Seventh Sunday of Easter – Acts 16:16-34
First Trinity Lutheran Church, Indianapolis, IN

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What does it mean to be free? Having a good job? Plenty of money? What about when unexpected disasters happen? Or these constant tragedies that keep lambasting us? It makes you want to cling to people and things a little tighter. Maybe we’re not as free as we think.

So how can we be free? Our reading from Acts gives us a hint, but not how we expect. Paul and Silas are in jail. They start praying and singing. The other prisoners listen along, because they’re probably desperate for a little comfort. Then suddenly God sends a massive earthquake. The foundation shakes, the doors fly open, and everyone’s shackles fall off. They’re free! Good news? Not for the jailer. His job is to keep them shackled. He’s just trying to enforce the law but God just gave him his worst nightmare. He’s so upset that he feels like he has to kill himself. What kind of monster is his boss, or punishment for circumstances outside of his control, that drives him to suicide? But Paul yells in the nick of time, “Don’t do it! We’re all here!” The jailer is so overwhelmed that he falls at their feet and asks “what must I do to be saved?” But is he asking about Jesus, or just begging to know how to be saved from the hell he lives in? Of course, Paul tells him about Jesus. He’s overjoyed. He takes Paul to his house to baptize his whole family. And when morning comes, his boss comes and says let Paul and Silas go. How lucky! Of course, it’s still the same job with the same boss. Did the rest of the prisoners stay put or run? And what about the next crisis? It’s great that God rescued Paul and Silas, but what about everyone else?

There’s another problem here too. The reason why Paul and Silas were in jail in the first place. Because Paul cast a demon out of a girl. So, Paul’s been ministering to some folks when this girl shows up. She’s possessed by a spirit of divination that makes her into a fortune teller, which is always a big money-maker. And this girl is enslaved by folks who use her to get rich. It’s human trafficking. She starts following Paul and Silas, crying out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, proclaiming salvation!” Paul gets annoyed. Which is weird, because that’s like free publicity, right? But after a while he cracks. He yells, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And so it does.

This sets off a different kind of earthquake. The girl’s slavemasters get angry, because Paul just cost them big time. So they drag Paul and Silas to the marketplace. They get the authorities. They say, “These men are disturbing our city. They’re Jews. They’re pushing customs that aren’t lawful for Romans like us.” In other words, enemies against the state. This riles up the crowd, and everyone starts attacking Paul and Silas. So the authorities keep the peace by having them beaten and thrown in jail. Now think about this. Paul’s not starting a revolt. It’s a lie. But the slavemasters want to make Paul pay, and because of the girl they’ve got money and influence to manipulate the system. No trial by law. Just a beating and straight to jail.

Of course, Paul and Silas get released, but what about the girl? What are her angry slavemasters going to do to her? Maybe Paul improved her spriritual condition, but I don’t think we can call it freedom. So what’s really going on here?

Well, here’s the thing. Sometimes we get so focused on spiritual freedom, that we forget about liberation. They’re not the same, but they both matter. Now, we know spiritual freedom. We believe we’re freed in Christ. That we’re saved by faith instead of works. That there’s nothing we have to do. This is exactly what Paul preached, and it’s why I come here, for sure. But it’s always been a controversial message. Back in Paul’s day, he had a lot of enemies who insisted more was required. Required rituals like circumscision. They hated his message so much that they chased him out of every city he visited. Now, most Christians would agree that they were wrong about rituals. But we get obsessed with works. I get it. It’s hard to claim we’re Christian and then ignore our neighbors. Though it does happen a lot. Except deep down something tells us that works matter, even if they don’t save us.

That’s where liberation comes in. This story hints at it in so many ways if we would have eyes to see it. The girl who Paul freed from a demon but not her slavemasters. The jailer who was freed from blame for Paul and Silas but not the corrupt system that drove him to the brink. Except God didn’t just release Paul and Silas. God released all the other prisoners too – all their shackles fell off. So you have to wonder what jacked up charges put them in shackles to begin with. And why Paul doesn’t seem to notice. But why would he? He’s a Roman citizen. He could have thrown down the citizen card and gotten out. He does that later in Acts. He didn’t here, but maybe jail isn’t so bad when you know you’ve got the freedom to leave whenever you want.

Except that’s not liberation. Liberation says that none of us are free until all of us are free. Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said that it’s one thing to just pull folks out of the river, but another thing to go upstream and see why they’re falling in, because no one should be falling in the first place. But it’s the hardest work. The most dangerous work. If you want enemies, this is how you make enemies. And if we’re honest, it’s so much safer to just focus on our spirituality and figure someone else will do something.

Yet, God didn’t send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Yes, Jesus died to take all of our sin upon himself. Praise be to Jesus, the light of the world! But that could have happened a million different ways. But it was the cross and all those witnesses to reveal the powers and principalities of this broken world, where profit and political power matters more than the lives of the least of us. Those who are always denied power and privilege and freedom. Those dying for God to shake the foundations and fling wide the doors and make their shackles fall once and for all.

Ours is not just the God of freedom, but the God of liberation, who led the Israelites out of Egypt. Who released the exiles from Babylon. And who released Paul and Silas and the rest of the prisoners from the powers of empire. But God’s strong arm isn’t done. God raises us up by the Holy Spirit and binds us into the body of Christ, because one of is is never as strong as all of us. With eyes that can’t unsee the injustices of this old world. With ears that hear the cries of the oppressed. With mouths to speak Christ’s freedom and liberation to folks who are literally dying to hear it. And with wisdom to recognize why folks keep falling in the river.

Of course, this work is hard and frustrating. We still get the facts wrong. We still make bad conclusions. But thank God we’re not alone. We always have each other, to give rest to those who falter. To give Jesus’ peace to those who lose hope. To speak up for those who get tongue tied. And above all, we have a good and gracious Lord who always promises us his forgiveness, that we might never be shackled again.