the table from our Lord, from the saints of old. Rublev depicts Father, Son, and Spirit as angels occupying three sides of a table, with the fourth side open, inviting the viewer to join them. Henri Nouwen notes that this icon is not simply a lovely decoration. If we place ourselves in front of it, we “experience the gentle invitation to participate in the intimate conversation” taking place. The invitation is there to join them around the table.[12]

This is my destiny, my identity, my hope – and it is your destiny, and that of the person next to you. Think of the most difficult person in your life to whom you must relate. Remember this. God made that person for this destiny as well. Here is a holy invitation to have a secure place at the table of this Trinity of tender love.

Rublev painted this icon during a time of political turmoil and hatred, a striking stroke of hope in troubled time. Is this not our most desperate desire? That our only hope during harsh times is being drawn into that holy circle of love? This is glory, knowing there is a place in God’s own heart, for me. This is my desire, my joy, my reality, my truth.

This is unity. In a world of strife, in a place where there is no peace, we try to resolve conflicts by applying force. We seem willing to beat the other into submission, literally or metaphorically. We seem content with the superficial unity gained by truces and by policing one another. However, true unity is an offer to us to reside in the remarkable home that is ours with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit painted so peacefully by Rublev.  Jürgen Moltmann put it like this:  

 

Through their tenderly intimate inclination towards one another, the three Persons show the profound unity joining them, in which they are one. The chalice on the table points to the surrender of the Son on Golgotha. Just as the chalice stands at the center of the table round which the three Persons are sitting, so the cross of the Son stands from eternity in the center of the Trinity. Anyone who grasps the truth of this picture understands that it is only in the unity with one another which springs from the self-giving of the Son “for many” that men and women are in conformity with the triune God.[13]

 

        Our glory is our belonging in the loving life of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our glory implies unity, and our unity is our glory.  Yet, we are not good at unity, even in church. 

        One of the questions we might ask ourselves often as we merge with Jesus' vision is this: Are we working toward becoming the church for which Jesus prayed?  Corporations have a tough time pulling off mergers because everyone tends to be in it for themselves. Could Christians successfully merge because we are in it for God's glory, mission and love -- and nothing else? That would truly be a marriage made in heaven! 

        Arthur Burns, a Jew in Washington DC, offered this prayer. "Lord, I pray that you would bring Jews to know Jesus Christ. I pray that you would bring Muslims to know Jesus Christ. Finally, Lord, I pray that you would bring Christians to know Jesus Christ. Amen." Not only did he startle those present with refreshing directness, but he also underscored a point about 'Christians' and 'Christianity' that needs repeating regularly. It highlights another important aspect of the truth of calling: Calling reminds Christians ceaselessly that, far from having arrived, a Christian is someone who in this life is always on the road as 'a follower of Christ' and a follower of 'the Way.'"[14]

---

[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 183.

[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 134.

[3] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1 [62.2] 677.

[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 11.

[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 330, referring to Moltmann, Crucified God, p. 265-66, and Trinity, 125ff, 126-27, 160.

[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 625.

[7]  (Barth, 2004, 1932-67) II.1 [28.2] 279.

[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology volume 1, 434.

[9] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 453.

[10]  --Martin Luther King Jr., from "A Christmas Sermon on Peace," First delivered at the Ebenezer Baptist Church where he served as co-pastor. On Christmas Eve, 1967, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired this sermon as part of the seventh annual Massey Lectures. ecoflourish.com. Retrieved December 2, 2015.

[11]      – Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1, G. W. Bromiley, trans., Edinburgh: T.&T. Clark, 1956, pp. 675–677

[12] (Henri Nouwen, Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons [Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1987], p. 20.)

[13] (Jürgen Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom: The Doctrine of God [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993], p. xvi.)

[14] Os Guinness in his book, The Call (1998), p. 101.

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

¹² "See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone's work. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." ¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁶ "It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." ¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let everyone who hears say, "Come." And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. ²⁰ The one who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! ²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

            Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 are part of the epilogue found in verses 6-21. They are part of the description of Eternal Jerusalem.  The heavenly Jesus announces his imminent return, offers promises of eternal life to those who remain faithful, and makes several statements concerning his own identity. The account of the visions and heavenly journeys in this book has had the intent to exhort Christians in Asia Minor to increased faithfulness.

¹² "See, I am coming soon. We find these words three times previously in Revelation (2:16; 3:11; 22:7), and in each case it is on lips of Jesus. My reward is with me, to repay according to everyone's work. Only the risen Lord can do this. Revelation also presents Jesus as an eschatological judge of deeds in 2:23, a role that the gospel tradition similarly ascribes to Jesus as the Son of Man (e.g., Matthew 16:27). Rewards, by definition, are favors or perks bestowed based on performance. Jesus says as much when he says that his rewards program is based on “everyone’s work.” So, it would appear that some tallying system is in place in the marketing department of heaven whereby points accumulate for each of us, and these points are directly tied to our “work” on earth. We do not know the nature of these rewards, but we do know, based on the words of our Lord himself and the abundance of biblical citations, that the rewards are coming. Consider a small sampling:

“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done” (Matthew 16:27).

“For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

“Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward” (2 John 8).

“For he will repay according to each one’s deeds” (Romans 2:6).

