Easter 7

Often, when change happens, it totally disrupts the world as we know it. Democracy disrupted monarchy. The automobile disrupted horse breeders. Email disrupted the postal service and the envelope manufacturers. Personal computers put typewriter companies out of business.

And remember stereos, turntables, and cassette tapes?

I do. Back in the day, I had quite a vinyl record collection. (Still do.) And I spent many hours recording all my favorite songs from records onto cassette tapes.  It was the very best of The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Dave Edmunds.  Now I could take all my favorites and listen to them on the car stereo.  The only problem was that when I went and bought my next car, it had a CD player instead of a cassette player.  I then went and accumulated a pile of CDs, but nowadays I can listen to anything I want at home or in the car on either Pandora or Spotify via the internet.

Sometimes, new industries are generated while other businesses fail. Still, we wouldn’t have it any other way. As one writer says, “Few people are crying that Edison put lantern makers out of business.”

And the disruption continues. It comes to us today in the form of the devices we carry around on our wrists, or in pockets or purses. Sensors, cloud infrastructure, data and business intelligence tools, AI, robotics, nanomaterials, biotech, bioinformatics, quantum computing — all are changing, transforming and disrupting.

We find disruptive information and change in the Bible, too.

In today’s lesson from Acts, the apostle Paul and his companion Silas cause a stir in the city of Philippi, a Roman colony. After Paul drives a spirit out of a slave girl, he and Silas are dragged before the authorities. The slave girl’s handlers are angry that her spirit of divination has been removed, cutting deeply into their fortune-telling profits.

“These men are disturbing our city,” they say. “They are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” Paul and Silas are given a severe flogging, and then are thrown into prison. The jailer puts them in the innermost cell and fastens their feet in the stocks.

Paul and Silas pass the time by praying and singing hymns to God. Then, at midnight, a violent earthquake opens the doors of the prison and unfastens everyone’s chains. The jailer assumes his prisoners have escaped, and with a deep sense of shame he draws his sword to kill himself. But Paul calls out and urges him not to harm himself, since the prisoners are all still present. Calling for lights, the jailer rushes in and falls down trembling before Paul and Silas.

As science philosopher Thomas Kuhn would say, “Novelty emerges only with difficulty.” The jailer clearly struggles to wrap his head around what his eyes and ears are telling him. When an earthquake shakes loose prison doors, prisoners are supposed to escape.

So, why are these prisoners still here?

In this time of confusion, the jailer’s old framework gives way to a new one. He brings Paul and Silas outside and asks, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They instruct him to believe in Jesus Christ, and then both he and his household are baptized. The story ends with the jailer showing hospitality to Paul and Silas by throwing a celebratory feast (vv. 16-34).

In every time and place, the Christian faith is a constant source of disruptive information. As an innovative idea, it stresses us, surprises us, confuses us and then — once accepted — changes our lives.

In the same way, this story from Acts helps us grasp the stress and transformation of Christian living. Each element of the story contains a piece of disruptive information that can change our lives.

Disruption One: You are valued for who you are, not for what you do. 

Although we do not live in a first-century Roman colony, we tend to share the jailer’s belief that our value is based on what we do. If we fail to achieve success in school or in work, we feel worthless. A study from the University of Oxford found more than 10,000 “economic suicides” were due to the recession that hit the United States, Canada and Europe in the years 2008-2010. And think of the murder-suicides that wipe out entire families because someone felt he was a failure and preferred to send his wife and children to eternity to keep them from watching him slide into failure and depression, unable to provide for his family.

Many of us believe our value is based on our performance, and most of us, it’s true, are not tempted to end it all. But still, when we face failure, there’s no doubt a small voice somewhere deep inside whispering that we’re total losers.

But God says, “Your value is based on who you are, not on what you do.” Each of us is a precious child of God with worth that comes from being made in the image and likeness of God. This is true whether we fail as students, office workers or jailers.

Disruption Two: You are saved through your faith in Jesus, not by the gods of success, beauty and popularity. 

After the midnight earthquake, the jailer feels deeply embarrassed that he has lost his prisoners. In noble Roman fashion, he draws his sword to commit suicide. But Paul shouts, “Do not harm yourself” (v. 28). The jailer then rushes into the cellblock, falling down before Paul and Silas. Bringing them outside, he asks them, “What must I do to be saved?” A more accurate translation might be, “Gentlemen, will you please tell me how I can get out of this mess?” They answer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (vv. 29-31).

Although we do not think of ourselves as pagans, we have to admit that we fall down in front of a lot of false gods today. “We burn incense at the altar of success and beauty and popularity,” writes blogger Meg Hunter-Kilmer. “We bow down before soccer and standardized tests and sleepover parties. … Maybe it’s the gods your parents worshipped or the gods of the culture you live in, but if you’re anything like me, your life is filled with idols.”

To his credit, the jailer falls down before two faithful Christians, Paul and Silas. He trades his faith in the Roman gods for faith in Jesus the Christ. The jailer washes the wounds of Paul and Silas. He and his family are baptized, and then he brings everyone into his house and throws a feast. The jailer and his whole family rejoice that he has become a believer in God (vv. 32-34).

Disruption Three: Faith is never entirely personal, but leads you to serve others and practice hospitality.Paul was certainly correct to say to the Romans, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

But like everything in the Bible, such a truth can create confusion. The problem with this verse is that it gives the impression that faith is primarily a personal commitment, a relationship between the individual and Jesus.

The jailer in Philippi sees a larger truth, which is that personal faith leads to communal action. He immediately serves Paul and Silas by washing their wounds. And then he practices Christian hospitality by throwing a feast for his guests and his household.

Christian life is full of disruptive information. When we see God at work in our lives, we begin by trying to make sense of it. Then we get overwhelmed and wonder if our eyes are playing tricks on us. Finally, when we accept it, we find that our old framework gives way to a new one.

Remember: You are valued for who you are. You are saved through your faith in Jesus. And your faith leads you to serve others and practice hospitality. Such truths emerge only with difficulty.

But when they do, they change everything.