Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] May 29, 2022 “In the Way of Potential Profits” Acts 16: 16-34 One day, when we were on the way to the place for prayer, we met a slave woman. She had a spirit that enabled her to predict the future. She made a lot of money for her owners through fortune-telling. 17 She began following Paul and us, shouting, “These people are servants of the Most High God! They are proclaiming a way of salvation to you!” 18 She did this for many days. This annoyed Paul so much that he finally turned and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave her!” It left her at that very moment. 19 Her owners realized that their hope for making money was gone. They grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the officials in the city center. 20 When her owners approached the legal authorities, they said, “These people are causing an uproar in our city. They are Jews 21 who promote customs that we Romans can’t accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in the attacks against Paul and Silas, so the authorities ordered that they be stripped of their clothes and beaten with a rod. 23 When Paul and Silas had been severely beaten, the authorities threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to secure them with great care. 24 When he received these instructions, he threw them into the innermost cell and secured their feet in stocks. 25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 All at once there was such a violent earthquake that it shook the prison’s foundations. The doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 When the jailer awoke and saw the open doors of the prison, he thought the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted loudly, “Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here!” 29 The jailer called for some lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He led them outside and asked, “Honorable masters, what must I do to be rescued?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your entire household.” 32 They spoke the Lord’s word to him and everyone else in his house. 33 Right then, in the middle of the night, the jailer welcomed them and washed their wounds. He and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. 34 He brought them into his home and gave them a meal. He was overjoyed because he and everyone in his household had come to believe in God. Let’s recap: Today’s passage begins, “one day while they were on the way to the place for prayer…” So, Paul and Silas were still staying at Lydia’s house. She’s the dealer in purple cloth they met on the Sabbath at the “place for prayer” along the river. She converted and then convinced Paul and his companions to stay at her house for as long as they wanted. By the way, about that “place along the river to pray…” In towns or cities where the population of Jews was too small, people often gathered along a river for prayer because a full-fledged synagogue required at least 10 men to hold a service. So, one day, on their way to the river, they encountered a girl – some translations say “woman” – who kept shouting “Hey! Pay attention! These guys represent the Most High God, and they’re offering you a new way of life!” “Hey! Pay attention! These guys represent the Most High God, and they’re offering you a new way of life!” “Hey! Pay attention! These guys represent the Most High God, and they’re offering you a new way of life!” Annoying, right? She was a fortune teller and funny enough, she was just marketing for them! She wasn’t insulting them. And yet, she did this for days! And finally, Paul snapped. He’d had enough of her annoying marketing so he turned around and rebuked the spirit that gave her the ability to see into the future. She made lots of money for her owners, but with her spirit of divination now gone, her owners were very upset. Their very lucrative slave was useless. At that point, the girl disappears from the story. But there’s so much more I want to know about her. What was her life like? Why she was a slave? I looked into the practice of slavery in the Roman Empire only to be led down a rabbit hole of “maybe this” or “maybe that.” Maybe she was from a conquered people from outer parts of the Empire. Maybe she was sold to pay her parent’s debt. Even today it’s not so uncommon in many parts of the world for a child to be sold to pay a debt, part of the scourge of human trafficking. Something so horrendous we virtually never speak of it. But, regardless of why this girl was enslaved, the bottom line: the purpose of her life was to make her owners lots of money. And as soon as she lost that ability, she was of no use. We don’t hear any more about her and the story moves on. Enter now the state/the Empire. Paul and Silas are in big trouble. But notice, their offense was that this girl could no longer produce a profit for her owners, not that she was a slave. Paul and Silas interrupted commerce and so the state/the Empire stepped in, on the side of the “property” owners. Shocking, right? No one cared about the girl’s life – her well-being, her flourishing, her humanity. They cared about her profit potential. Paul and Silas were accused, stripped of their clothes, beaten with rods, thrown in jail and locked up. Around midnight an earthquake shook the jail’s foundation and caused the doors to open and the stocks to break. Everyone’s chains came loose but instead of escaping, they waited to be discovered, thereby saving the life of the jailer who would have otherwise committed suicide for his failure. With tremendous gratitude, the jailer asked how he could be “rescued” and was told to believe in Jesus. He and his entire household were baptized and then he invited everyone to his house for a meal. Everyone was overjoyed because he and his household had come to believe in God. Hallelujah, happily-ever-after, Amen. But that’s actually not the end. The lectionary ends but the story continues. The next morning, aware of the hubbub that night, the legal authorities sent the police to the jailer with orders to release Paul and Silas. Tell them, Go in peace! But Paul replied, “you know, you called us guilty, you beat us publicly and severely, you put us in jail and locked us up without a