Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Original Manuscript:
It's weird how getting annoyed often leads us to make rash decisions. That's what we hear in Acts this morning. Paul and Silas are walking by, and a woman with a spirit of divination, as we are told, basically begins harassing them. Paul, we hear, gets very annoyed and exorcises the spirit on the spot.
Well, it turns out this woman was actually a slave, and her masters are not terribly happy that Paul removed the spirit from her. They have Paul and Silas tried, beaten, and thrown into jail.
This could have been a really bad thing for both Paul and Silas. But as they are in the prison, praying and singing to God, an earthquake happens. The doors of the prison swing open, allowing for everyone to escape.
And this could have been a really bad thing for the jailer, so bad that he considers killing himself. But Paul shouts out not to worry, everyone is still there. It's then that the jailer says, out of shock and desperation, "what must I do to be saved." Paul and Silas tell him about the Lord Jesus, and the jailer and his whole house become believers as a result.
There are a lot of terrible things that happened in this sequence, many as the result of the actions of people. Paul's rashness leads to his imprisonment, but the poor treatment of Paul and Silas comes from angry and malicious people. A sudden earthquake almost made things bad for the jailer.
These events could have had a terrible effect on people, but all was well in the end. Paul and Silas were able to be released, and the jailer walked away with not only his job and life intact, but his soul as well.
The point is that God is able to take terrible things that happen to us and transform them for good. Whether it is our own actions or those of others, God can transform them for the betterment of others. These events in Acts are a prime example. What could have been something terrible for Paul and Silas turned into an opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with another. Their trial became an opportunity for them to do the work God had given them to do.
The same is true for us. We face many trials in our lives, some through random disasters, some through the evil acts of others, and some from our own foolish decisions. God takes all that comes our way and uses them for the better. God does not cause the bad or evil that may occur in our lives, but He does transform it. Transformation is what we are all about as a faith, and as the Church of the Resurrection, we too are all about transformation as evidenced by our very name.
The jailer in our reading from Acts also provides us with another lesson. I have often found that the times I hear God the clearest are the times of greatest desperation. That is exactly the case with the jailer. Out of his fear, shock, and desperation he comes to realize what it is his soul truly needs, and there are the tools to provide that need right in front of him.
We do not always see the results of God's transformation, or even answers to our cries, immediately. Sometimes it takes years before we can fully see and understand what it is that God is doing. But no matter the difficulties that come our way, we do have hope and faith that God can transform the bad to lead to the good.