God saves Paul and Silas from an earthly prison and, through freeing them, frees their guard and his whole household from the prison of sin and death. In the same way, our freedom can be a powerful witness to God's salvation for the benefit of others.
Homily on Acts 16:22-34
In our first reading, from the book of Acts, God frees Paul and Silas from gaol in dramatic fashion; sending an earthquake as they sing their prayers to shatter their bonds and break open the bars to the prison. Why did God free them? For whose benefit?
First, it was obviously for their own benefit; they had been flogged and imprisoned, and now they were given a chance at freedom – their chains were gone and the gates thrown open. Second, and no less important, it was for the benefit of their gaoler and his family and household – seeing them freed the gaoler repented, falling at their feet in fear and trembling asking “what must I do to be saved?” By saving Paul and Silas from their captivity, the Lord won an entire family, an entire household, for himself.
But it is not just the miracle, the earthquake, that allowed the gaoler to be converted; it was the witness Paul gave him after that miracle. After the gaoler woke up, he saw only the broken prison bars – he assumed the prisoners had escaped and was ready to end his own life for shame at losing them. But Paul calls out “Don’t do yourself any harm; we are all here.” It was a risky move – suppose the gaoler was unmoved by their miraculous liberation, suppose he instead chose to re-bind them in their chains and re-seal the prison door? They could have been back in deep trouble.
This reading is not really about Paul and Silas being freed from physical captivity, but about the conversion of their gaoler and his family: a more important liberation, because having converted and been baptised, they were liberated from sin and the wages of sin – freed from death itself. What saved the gaoler? God performed the miracle, but Paul gave him a witness; Paul prevented him from harming himself, even though it was a risk, Paul preached the good news of liberation to him, Paul ministered to him and his family.
This passage shows us the difference between a follower of Jesus Christ and a Pharisee. A Pharisee, believing himself to be righteous and in no need of forgiveness condemns those who persecute them. A Pharisee would have allowed the gaoler to harm himself in order to walk free from gaol. On the other hand, the true follower of Jesus knows he is a sinner – he knows he was freed in Jesus Christ from the just punishment of sin – he doesn’t allow the gaoler to do himself harm because he sees in the gaoler a brother who needs to be freed as well.
This is the message for each one of us as well; God saves us first for our own good. He saves us because he loves us and he doesn’t want us to suffer. But He also saves us because he wants our freedom to be a witness to others who have not yet been saved. Being his witnesses means living as if we were slaves who have been freed – it means being joyful in our freedom, it means communicating the joy of the Gospel by which we have been saved. We communicate that joy, above all, by being merciful and truly kind to those we meet; so that they can see we have been freed from the oppression of sin. So that they want to share in our freedom.
If we are kind, if we are compassionate, and if we are joyful, Christ will free many souls through our witness.
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