 

In Revelation, Jesus is the one who brings judgment functions both as a promise and as a warning. In the case of those who persevere in faith, the speedy return of Jesus is a source of hope and encouragement (e.g., 3:11). However, in the context of apostasy or immorality, the message of the return of Jesus has the intention of leading to repentance (e.g., 2:16). Is this type of reward, based upon a future act of the Lord that we have no way of experiencing in this life, sufficient to attract and keep followers? Jesus seems to indicate that some rewards will be greater than others. Speaking to the farmers and townspeople in the area of Tiberius, Jesus said in his “Sermon on the Mount,” “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). Jesus could have said that those who are persecuted and reviled will receive an unspecified reward on judgment day. But instead, he explicitly says that the reward will be a tier above, a step above ? a reward unlike the typical reward received by those who have merely been faithful. Throughout Scripture, this reward seems to be linked to suffering. Those who undergo suffering for Jesus’ sake are, ipso facto, members of a unique club. To these sufferers, Jesus will offer “crowns.” There are several tiers or types of crowns:

 

Imperishable crown: “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one” (1 Corinthians 9:25). This crown, or garland, is given to the spiritual athlete who has trained, suffered and sacrificed to win the race. Paul reminds his readers in the previous verse that not everyone wins this prize. The winners of an imperishable crown have suffered much.

 

Crown of rejoicing: “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? Yes, you are our glory and joy!” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20). Some Bible teachers refer to this crown as the “Soul Winners’ Crown.” The apostle Paul expected the Thessalonian church to be his “crown of rejoicing” when he gets in line to receive his reward (see the NKJV).

 

Crown of righteousness: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). Here, the link between suffering for the sake of the gospel and the reward of a crown is explicit.

 

Crown of glory: “And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away” (1 Peter 5:4).

 

Crown of life: “Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).

 

Other tiers might include something the apostle Paul called an inheritance. For example: “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24).

 

And finally, there is a reward level that involves great administrative responsibilities: “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’” (Matthew 25:21).

 

American Colonial theologian Jonathan Edwards preaches on the subject of rewards in heaven, acknowledging that some will be rewarded more richly than others, although no one will be envious of anyone else. Here is a classic way of dealing with such passages.

 

There are different degrees of happiness and glory in heaven. As there are degrees among the angels, viz. thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers; so there are degrees among the saints. In heaven are many mansions, and of different degrees of dignity. The glory of the saints above will be in some proportion to their eminency in holiness and good works here.

 

Christ will reward all according to their works. He that gained ten pounds was made ruler over ten cities, and he that gained five pounds over five cities. Luke 19:17; 2 Cor. 9:6, “He that soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” …

 

It will be no damp to the happiness of those who have lower degrees of happiness and glory, that there are others advanced in glory above them. For all shall be perfectly happy, every one shall be perfectly satisfied. Every vessel that is cast into this ocean of happiness is full, though there are some vessels far larger than others.

 

And there shall be no such thing as envy in heaven, but perfect love shall reign through the whole society. Those who are not so high in glory as other, will not envy those that are higher, but they will have so great, and strong, and pure love to them, that they will rejoice in their superior happiness.[1]

 

 

In verse 13, we find three statements of self-predication on the part of Jesus, all of which the reader encounters earlier in Revelation. The interesting thing, however, is that not all of these predicates had applied to Jesus; some had rather been used of God. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega (1:8 and 21:6 refer to God), the first and the last 1:17 and 2:8 refer to Jesus as well), the beginning and the end (21:6 refers to God)." The author of the work is thus quite comfortable in attributing epithets to Jesus that are also used of God, which demonstrates a view of Jesus’ identity that would be at home with the prologue to the Fourth Gospel (John 1:1-18). The three predicates all seem to express the idea of Jesus’ eternal existence. The phrases are a statement of the mystery that we mean by the word “God.”[2] They refer to the notion that the exalted Lord shares the life of the Father that embraces all ages.[3] God is not restricted to being first or last. God stands above the alternative of beginning and end and is Lord of both. For him, one of the challenges of a theology of creation is to express the way in which the eternal God embraces the beginning and end of the creaturely world by not only bringing forth time as the form of existence for creation but by having the divine life enter the created world in way that preserves it and rules it.[4] Verses 14-15 are a final blessing. ¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life (see 22:2) and may enter the city by the gates. We have the seventh and final beatitude in the Book of Revelation. The other six are in 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7. The beatitude is like 7:14. The form “blessed are…” is the same as that of the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5:3-11, Luke 6:20-22]). The meaning of this beatitude is not immediately clear, but a survey of similar language in the rest of the book can shed some light on the problem. In 2:7, those who have access to the tree of life are those who “conquer,” a reference to persevering in good works. Revelation also makes an association between clean garments and right living in 3:4, where those who have “not soiled their clothes” are the few in Sardis who are worthy to walk with Jesus. Thus it seems fair to understand “those who wash their robes” in 22:14 as a reference to those who have maintained faithful obedience to Jesus and his teachings. To these individuals immortal life is granted (“the right to the tree of life”), life that will be lived in “the city,” i.e., the New Jerusalem described in 21:1-22:5.

            ¹⁶ "It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you (plural in Greek) with this testimony (the content of the book of Revelation) for (the benefit of) the churches. We should probably thus assume that John’s fellow prophets, a group that is mentioned in 22:9, are intended to work alongside John in disseminating the content of his visions to the churches of Asia Minor. I am the root and the descendant of David (an allusion to the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 11:10), the bright morning star (alluding to a messianic prophecy (Numbers 24:17), appearing earlier in Revelation 2:28)." These self-predications emphasize his messianic identity. Verses 17-21 have a liturgical ring to them.[5]  ¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." I find this to be a beautiful image. It most likely means that the Holy Spirit and the Church respond to Jesus’ assertion that he is coming (22:12) with a hopeful and expectant “Come!” “Everyone who hears” should articulate this same sentiment; thus, the reader of the book should also yearn for the imminent return of Jesus. And let everyone who hears say, "Come." And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift (John 4:13-14). It is not clear to whom the text addresses the invitation; some scholars think it is an invitation to the Eucharist (and thus 22:6-17 would have a liturgical function), while others view it as directed to those not yet part of the Christian community, and still others understand it as an expression of encouragement to beleaguered Christians.

