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Acts 16:16-40 — Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”
But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”
The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.
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This story has dozens of characters in it, and they all want something different. But nobody in the whole story gets anything they want, except for one man at the end, and he gets the most important thing in the world. But even for him, this was his second choice. At first he wanted something different and did not get it. Let’s look at the story from the standpoint of what each person wants.
The story begins with Acts 16:16: “Once when we, (that is, Paul and Silas)… were going to the place of prayer…” So what do Paul and Silas want? They just want to get to the place of prayer. But they do not get to where they want to go. The rest of the story tells how they were delayed and end up in jail. Paul and Silas did not get what they wanted.
On their way to the prayer meeting Paul and Silas were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She had been making a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. What did this slave girl want? It looks as if she wanted to irritate Paul and Silas. She was following them around and shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” We might wonder what was so irritating about that. That is what they wanted to do. Why would they object to the free publicity? Well, being a part of a scam at a carnival side-show did not make this girl a very credible witness, so her endorsement could only hurt Paul and Silas. Paul finally turns around and casts out whatever spirit had possession of her, and she fell silent. She was no longer able to do what she wanted to do, as her fortune-telling days were over.
Then the next characters come on the scene. The owners of the slave girl who were profiting by her fortune telling scam, were very upset with Paul and Silas for causing her to be silent. What they wanted was to be able to make money, and now they were no longer able to do so. So they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the authorities. But the charge they brought against them had nothing to do with their real objection. “These men are Jews,” they began, showing that playing the race card is a tactic that has been around for quite some time. Then going on with their accusation they said nothing about the money they were losing. Pretending to be concerned only about the city and the noble Roman way of life, they said, “They are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in the attack, and the authorities ordered that Paul and Silas be severely flogged and put into prison. What the authorities and crowd wanted was for Paul and Silas to be silenced. But they also did not get what they wanted, for the two apostles would have much more to say in this story.
Finally we come to the jailer, the man who would become the main character of this story. He was given strict orders to guard the two men carefully, so he took them to the inner-most cell, and fastened their feet into the chains. What the jailer wanted was for them to stay put and not get away, but there would be a problem for him on that.
There are still more people in this story. The rest of the prisoners in the jail that night probably just wanted to get some sleep. But in the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns and the other prisoners were listening to them (verse 25). We don’t know for sure, but we might assume they did not want to be kept wide awake. (continued…)
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The 1969 hit “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” performed by four old geezers during a pandemic: