Philippi’s officials ignored Paul and his companions for days – until he healed a young woman whose illness was a source of wealth to those who owned her. Then they got noticed. And arrested.
Here’s a transcript:
I’m thinking about the sixteenth chapter of Acts of the Apostles (Acts 16:16-34). The Apostle Paul and his companions had come to Philippi. They had met with members of the local Jewish community; they had spoken to them about Jesus; they had received a warm welcome, in particular from a woman of some substance and leadership named Lydia.
In this part of the chapter they meet with another woman of Philippi, one regrettably whose name Luke did not know or at least did not record. This is a young woman, and she is at the opposite end of the social spectrum from Lydia. She was a slave, and kept as a slave because she had a “spirit of divination” within her. Her owners would make money from her by selling her skills at telling fortunes for their customers.
Well, I don’t know what her condition actually was. It’s for certain that whatever it was, it removed her ability to restrain herself, because she would follow Paul through the streets, proclaiming that he and his companions brought a message of salvation from the most high God. Paul found it irritating and I suppose I would too if somebody followed me for days and said such things about me (which is unlikely).
At one point, Paul turned around and ordered the spirit to come out of her. When it did it left her in her right mind, in her own mind, her own spirit. It displeased her owners, who had Paul and his companions arrested and beaten.
Up to that point, nobody had paid much attention to them. Paul and his companions had mostly spent their time with members of the Jewish community, and they hadn’t made much of an impact on the life of other people in Philippi. But this time, with an act of, admittedly, pique, but also compassion; when Paul healed this young woman, they’d impacted somebody’s economic life, somebody’s source of money, their hope of wealth. And that that was what impelled them to arrest Paul, notice Paul, beat Paul.
I wish I could say that in the two thousand years since, the spread of Christianity has succeeded in getting people less focused on wealth and power, and more focused on the spirit and compassion. If it has, well, it’s a very small improvement. We live in a day when, my God, how wealth and power call with their siren song, that wrecks bodies, minds, and spirits on the rocks of greed.
No, the Christian way is the way that Paul took: to force those spirits that make money for others, that force those spirits that allow us to be exploited, that force those spirits which enrich some at the expense of others, to force those spirits out and call them for what they are: Possessors. Exploiters. Evil.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