            ²⁰ The one who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (in Aramaic, maranatha)! This might be a prayer for the eschatological return of Christ. Yet, its use in I Corinthians 16:22 may also connect the word to a relation to the Lord present at the Eucharist. “Maranatha” is not just a request for the eschatological coming of the ascended Lord to consummate the kingdom, but also as a request for his coming for table fellowship in anticipation of the coming rule of God. The phrase is a petition. Yet, it is also a proclamation of the presence of the Lord in the Supper. In the second century, the congregation addressed this proclamation to the Logos and to the Spirit.[6] John's Revelation clearly expects that Jesus will literally be returning at any moment. The struggling, persecuted, fragile churches in those first years long for the new age to be inaugurated by Christ's presence. But until the Parousia becomes a reality, the infant church finds solace and strength by bringing Christ's presence into their midst through the Eucharist. Their longing for Christ to "come" is answered liturgically and experienced spiritually every time the bread is broken and the cup is drunk. In this way, John's final word to every church reading his letter comes true. In each celebration of the bread and the cup, ²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen. John adds an epistolary postscript in 20:21 (cf Romans 16:22, 1 Corinthians 16:21, and the other letters of Paul), reminding us that the entire book has the form of a letter (see 1:4). Although the book of Revelation is filled with mysterious messages, magnificent visions and astounding, even inexplicable portents, it remains at its heart a letter. In its most basic form, Revelation is simply a letter sent out by a prisoner-preacher, intended to be read aloud to the small and struggling churches scattered throughout the Asian region.

The concluding note is one of comfort, of love, of encouragement. He closes his book with visions of hope and of heaven, promising that at the last we shall enjoy the vision of God because of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. John has written to provide pastoral encouragement for Christians confronted with persecution and cruelty. The book intends to help them face their fear, renew their commitment, and sustain their vision. One might legitimately wonder if genuine Christianity can exist if it does live in this expectation. It must live with this promise, and not just celebrate possession, even though that presence is undeniable. In that sense, the church is always in its Advent season. It hopes for the world’s redemption and consummation, looking and marching toward it, in a movement from Christmas, Good Friday, and especially Easter.[7]

Within each of us is a desire for inclusion in a future life with God; all that is required is that we knock on the door that beckons to us and ask to come home. As C.S. Lewis wrote, “If I find in myself desires that nothing in this world can satisfy, then the logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

In my better moments, I believe this. I keep trying to do so. After all, if I were to follow Occam’s razor, the only explanation for this world is this world, rather than an appeal to another world. Christians have more than a pious wish for the end to be as the Book of Revelation describes it. Its foundation, of course, is the resurrection of Jesus. Properly understood, his resurrection points us in the direction of the future redemption of creation, human history, and our individual lives.

In Phaedo, Plato presents a speech of Socrates on the last day of his life, delivered to Phaedo. Scholars think of it as coming from the middle period of the writings of Plato. The theme, quite naturally, is that of death, immortality, and the philosophic way of life. Socrates makes the case that the way of life of a philosopher is to prepare one to die. For Plato, the human mind or soul can get into non-sensible contact with the ideal and eternal objects of the transcendent world. We are briefly at home here, but we are also lastingly at home there (107cd). He argues that the immortal is obviously imperishable. The Form of Good, Beauty, Justice, and so on, is assurance that they do exist with certainty, even if they are present in an imperfect and uncertain way here. The point is that these perfect Forms participate in their sensible imitation in the world. Plato moves toward the end with a mythological story of the nature of the afterlife (107c). If the soul is immortal, we need to cultivate it in this life for the sake of its life in eternity. The guardian spirit of each soul will judge the goodness and piety of their lives. He thinks those who lived pious lives will have release from the prison that earth had become. Those who purify themselves with philosophy will live in the future without the body. They make their way to beautiful dwelling places. We need to share our virtue and wisdom in the course of our lives because the reward is beautiful and the hope is great. Here is the point I want to stress. He makes it clear that a sensible person would not insist upon the truth of the myth. However, he does think it worth risking the belief, for the risk is a noble one. One can be cheerful of one’s soul because one has ignored the pleasures of the body and concerned oneself with the pleasures of learning, such as moderation, righteousness, courage, freedom and truth (114c-115a). 

The Book of Revelation presents a noble belief. Its nobility lies in its realism of the human situation. This world is a battle in which we will need to take sides. The economic and political institutions that human beings create can become beastly. They can set themselves against the good people of the nation. They can set themselves against the church. Behind these types of governments are forces of evil. They are demonic and satanic. They are at war with God and therefore with the people of God. The spiritual battle is real. We will need to make choices. Yet, in the drama presented by the Book of Revelation, in the end, the spiritual battle will be a cleansing, renewing, and transforming one. God will find a way to perform a new act of revelation that will bring into existence the redemption of creation, human history, and of our individual lives. The spiritual battle in which we engage in this life will have its fulfillment in this eschatological act of God. We will not have earned it. The act is pure gift and grace. I think speculating about its specifics is not fruitful, however, for it will surprise us how God fulfills this promise. In my better moments, I am willing to live my life with the belief that the surprise of God will come.

---

[1] Jonathan Edwards, “The Portion of the Righteous,” December, 1740, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, online at Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

[2] Gordon D. Kaufman (In Face of Mystery: A Constructive Theology, 1993, p. xix, 414, 438)

[3] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 402)

[4] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 2, 140).

[5] Caird

[6] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 320)

[7] Barth (Church Dogmatics IV.3, [69.4], 322)

Acts 16:16-34

Acts 16:16-34

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." ¹⁸ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. ¹⁹ But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. ²⁰ When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews ²¹ and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." ²² The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. ²³ After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. ²⁴ Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. ²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. ²⁷ When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." ²⁹ The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" ³¹ They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." ³² They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³ At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. ³⁴ He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

Acts 16:16-34 shows circumstances surrounding the imprisonment of Paul and Silas and their deliverance.  It provides me an opportunity to discuss friendship and joy in the midst of trying circumstances.

