Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose.When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew [his] sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.” He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.” (Acts 16:25-31, NABRE)
I have been the jailer. I suspect you have too, on an occasion
or twenty.
Jailers try to keep God in a cell. Either they don’t believe in Him at all, or they believe His power in their lives is limited. They get angry and bitter about things that happen to them, things they believe He should have prevented. Or, maybe they go to Mass and are active in ministries, but they become convinced that they, not He, are responsible for the many good things they have.
Then, WHAM! comes the earthquake, and all the earthly foundations are lost. Fear and despair roar in. And ultimately, if jailers listen very carefully amid their anguish, God will whisper the way out: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.”
And if we listen and find the faith and courage to believe, we learn that we were the jailed, not the jailers, and that the Almighty was with us all along… patiently waiting to free us.
