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Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Fr. J. D. Ousley
20 May 2007Acts 16“Ordinary Miracles”
In the Name of God: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Amen.
We Episcopalians generally don't talk a lot about miracles. We accept the discoveries of science; we know that nature is ordered by laws. So if we read about miracles in the Bible, we often interpret them according to a modern perspective.
The New Testament book entitled, The Acts of the Apostles, gives a history of key events in the life of the early church. Acts was written by the same person who wrote the Gospel according to St. Luke. In effect, Acts is a "sequel" to Luke's Gospel; it shows how the life and teachings of Jesus inspired the lives and teachings of his followers.
Even though Jesus had "ascended into Heaven" and therefore ceased to appear personally, the Spirit of Christ continued to act through his disciples.
Now the portion of the Book of Acts that we heard this morning describes two miracles. The miracles occurred while the Apostle Paul was teaching people about Jesus.
In the place where Paul was preaching, there was a slave girl who was possessed by an evil spirit; the girl could use her supernatural powers to predict the future.
When she saw Paul and his companions, she perceived that they were sent from the true God. St. Luke writes that Paul was "very much annoyed" by her speech."
("Annoyed" seems a rather casual term. Perhaps, demon-possessed slave girls were an everyday hazard for St. Paul!)
In any event, Paul was able to drive the demon out of the girl. Yet while this healing miracle was a blessing for the girl, it wasn't a blessing to her owners. She could no longer tell fortunes so owners couldn't make money off of her.
So the owners got mad at Paul and had him and his companions put in jail. The jailor locked them "in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks."
Now we come to the second miracle in the story. Luke writes that, around midnight on the same day, while Paul and his companions were praying, "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."
Then a strange thing happened. When the jailor saw that his captives were able to escape, he drew his sword so he could kill himself.
To us, this would seem to be an extreme reaction. But suicide was more prevalent in Roman culture than it is in ours. It wasn't unusual for people to kill themselves in order to avoid living with a disgrace.
Paul, though, saw what was about to happen and in order to save the jailor's life, he did an amazing thing: he refused to leave the prison!
Despite the miraculous earthquake and the open prison doors, Paul and his companions remained in their cell. The jailor's reputation — and his life — were spared.
Now the Book of Acts was written in a pre-scientific age when a lot of events occurred that couldn't be explained. People then attributed some of the more spectacular events — like the predictions of the mentally-disturbed slave girl — to demonic forces. Other occurrences, like the healing of the girl or the fortuitous earthquake, were attributed to divine forces.
Historians today might attribute psychological illness and earthquakes to physical causes. As for the slave girl's foretelling of the future, we might speculate that her mental illness gave her a sharper perspective on events around her.
Adopting a modern world-view, then, we can still believe that God intervenes in human affairs — but we don't see these interventions as contradicting the laws of nature.
Last Sunday, for example, we had a visit from the Bishop in charge of all the Episcopal chaplains in the American armed forces and in prisons and hospitals. One important thing these chaplains do is pray.
They pray for the protection of our troops; they pray for healing of wounded soldiers and sick patients in hospitals. They pray for inmates who are up for parole.
And those people who are prayed for hope for God's protection and healing and guidance. At the same time, they know that they can't be sure that God will always intervene.
So soldiers going out to battle will ask God to keep them safe; at the same time, the soldiers will also put on their helmets! They'll do all they can to protect themselves. Hospital chaplains will pray for the patients they visit; and if a patient goes into cardiac arrest, the chaplain will also call a doctor!
For we realize that the spectacular miracles described in the Bible serve to point beyond themselves to God. As in today's lesson from the Acts of the Apostles: when we have learned from the Bible's stories of miracles in the early Church, we put our helmets on and go out to fight the battles of our own lives.
And as we fight life's battles, we realize that we're not likely to see astounding evidence of God's power; we won't see the insane healed or prison doors crumble. A few of these events mentioned in the Bible are enough to make the point: God is ruler over his Creation.
Yet, we may still see subtle indications of God's work. We may see ordinary miracles that show that God does help us when we serve him.
That's why, I think, Paul's action at the end of the story deserves special attention. For it is one of the few places in the Bible that reminds us there can be a higher value than freedom! Giving up our freedom can be a blessing to others, and to ourselves.
Of course, the Bible often talks about the importance of freedom — freedom from poverty, from hunger, from illness. Freedom from injustice and oppression. Freedom also from ignorance — Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." And freedom from the captivity of those in prison.
And yet in the story we heard, St. Paul decides to reject the freedom he receives from the earthquake. He and his companions remain in prison so the jailor won't be blamed for their escape.
Paul here has chosen to give up his sudden liberty. And his sacrifice is in a way also a miracle — perhaps the greatest of the three miracles in the Bible passage.
For Paul has followed the supreme command to offer himself for another person. And he makes this offering for a person whom he doesn't know — for the jailor who was keeping him in chains!
We can understand something of the cost of Paul's decision. For the toughest sacrifices we are called to make often involve giving up freedom.
Helping an elderly neighbor for example: not only do you buy him a carton of milk, but you also hang around and hear his complaints about his health, and look at pictures of his grandchildren — when you might prefer to be running off to meet your friends.
Or you volunteer to help a colleague at work with a project that she is responsible for; it isn't just the extra work you're taking on that is the sacrifice — it's the night and weekend hours of your leisure that you'll have to give up.
But they do go against the laws of human nature. It's not natural to give up your liberty to help someone else.
When you have done it, though, you may be surprised how good you feel. Giving up one kind of freedom has in the end given you another, higher freedom.
A freedom Paul called, "inheritance of the children of light." A freedom to offer your time to others that so delights you that you might even be inclined to call it, a miracle.
And now unto that same God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most justly due all might, majesty, power, dominion and praise, now and forever, Amen.