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Acts 16: 16–34
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Lord, may we hear your voice in the words spoken in your Name. Amen.
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Like everyone else this week, I have been devastated by the massacre
of 19 fourth graders and their teachers in Uvalde, Texas last
Tuesday. In fact, for several days I was so upset I couldn’t
even begin to focus on this sermon. What brought a troubled
eighteen–year–old to commit such a heinous and heartless
crime? How had he obtained two AR–15 semi–automatic
rifles? And what is the role of our government, if not to
prevent such a crime? So, like everyone else, all week long,
as long as I could stand it, I listened to anguished parents, troubled
teachers, defensive politicians and police personnel, mental health
professionals, pastors and broadcast commentators as each group offered
their wisdom on different aspects of the tragedy. But most of all
I talked to God and tried to listen for His answers. And lo and
behold, I began to see some parallels, some answers in our reading from
the Book of Acts this morning.
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For Paul and Silas’s world also seemed to be an armed camp
bristling with political power, religious factions and a whole lot of
people out to exploit those various systems. In the face of all
that menacing power, Paul and Silas, these two humble servants of the
Most High God, hardly had a chance. Or so it seemed. For
wherever they went, their mere presence drew attention – the
attention of the people, first of all, but soon afterward – the
attention of less–than–holy spiritual powers. And,
finally, the attention of the Roman authorities. And once that
connection was made – all hell broke loose.
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In this morning’s story, Luke says their trouble started when
they were recognized as holy servants of the Most High God by the
unholy spirit that possessed the slave girl. This spirit enabled
her to divine intimate details about people and to tell their
fortunes. And day after day, she followed after Paul and Silas,
telling everyone in earshot that these were servants of the Most High
God. Finally, after several days of this, Paul had had
enough. He rebuked the spirit that possessed the girl and cast it
out of her.
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And once I saw that, I began to see more parallels with all the gun
massacres in our country. In our situation too, we are told that
the issue is a lofty one – that it’s about our right to
self–defense as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States. But here too, money and power
are involved. Gun manufacturers make a lot of money from
the sale of guns – all kinds of guns. And states make
money by taxing those sales – at least 10% on every gun
sale. And when you multiply that 10% or 11% in taxes by
the 20 million guns that are sold every year in the United
States – well, somebody is making a lot of money, money
they do not want to lose.
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But that wasn’t all I learned this week through this strange
little story in the Book of Acts. For at this point in the
biblical story, Almighty God begins to show his hand. After
Paul and Silas are beaten, they are thrown into prison, their feet
fastened in stocks. And you would think that was the end of
it. The powers–that–be in this world seem to have
won again. But Paul and Silas haven’t lost sight of their
Savior and Lord. In the depths of that prison, they begin to
pray and sing praise to God, trusting him for answers to their
situation. And all of a sudden, there is an earthquake – an
earthquake that breaks open every locked door, every bond and manacle.
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The jailer, hearing the commotion and supposing all his prisoners have
now escaped, is about to throw himself on his sword. It will be
less painful, he thinks, than what the authorities will do to him for
allowing his prisoners to escape. But Paul, in a fit of
compassion, calls out, “Do not harm yourself! We are
all still here!”
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The jailer, dumbfounded by Paul’s mercy, blurts out,
“Sirs! What must I do to be saved!” In
other words, “ How do I become like you? How do
I begin to show love. . . in return for
cruelty, compassion. . . in return for
injustice, gentle care. . . in return for
harsh treatment?” And as I read and reread that little
story in the Book of Acts this week, especially against the backdrop
of the tragic events in Uvalde, I wondered too. How could I
possibly love arms merchants and people using those arms against
innocent civilians? For that massacre of nineteen little
children and their teachers in West Texas had left me feeling angry
and troubled — that we – of all the nations in this world,
couldn’t seem to see that more guns weren’t the
answer. Guns were the problem. Yet I also knew – that
my anger wasn’t the answer either. So I continued to pray.
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I finally received an answer to those prayers when I read a letter
written to the editor of The New York Times by a man named
Paul Siegel, a professor of psychology. He had studied other
school shootings and had identified certain common patterns of behavior.
“A school shooter”, he wrote, “tends to be socially
isolated and incompetent. Profound humiliation over perceived
ostracism is coped with by murderous revenge fantasies, which is
characteristic of severe personality disturbance rather than psychotic
illness or autism. In the bright, happy eyes of the children they
murder, the shooter sees all that they believe they were denied.”
This man’s insights became my earthquake – setting me free
from anger and judgment. By keeping his insights in mind, I
could finally feel compassion for the eighteen–year–old
shooter – just as Paul finally felt compassion for his
jailer. Maybe neither one of them deserved compassion. But
that’s the point. None of us do. Yet God offers it to
us anyway.
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It’s been quite a week – for all of us. But this
week I’ve been reminded that the Bible stories we read each
Sunday in our services are not just stories to be read. They
are stories to be lived. . . to the glory of
God.
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Amen
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