trial. You did this to a Roman citizen.” Uh-oh. This was more than an egg-on-your-face, lose-your-job, kind of mistake. I’m not sure what the actual punishment would have been, but you weren’t allowed to do those things to a Roman citizen without a trial. Alarmed at what they had done, the authorities escorted Paul and Silas to the edge of town and begged them to leave, pretty-please. Paul and Silas weren’t trying to cause trouble, but they weren’t going to leave just so the offending authorities could avoid misfortune. Instead, Paul and Silas turned around and went back into town and continued to stay with Lydia until they wanted to leave. There. That’s the end. Kind of anti-climactic. But it’s an interesting story, right? Or kind-of an interesting story. Sort of? The bigger question isn’t whether it’s interesting, but what do we do with it? Why does this story matter? And honestly, sometimes stories like this don’t have any purpose other than as background material, part of the overall narrative. But, if we break this story down to all its pieces and parts, there is something about it. Something about it calls out for us to pay attention. It’s that little fortune-telling girl. She cries out to bring attention to Paul and Silas. “Hey! These guys represent the Most High God, and they’re offering you a new way of life!” But still, what about her life – her well-being, her flourishing, her humanity? This little girl’s life had only mattered to the extent that it didn’t affect the enterprise of her owners. What happens when little boys and girls get in the way of profit-making? We saw more evidence of what happens this week. Nevaeh Bravo was 10 years old – her first name is Heaven spelled backward[1] Jose Flores Jr., 10 years old, had just received his honor roll certificate hours before Uziyah Garcia, 10 years old, was described as the sweetest boy ever Jackie Cazares (casa rays) and Annabell Rodriguez, both 10 years old, were cousins and friends Makenna Lee Elrod, 10 years old, loved to play softball, do gymnastics, and sing and dance Eliahna ‘Ellie’ Garcia, 9 years old, was big into family and loved being with her family Amerie Jo Garza, 10 years old, was an honor roll student Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, (loo ay van os) 10 years old, always had a smile on his face and was full of life Xavier Lopez, 10 years old, had received awards at a ceremony earlier in the day Tess Mata (mah-ta), 10 years old, had the biggest smile ever Miranda Mathis, 11 years old, was a sweet angel Alithia Ramirez, 10 years old, loved to draw and wanted to be an artist, and had recently submitted a drawing to the Doodle for Google contest. Maite (my-TAY) Rodriguez, 10 years old, was a sweet girl Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10 years old, was an honor student who had just won a “good citizen” award Layla Salazar, 10 years old, loved to swim and dance to Tik Tok videos. She was fast — she won six races at the school’s field day. Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10 years old, loved to play softball Rojelio Torres, 10 years old, was very intelligent, hardworking, and helpful. He’s pictured in a t-shirt that says he is a, “difference maker” Jaliah (ha-LEE-ah) Nicole Silguero (see l GAY ro), 10 years old, told her mother she didn’t want to go to school that day Eva (AYva) Mireles, was a 4th-grade teacher, mother of a daughter with Down Syndrome, and had taught in Uvalde for 17 years. She and Irma Garcia had taught 4th grade together for 5 years. Irma had four children with her husband of 24 years, Joe who, two days after her death, collapsed and died of a broken heart. These 14 girls, 5 boys and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas are the latest to get in the way of profit-making by gun manufacturers, NRA lobbyists, and politicians. Some actually dare to say these deaths are simply the price of freedom. But add to that, the price paid not just by the dead, but those who survived. The fear of death felt by over 221,000 Kindergarten, elementary, middle school, and high school students who have experienced a shooting at their school since Columbine.[2] The millions of children who have had to endure the trauma of active shooter drills. More money and more guns, always offered as a solution, did not help. The school had done every one of the things suggested to keep their students safe; 40% of Uvalde’s town budget was spent on policing and tactical equipment. But one teen age boy broke through carrying an assault weapon. These military-style weapons have no purpose but to hunt humans. Not deer or elk or geese. Not to protect one’s home and family. They are to kill people. Oh, and to bring in massive profits for their owners. The vast majority of Americans, including responsible gun owners, think this is insanity and we are being held hostage. So, what’s the answer? How to change this comes down to complex policies and advocacy and public will, but theologically, our text points to the little girl’s owners who are angry about the loss of potential profits while she points to Paul and Silas and yells “Hey! Pay attention! These guys represent the Most High God, and they’re offering you a new way of life!” And what is that? A way of life where security comes from investing in her human flourishing, not arming teachers A way of life where children are innocent and free, not practicing drills to avoid active shooters A way of life where the state/the Empire sides with student well-being, not corporate well-being The Prophet Isaiah, the other kind of “prophet,” described that vision: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will no longer learn how to make war.” Or for our world: They will bend the barrel of the gun into flowerpots and melt the triggers into gardening tools. And the people of the nation will not take up guns against one another. And the children will no longer learn how to kill nor need to know how to avoid being killed. That requires more than our thoughts and prayers. [1] https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2022/05/25/remembering-the-victims-of-the-uvalde-elementary-school-shooting/ [2] https://giffords.org/issues/kids-and-guns/
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