Loving Your Jailer
by Edwin Crozier
Paul and Silas heeded the Macedonian call, met Lydia by the river, and started a congregation in Philippi. As they continued their work, Paul became fed up with a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. He cast out the spirit, which ruined the money-making scheme of the family that owned her. The owners seized Paul and Silas, dragged them before the magistrates, and brought charges against them. By the time the whole thing was done, the magistrates had Paul and Silas beaten and imprisoned. They ordered the jailer to keep the two men safely in the prison. The jailer shackled their feet in stocks and kept them in the inner prison.
That night, the two disciples prayed and sang for all to hear. However, no one responded until an earthquake opened the doors and released the stocks. The jailer assumed the prisoners had all fled, but they hadn’t. When Paul convinced the jailer not to kill himself to retain his honor, the jailer was moved by what he had witnessed. He asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
This is the moment I want to focus on. Think about what Paul and Silas have been through. Think about the jailer’s role. We don’t know that the jailer took part in the beating. But we can probably be sure he wasn’t gentle with the beaten and wounded prisoners as he shackled them in the inner prison. If you had been through the beating, the rough treatment, a good bit of the night in stocks, what would you want to say to the jailer? “Saved? Saved! You? Salvation isn’t for you, buddy.” But that was not what Paul and Silas said. Instead, they told the jailer and his family about salvation in Jesus. Then they baptized him and his whole household.
Paul and Silas, despite the jailer’s involvement in their pain and suffering, loved their jailer. They loved him enough to teach Him the gospel. Then they helped him obey it. What a great example for us.
People will mistreat us. People will call us names. They will castigate us. They will be hateful to us. In these moments, it will be easy to think in terms of vengeance. In these moments, it will be easy to look forward to them facing judgment. Instead, we need to love our “jailers.” We need to love those who mistreat us. When we have opportunity, we need to share the gospel with them and their families. We need to be excited to help bring them to salvation.
Isn’t that what Jesus did? He loved His “jailers” so much He offered the very sacrifice by which they could be saved even as they were nailing Him to a cross.
May we learn to love those who are mean to us, who mistreat us, who hurt us. May we learn to long for their salvation and bring the gospel to them as best we can.