Acts 16:16-24 shows circumstances surrounding the imprisonment of Paul and Silas and their deliverance.  It provides me an opportunity to discuss friendship and joy in the midst of trying circumstances.

Luke saturates the passage in irony. It follows the recounting of Paul’s vision of a Macedonian man beckoning the apostle to come (16:9). Then Luke records that Paul crosses over to Macedonia, enters the city of Philippi, finds a place of prayer (by the riverside, v. 13), and encounters not a Macedonian man, but two women — Lydia from Thyatira and a slave-girl. Apparently still enjoying the hospitality of their first convert in Europe, Lydia, Paul and some pilgrims become embroiled in a conflict that pits religious, economic and class forces against them. 

People who think they are free often do not realize the bondage out of which they live their lives. The addicted person often does not realize the destructive force of the addiction. The person who does physical violence and abuse to another human being does not often see the bondage they have to hate. The racist or anti-Semite does not feel the irrational compulsion out of which they live. The person devoted to experiencing sexual pleasure does not feel the bondage in the moment of passion. Such bondage leads to death. Such persons need liberation, even if they do not know it.

God wants to save people in bondage, whether in societal prisons or in prisons they have made. God wants the church to carry the message of liberation to all such persons. Yes, Christians take a personal risk in bringing the good news to people in bondage. We take the risk, however, with God at our side, for God wants genuinely free people: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall indeed be saved from whatever holds you in bondage.

In contrast to the conversion of Lydia, a woman of some prominence to support her own household as a seller of purple fabrics, Luke shares the story of a nameless, possessed slave-girl, who supports her owner’s household as a fortuneteller (16:16-18). ¹⁶One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination ("spirit of pythoness.") and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. The slave-girl is in her own unique prison, of course. The text does not treat the girl as if she is a fraud, who misleads others into thinking her predictions are reliable by throwing her voice. The text implies there is an actual spirit present that speaks through her. The slave girl is not, however, the first magical practitioner that Paul has met. Acts is careful to draw contrasts between the apostles and their actions and charlatan magicians and theirs. In addition to Simon Magus (whom we meet in Acts 8:9-24), in Acts 13:6-11 Paul blinds a magician named Bar-Jesus (also called Elymas) to keep him from preventing their conversion of the proconsul Sergius Paulus. In Acts 13, Luke tells us that the magician is a false prophet, so perhaps that is why Paul is so harsh with him. ¹⁷ While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." Most scholars read the spirit's messages as demonic insights, like the encounters of Jesus with demons. Further, the response of Paul to rebuke the spirit and have it come out is also a parallel to what Jesus did. Other scholars, however, are not so sure. The spirit-possessed girl makes her proclamation before a Gentile population of Philippi. In that context, to those listeners, this spirit's choice of titles is purposefully ambiguous. "The most high god" was a title used by both Jews and Gentiles with very different connotations. She spoke the truth. So, why is Paul annoyed? While "the Most High God" spoke of a monotheistic, omnipotent deity for Jews, Gentiles also used this same title to designate any divine being --from local gods to the chief Roman deity Zeus. Thus, for the Gentile crowds hearing this girl's declaration, the uniqueness and authority of Paul's message was still unproved. He did not want others to perceive him as working in conjunction with other gods and powers. After all, this has already landed him in trouble at Lystra where he had to differentiate between the “living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them” with the “vain” and implied dead gods of Zeus and Hermes (14:8-18). Now he is in a comparable situation. He must differentiate his gospel of the true, living God, who made the cosmos, from the perceived power of an oracle believed to have the authority to tame the cosmos.

¹⁸ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. Given the ambiguity of the message, little wonder then that Paul invokes "the name of Jesus Christ" to banish this bothersome spirit. Although the girl's loud cries may have attracted crowds, the message this spirit sent was confusing, even misleading, to the primarily Gentile listeners of Philippi. In verses 16-18, Luke’s significance to this story is to dissociate Paul's action from magic.  However, against his will Paul has to make use of magical means to drive out the evil spirit.  It goes back to tradition. According to Romans 15:18-19 and II Corinthians 12:12, Paul did miracles.  Whether this is one of them is another matter.^[1] Translation difficulties are present here. Classical Greek understood "python" to refer to the snake Apollo killed that once guarded the oracle at Delphi. However, the LXX connected this type of spiritualist activity with the witch of Endor in I Samuel 28, and that by Roman times, python and related terms had come to refer to ventriloquists who claimed that a god spoke through them.^[2] Owning a slave possessed of such a famous and infamous spirit was clearly a boon to this girl's owners. While Lydia converts willingly to the message preached by Paul and serves as a vehicle for the conversion of her household, the slave-girl is unconsciously and unwittingly a vehicle of truth to all who hear her. Yet, her possession is a threat to the truth of the very message that she heralds. Her story becomes representative of far greater powers at play. In fact, this story differs from other exorcisms in the New Testament. Paul speaks no words directly to the evil spirit. Luke records no demonstration of the departure of the spirit. Luke records no astonishment from those who witness the exorcism. It does not lead to the spreading of the gospel. In fact, it leads to opposition. ¹⁹ But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. Though liberated from the Apollonian spirit that had possessed her, the young girl is still a slave, the moneymaking property of others. Paul's exorcism had profound economic ramifications for the girl's owners. They are incensed at Paul's denying them a tidy source of income from the girl's fortunetelling activities. The charges the slave girl's owners brought against Paul and Silas, however, do not focus on the exorcism's economic catastrophe. ²⁰ When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews ²¹ and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." Their accusers argue a case against Paul and Silas based on class distinctions and religious differences. They do not identify Paul and Silas as “servants of the Most High God.” Now, they are “Jews” who are “throwing the city into confusion” and proclaiming not salvation, but customs that are unlawful for “Romans.” They stress the foreign nature of these disciples: both strangers to "our city" and "Jews," a twofold oddness. The slave girl's owners charge that Paul and Silas, as Jews, are advocating the practice of customs that undermine Roman law and practice. Furthermore, the girl's owners suggest that civil unrest may result from the preachments of Paul and Silas, which incite the good Roman citizens of this colony to embrace customs "that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." ²² The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. ²³ After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Verses 22-23 agree with I Thessalonians 2:2, which refers to the great difficulties Paul and Silas experienced in Philippi, and thus go back to tradition.^[3] 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. In verses 19-24, imprisonment, the physical chastisements by the Romans in 22-23 may go back to tradition.^[4] The accusations, coupling fear of difference with fear of civil unrest, is enough to prompt both the ruling magistrates and the crowd to take fierce action. The magistrates summon court enforcement officers who carried bundles of rods with them to demonstrate their authority to administer the beating customarily given prisoners. They intended the beatings to force damaging confessions from the accused. However, since Roman citizens were exempt from this form of coercion, the court clearly acts with a kind of ethnically inspired rage against Paul -- seeing him only as a Jew and a stranger. Elsewhere Luke depicts Rome to be tolerant, even friendly.  Here Rome punishes for little reason. 

