EARTHQUAKE CONVERSION

Acts 16:22-34

The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely. When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake.

About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. 

When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.” He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.” So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once. He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.

Reflection:

The Acts of the Apostles, the second volume of Luke’s two-volume work, continues Luke’s presentation of biblical history. We see the Apostles as miracle workers like Jesus in the gospel, and we also see them as the object of divine care. God’s divine care is exemplified in this particular passage.

As we are reading the Scripture passage, many of us assume the ending will lead to God’s deliverance of Paul and Silas. However, as it turns out, the deliverance from prison was for the jailer. God sends a severe earthquake, shakes the foundations, opens doors, and loosens chains for the purpose of revealing whom the real prisoner is. We must ask ourselves, what free choices do we make today that actually hold us captive from God?

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