A Story and a Prayer

Jesus was a person of prayer.  Throughout his ministry, in the midst of resisting temptations, healing the sick, driving out evil spirits, teaching in the synagogue, and dining with sinners and outcasts, Jesus took time to go off alone and to be with God in prayer.  In meditation, contemplation, or in verbal conversation with God, prayer was central for Jesus and it remains at the heart and core of Christian life.

Today’s gospel concerns one of Jesus’ prayers.  Jesus prayed for his disciples, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” Jesus, the risen Christ, is one with God.  We are called to join in his prayer, to be united with one another, to be one with the risen Christ who is one with God.  It is also the mission of our Church “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”

This past Thursday the Church celebrated the feast of the Ascension, a day commemorating Jesus ascending into heaven following his resurrection.  The Rev. Suzanne Guthrie writes,  “Ascension yields the most profound fruitfulness of the interior life…. Jesus prays for humanity's overall union in love with God through him…. Christ ascends not far away beyond clouds, but into the heart of hearts to manifest within every heart.  The enthronement of Jesus takes place in deep union within us.”  So Jesus prayed, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

A story about prayer and unity through love is the subject of today’s lesson from the Acts of the Apostles.  It is a story of conversion and sharing food as a sign of unity and peace.  In the story Paul and Silas journeyed to the Roman colony of Philippi in Macedonia.  There they visited a Jewish community that was meeting for prayer by the river.  They also met a slave girl who made a lot of money for her owners by fortune–telling.  She was also possessed by an evil spirit.  She followed Paul and Silas for many days and cried out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim a way of salvation."  Paul became annoyed by her shouting, finally turned toward her and said to the evil spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out at that very hour.

The owners of the slave girl having seen that their hope of making money was gone, seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. They charged them with disturbing the peace, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe."  The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.  Then they were thrown into prison and the jailer was ordered to keep them in the innermost cell and fasten their feet in the stocks.

Around midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang songs to God. Other prisoners heard them, and suddenly a violent earthquake shook the foundation of the prison.  Doors opened and chains became unfastened.  The jailer was awakened and frightened because he thought the prisoners had escaped.  He tried to kill himself but Paul shouted, “Do not harm yourself, we are all here.”  Trembling, the jailer fell down before Paul and Silas, and then he brought them outside and asked what he had to do to be saved.  They told him to believe in Jesus and he and his household would be saved.  The jailer then washed Paul’s and Silas’s wounds.  He and his family were baptized; they all shared a meal, and everyone rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

This story has parallels to Jesus’ own experience.  An article in this week’s issue of the Christian Century Magazine says, “Paul, like Jesus before him, performs an exorcism, replacing the power of evil with that of God in Christ.  Like Jesus, Paul and Silas are arrested by the authorities and beaten. Now it is the disciples who are released from their prison of death and who preach the gospel, make disciples, and baptize. We need not wait until the end, or our end, to enter the gates of the city of God.  It is here, by the power of the Spirit, available to all the baptized.”  (Gail Ramshaw, The Christian Century, Apr 19, 2016)

Jesus made God’s name known to the disciples, to Paul, Silas, the jailer and his family. I invite you to use this story and reflect on Jesus’ prayer.  Take some time to meditate on how God’s name is made known to you in your life today.  Jesus makes God’s name known so that we and all people may be united in love.  Amen.