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church, in a sermon in 2013, offers an example of how divided the Christian community has become in their use of scripture. She said that we live with the continuing tension between holier impulses that encourage us to see the image of God in all human beings and the reality that some of us choose not to see that glimpse of the divine, and instead use other people as means to an end.  We are seeing something similar right now in the changing attitudes and laws about same-sex relationships, as many people come to recognize that different is not the same thing as wrong.  For many people, it can be difficult to see God at work in the world around us, particularly if God is doing something unexpected.” To illustrate her point a presiding bishop turned to the book of Acts, noting, “There are some remarkable examples of that kind of blindness in the readings we heard this morning, and slavery is wrapped up in a lot of it.  Paul is annoyed at the slave girl who keeps pursuing him, telling the world that he and his companions are slaves of God.  She is quite right.  She’s telling the same truth Paul and others claim for themselves,” Bishop Jefferts Schori said, referencing the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. “But Paul is annoyed, perhaps for being put in his place, and he responds by depriving her of her gift of spiritual awareness.  Paul cannot abide something he will not see as beautiful or holy, so he tries to destroy it.  It gets him thrown in prison.  That’s pretty much where he’s put himself by his own refusal to recognize that she, too, shares in God’s nature, just as much as he does – maybe more so!,” the presiding bishop said. The New Testament passage goes on to say that Paul and Silas were imprisoned for freeing the girl of her demonic possession. Presiding Bishop noted, “An earthquake opens the doors and sets them free, and now Paul and his friends most definitely discern the presence of God.  The jailer does not – he thinks his end is at hand.” However, Paul now repents of his mistake in casting out the spirit of divination, she argues.  “This time, Paul remembers who he is and that all his neighbors are reflections of God, and he reaches out to his frightened captor.  This time Paul acts with compassion rather than annoyance, and as a result the company of Jesus’ friends expands to include a whole new household.  It makes me wonder what would have happened to that slave girl if Paul had seen the spirit of God in her.”

            Richard Pervo, in his book Profit With Delight: The Literary Genre of the Acts of the Apostles,^[5] has argued that Luke intended people to read and hear Acts as entertainment. He sees the dramatic elements of the story, at least in part, as means to captivate an ancient audience. How better to expose them to the travels and travails of the apostles than with a work that would hold their attention and feed their desire to be entertained by a gripping story? One of the first interesting features of this passage is the fact that the narrator speaks here in the vivid language of the first person - "when WE were going to the place of prayer, WE met a slave girl ...." The next compelling feature of the story is the slave girl who predicts the future. The next dramatic contrast set up by the story is between the Christian missionaries Paul and Silas and the avaricious owners of the slave girl who resent the money they will now lose because Paul has cast out her spirit. 

The theme of Acts 16:25-40 is the deliverance of Paul and his companions from prison. The story shifts as Paul and Silas praise God amid their circumstance, and God acts. In the middle of the night, amid darkness, and amid their chaos, God acts through the form of an earthquake that effectively removes the fetters of all the prisoners and opens all the doors while miraculously not harming a single person. (This deliverance of Paul and Silas is reminiscent of Peter’s escape from jail in chapter 12.) The story of the jailer becomes another example of a proper conversion.

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners, true criminals, no doubt, were listening to them. Paul and Silas were bringing the light of Christ into a very dark place by ministering among fellow prisoners. ²⁶ Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. The unique power and authority of "the Most High God" whose message Paul and Silas preach is demonstrated by the earthquake that shakes apart the prisoners' chains and bars but keeps ceilings and walls safely intact. Note Euripides, Bacchae 455ff for a similar incident.  The Bacchae, who were chained in the state prison, were freed by calling on the god Bromios: 'The chains dropped off their feet by themselves and the bolts on the doors were opened without mortal hands.' Yet, there is no escape from jail.  The free prisoners remain quietly in their cells.  The only purpose is the conversion of the jailer.  It is not unusual that doors should spring open, but that the fetters should fall away is possible only in a miracle. ²⁷ When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. The sleeping jailer awoke to a grim reality. Since the jailer’s sole responsibility was to guard this prison, he faces great dishonor and death for losing prisoners (compare with the execution of Peter’s guards in 12:19). The jailer's first inclination -- to commit suicide when faced with what he believes to be his prisoners' escape -- suggests he may be one of the many retired Roman soldiers in Philippi. In the Roman army, any failure of duty was deemed reason enough to commit one final "honorable" act, suicide.  ²⁸ But Paul shouted in a loud voice, saving the life of the jailer, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." ²⁹ The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Just as the python spirit had predicted in verse 17, Paul and Silas do indeed proclaim the way of salvation. This jailer becomes a part of a "saving" motif that is familiar in Luke/Acts (cf. Luke 3:10; 10:25; 18:18; Acts 2:37). Yet, the jailer's response to this situation appears abrupt. Although there is no evidence that he has heard the gospel message -- except, significantly enough, within the context and content of the hymns Paul and Silas had been singing -- this Roman jailer recognizes a demonstration of profound power and might when he sees it. ³¹ They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." The source of the quaking, shaking power the jailer has experienced, Paul and Silas reveal, is "the Lord Jesus" -- the only one who has the power to save and protect. ³² They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. The jailer ministers to Paul and Silas. ³³ At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. Some students of the Bible take the reference to the baptism of the household as the New Testament basis for infant baptism. Such verses were a slender rope upon which to build a biblical basis for infant baptism, for even in these verses, the sequence is that of preaching, faith, and baptism.^[6]We can draw no firm conclusions as to the baptism of infants from such statements. All such a statement tells us is that turning to faith in the message about Christ was not always an isolated individual decision. Rather, from early times it might be a family matter. However, it is likely that this family decision in the first century became the basis for the widespread practice of the baptism of infants by the third century. One could also refer to Acts 16:15, 18:8, and I Corinthians 1:16. ^[7] 34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God. Not only does the jailer believe, but also, like Lydia, his whole household receives baptism.  As with Lydia, the gift of salvation elicits a response of gracious hospitality from the new converts. The one who had been responsible for keeping Paul and Silas securely jailed escorts them out to freedom and welcomes them into his own home. Again, as in Lydia's case, the conversion of the jailer brings his entire household with him. His newly baptized family joins with him in extending the hospitality of his home to those who had been jailed as strangers and Jews only the evening before.

            The jailhouse scene that closes this passage provides readers with another proper example of a conversion. According to Pervo, the final portion of the story in which authorities throw Paul and Silas into jail was something Luke intended to be entertaining, because ancient hearers would have found many details of the story FUNNY! First, the jailer does not just put Paul and Silas in jail; he chains them and puts them into stocks.  This does not spoil their good humor, however, because even after being beaten, they still sing hymns loud enough for all the other prisoners to hear. Despite the chorus, however, the guard manages to fall asleep. If this does not inspire the image of the guard as an insensitive dullard, the next verse cinches it, for nothing less than an earthquake shakes the prison to its foundations, throws open the cell doors and loosens everybody's chains! Only THEN does the guard wake up, and even then, he does not say "Wow! An earthquake!" It is as if he simply wakes up from a deep sleep to find all the cell doors open. We find a similar incident in the play by Euripides, Bacchae 455ff.  The Bacchae, whom authorities chained in the state prison, were freed by calling on the god Bromios.

            Then, even though the guard does not deserve such a miracle, his prisoner who has thoughtfully neglected to run away prevents him from killing himself. At this point the narrative becomes a conventional conversion story again (see 2:37-41; 8:34-38; 10:33-48), ending with the conversion of the guard, who brings his entire family to have a meal with Paul and be baptized. Whether or not one views this passage as humorous, one can hardly argue with the fact that it is extremely dramatic and entertaining. Not only does the jailer believe, but also, like Lydia, Paul baptizes his whole household. Furthermore, the jailer ministers to Paul and Silas by tending to their wounds and breaking bread with them. Then, they all rejoice in their belief in God (v. 34).

            Luke is saying that God has led Paul and his companions to a new mission field.  The slave girl belongs to a syndicate that makes good earnings from her.  After several days of hearing from her, Paul commands the spirit to come out.  With that spirit gone, the owners take out their revenge.  They accuse them of spreading Jewish propaganda.  The crowd takes sides quickly.  After the beating, they are taken to the innermost cell.  The mission is at end.  However, a miracle happens.  They are released.  The mission can now go on.  From a happy beginning, it leads into a situation of hopeless distress and danger.  However, God proves stronger than the afflictions and uses them to serve his own purposes.  How could one despair at trying circumstances?  Luke has recounted this narrative that his readers might gather strength from it.  In particular, the narrative about the jailer has come under scrutiny.  The similarity with other miraculous escapes, the earthquake affects only the jail, as well as the jailer who tries to kill himself before looking into cells, makes it unlikely.^[8]

            Prison is a strange place to find joy and friendship. The movie I Walk the Line, a 2005 film about Johnny Cash. One scene has Johnny talking to the prison warden.

The Warden: “Mr. Cash? The record company asks that you not play any songs that would remind the prisoners that they are in jail.” 

Johnny Cash: “Do you think they forgot?” 

In the same film, this is an exchange between Johnny Cash and a record company executive. 

Record Company Executive: “Your fans are church folk, Johnny. Christians. They don’t wanna hear you singing to a bunch of murderers and rapists, tryin’ to cheer ’em up.” 

Johnny Cash: [pause] “Well, they’re not Christians, then.” 

 

The study, conducted by Harvard professor Robert Putnam and Notre Dame scholar David Campbell, in their book Amazing Grace: How Religion Is Reshaping Our Civic and Political Lives (2010). According to their studies, religious people are three to four times more likely to be involved in their community than are nonreligious people. They are more apt to work on community projects, belong to voluntary associations, vote in local elections, attend public meetings, and donate both time and money to public causes, including secular ones. The studies also show that religious people are, in general, just “nicer.” They do honorable deeds, help both neighbors and strangers, give money to panhandlers and let others cut in front of them in line. They discovered that all of this happens, not because of religious teaching, but because of the relationships they have in their places of worship. The authors theorize that if someone from your “moral community” (as opposed to, say, someone from your bowling league) asks you to volunteer for a cause, you are more likely to agree. The effect of these relationships is so strong that people who attend religious services regularly but do not have any friends there behave more like nonreligious people than fellow believers when it comes to civic involvement. “It’s not faith that accounts for this,” says Putnam. “It’s faith communities.” Faith-community relationships are so powerful that the authors have dubbed them “supercharged friends.”

It would at least appear that Paul and Silas developed this type of friendship, maintaining them even after their torture. I offer a few insights regarding friendship.

It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us. —Epicurus.

 

Thus nature has no love for solitude, and always leans, as it were, on some support; and the sweetest support is found in the most intimate friendship.—Cicero.

 

One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.—Euripides.

 

Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.—Aristotle.

 

Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with.—Mark Twain.

 

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.—Unknown.

 

Prison is also a strange place to find joy. The geography of joy may not be what we expect. People find joy in the strangest places. Yes, they can find joy in prison.

The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 movie starring Tim Robbins playing Andy and Morgan Freeman playing Red. It won best picture. In the story, the prosecutor accuses Andy Dufresne of the murder of his wife, the court judges him guilty, and he arrives in Shawshank prison. It shows two men serving life sentences developing a profound friendship and, in the process, fighting off despair. In one scene (1:07:00 or 1:08:18 to 1:09:46; 1:11:08 to 1:12:33) Andy is in the library. He looks over some records. He plays some beautiful music from Mozart over the prison loudspeaker. He locks the door. The prisoners stop what they are doing and listen, the music inspiring them in unexpected ways. Red then narrates, 

“I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I like to think it was something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared, higher and farther than any body in a gray place dares to dream. It was like a beautiful bird flapped into our drab cage and made those walls dissolve away. And for the briefest of moments every last man at Shawshank felt free.” 

 

The warden tried to get him to open the door. The officer eventually breaks into the room. He received two weeks in the hole. When he returns to the cafeteria, his co-prisoners greet him with “Hey, Maestro, couldn’t you find something good to play, like Hank Williams or something.” “They broke down the door before I could take requests.” Another said, “Was it worth two weeks?” “Easiest time I ever did.” Another prisoner said there is no such thing as easy time in the hole. A week in the hole is like a year. [start clip that has the following exchange - “I had Mr. Mozart to keep me company.” Another prisoner asked, “So they let you tote that record player down there, huh?” “It was in here (pointing to his head), and in here (pointing to his heart). That is the beauty of music. They can’t get that from you. Haven’t you ever felt that way about music?” Red says, “Well, I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it, though. Didn’t make much sense in here.” Andy says, “Here’s where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don’t forget.” “Forget,” says Red. Andy responds, “Forget that there are places in the world that aren’t made out of stone. There’s something inside that they can’t get to, that they can’t touch. That’s yours.” Red asks, “What are you talking about?” “Hope.” Red says, “Hope. Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It’s got no use on the inside. You’d better get used to that idea.” Andy, referring to another prisoner who had just received his freedom, could not adjust to life on the outside, and so, committed suicide, says, “Like Brooks did?”] 

My son David (in 1986 in Brownstown, when he was only four years old) produced a question with which any of us might deal. It was an innocent question.  I believe David and I were simply sitting at the table together.  He was coloring.  Suddenly, he asked, "Who is the boss of the world?"  I was interested in what generated that question, so I asked him.  He thought I was the boss of the house.  He had it figured out that if Cheryl and I were both home, then we were both the boss, but if just I was home or just Cheryl home, then we were the boss.  He also had it figured out that if there was a boss around the house, there must also be a boss of the world.  Then he asked me, "Is it God?"  Is God the boss of the world?  

With all the events happening recently in the world, one might wonder.  War, poverty, famine, injustice.  In our own lives, things happen which make us wonder if anyone is really the boss.  Yet, the Bible is clear that there is one who is Lord of this world.  I do not know where else to turn for an answer by the organization called the church, which confesses Jesus as Lord.  First, note the experience of Paul and Silas in prison.  Authorities jailed them without trial. Authorities tortured them. They could have complained.  Instead, they sing hymns.  Yet, they sang because they knew the boss of the world.  They knew they were in God's hands.  Luke is helping us learn about the composition of the church in Philippi. Lydia is a wealthy, god-fearing woman, who heard what Paul had to say and believed.  Another woman converted from a pagan religion and received liberation from another god.  A Roman jailer, a retired Roman soldier, had years of hardness broken.  The biggest miracle here is that he becomes a Christian.  Luke does not tell us what Paul preached. The question the jailer asked was natural: "What must I do to be saved?"  Luke wanted to share the story of a strong church, and its beginnings.  This is where the church can shine as a testimony to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Bringing together people of different social strata, different beliefs, different backgrounds, and yet all becoming Christians through believing in Jesus Christ. 

Prison is also a metaphor for life: many Americans are in prisons of their own making. Here is my question. In the story from Acts, who is the prisoner, and who is free? For those of you have seen The Shawshank Redemption, who was in prison, Andy or the warden and guards? Who was in prison, Paul and Silas or the jailer?

Plato was among the first to speculate that we were in prison, largely because our souls tie themselves too closely to bodily desire. He thought philosophy was at its best when it taught people to focus upon the mind and reason, instead of acting like other animals, out of physical appetite and instinct. 

If Americans value anything, they value freedom. Our culture has given us a vast supermarket of desire.  We have our freedom.  What shall we do with it?  What do we choose? It might be true that the choices we make lead to a greater prison than we can imagine. St. Augustine said that the minor freedom we have is the freedom to choose.  The more important freedom we need is to choose rightly, the freedom to become what God created us to be.          

We seem to think that if we give in to whatever we want or desire, we are free. In reality, we put ourselves in bondage. What happens if we have seen our bondage, and even ask, “What must I do to be saved” from the things that hold me in bondage? I may need deliverance from my laziness, from lying to myself and to others, from lust, from anger, from greed, from materialism, from slavishly pleasing others, and so on. 

Do we believe Christ can deliver us? 

Bishop Emilio de Carvalho of Angola visited some American pastors in Evanston, Ill.  He was asked what it was like to be the church in a communist country.  Was the government supportive?  No, he said, but we do not expect it to be.  The government decreed that women's groups could no longer meet.  They kept on meeting.  For now, the government is not strong enough to stop them.  If they get strong enough, we shall go to jail.  There, we shall witness.  He sensed the direction of the questions, that it must be so hard to be the church under an oppressive communist government.  The implication was that it must be easy to be the church here, in America.  So, he said: "Don't worry about the church in Angola; God is doing fine by us.  Frankly, I would find it much more difficult to be a pastor in Evanston, Ill.  Here, there is so much.  So many things.  It must be hard to be the church here." 

With that kind of spirit, who is really the "free" person?  Is it the government officials, chained to their communist beliefs, who must oppress others to be in power?  Or is it this bishop, and others like him, who have experienced true freedom in Christ?

Prison is a strange place to find joy enough to sing and to deepen friendship. 

First, consider Psalm 126, a song of praise for God on an anniversary of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile. The psalm's last verse says, "Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves." There was a belief among some ancient peoples that people must not laugh when planting or else they would weep during harvest. This verse flips that notion and extends it to the broader sweep of life: Those who go forth -- as into captivity -- weeping, shall return with shouts of joy. In other words, joy is not just for those who are happy, but also for the brokenhearted whose God is the Lord.

Second, author Thomas Kelly tells of a well-known Christian of an earlier era, John Wilhelm Rowntree (1868-1905), who began to lose his sight, and went to a doctor. After examining Rowntree, the doctor told him that nothing could be done; he was soon going to go completely blind. Afterward, outside the office, Rowntree stood holding onto a railing to collect himself, when he suddenly felt the love of God wrap around him and he "was filled with a joy he had never known before." Under the circumstances, that was hardly happiness, but it was the powerful presence of God. That railing outside his doctor's office was outside of the geography of bliss, but like the Philippian jail, it was within the geography of joy. 

Third, another unlikely place within the geography of joy was a collapsed hotel in Haiti, a result of a devastating 7.0 earthquake that hit that country on January 12, 2010. When the four-story Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince crumbled, it trapped beneath it in its lobby area three officers from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and three representatives from Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA) World Health. 

The trio from UMCOR, Rev. James Gulley, Rev. Sam Dixon and Rev. Clint Rabb, were in Haiti to improve medical services and agricultural practices in that nation. They had come to the hotel to meet with the team from IMA World Health, which included Sarla Chand, Rick Santos and Ann Varghese. The two groups had just rendezvoused in the hotel lobby, when the earth suddenly shook and the building came down on top of them. The earthquake through the six down and plunged them into deep darkness. Eventually, each spoke out. Chand, Gulley, Santos and Varghese were okay, but Dixon and Rabb, who were pinned side by side under a large slab of concrete, both indicated that their legs were broken. The six remained in that dark entrapment for the next 55 hours, until a French search-and-rescue team finally pulled them from the pancaked building. As it turned out, Dixon died shortly before rescuers could extract him, and Rabb died later in a Florida hospital to which rescuers transported him. Both men, however, were conscious through the long, dark hours before the rescuers arrived. Gulley said that as the time passed, "We talked about faith, prayed together and sang. We sang 'Peace Like a River' several times." 

 

I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river,

I've got peace like a river in my soul

I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river,

I've got peace like a river in my soul

 

I've got joy like a fountain, I've got joy like a fountain,

I've got joy like a fountain in my soul

I've got joy like a fountain, I've got joy like a fountain,

I've got joy like a fountain in my soul

 

I've got love like an ocean, I've got love like an ocean,

I've got love like an ocean in my soul

I've got love like an ocean, I've got love like an ocean,

I've got love like an ocean in my soul

 

"About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God ...." Gulley said Dixon and Rabb were in great pain, and the rest tried to help as much as possible. Santos had some over-the-counter pain medicine with him, which he gave them. "Sam was at an angle that put strong pressure on his legs," Gulley said of Dixon, "so we used laptop computers to brace his back. It would help for a time, and then we would have to rearrange it." When help finally came, Gulley and the others started singing the doxology, "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow." 

Only hours after the rescue did Chand learn that two of those whose voices had comforted and guided her with words of faith during the ordeal had succumbed to their injuries. Gulley said, "I have no answer about why I received the gift of life and Sam and Clint did not. I cannot answer that any better than Job could answer why some people suffer more than others do. All I can do is continue to try to use that gift in God's service in whatever way it is intended. I'm grateful to be alive, and I accept that gift."

The Bible does not tell us what to feel, and we have no Christian obligation to demonstrate joy. However, when we are in the darkness and trusting God, joy is simply a description of what is happening in the geography of our inner beings. 

A hymn that expresses this inner geography of joy is “It is Well with my Soul.” 

 

1.         When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,

It is well, it is well, with my soul. 

o          Refrain:

It is well, with my soul,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

2.         Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

3.         My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

4.         For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:

If Jordan above me shall roll,

No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life

Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

5.         But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,

The sky, not the grave, is our goal;

Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!

Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

6.         And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul.

---

^[1] Ludemann

^[2] Werner Foerster (TDNT VI 917, 918-920).

^[3] Ludemann

^[4] Ludemann

^[5] (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987),

^[6] Barth (Church Dogmatics, IV.4, p. 180)

^[7] Pannenberg (Systematic theology, Volume 3, p. 258)

[8] Haenchen