24 Days to Reflect on God's Heart for Redemptionნიმუში

The Philippian jailer: Redeemed for family and community

Dr. Thom Wolf once characterized the Philippian jailer as someone you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley at night. Wolf said, “Roman soldiers never die, they simply retire at Philippi.” Now a jailer, he’d proven his loyalty to the Roman government as a soldier, a professional warrior.

Paul and Silas, followers of Jesus, had been seized and thrown in prison for casting out a demon from a possessed girl. The girl’s owners were using her for financial gain because of her fortune-telling abilities. Once Paul and Silas cast out the demon in her, she was no longer able to tell fortunes. The men who owned her as a slave were furious with the work of Paul and Silas that ended their business venture, so they took them before the authorities and had them thrown into prison. They were both severely flogged.

About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing when an earthquake shook the city, and all the prison doors flew open, and all the prisoners’ chains came loose. The jailer, having just woken up, was sure all the prisoners had either escaped or were going to, so he quickly concluded this would be an dishonor and the best solution was to end his life.

But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here!” The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He brought them out of the prison and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.”

What happens next is an incredible story of redemptive transformation. The jailer’s house must have been above the jail, as was the Roman custom in the first century. The hailer who had inflicted wounds on Paul and Silas was now washing them in the fountain of the inner court of his home with the whole family watching.

The next thing Luke records is just as astonishing. At that very hour, the jailer and his whole family were baptized. The story of the jailer’s redeemed life doesn’t stop with washing wounds or the celebration of baptism for him and his family. It gets even better.

Next, it’s time to celebrate, so the jailer brought Paul and Silas into his house and set a meal before them. Luke says the jailer was “filled with joy because he had come to believe in God – he and his whole family.” Don’t miss the detail in this story. The jailer, a decorated Roman soldier, has moved from suicide to service; from inflicting wounds to healing them; from housing alleged criminals in prison to hosting new friends at his dinner table.

How does this happen? Redemptive transformation, the kind of all-encompassing, life-changing impact that happens when a person finds faith in Jesus, is unmistakable and undeniable. Only the power and the presence of Jesus can change a hardened person like the jailer.

He was not only changed by the power of Jesus, but he became a magnet to draw his family to the way of Jesus.

There is nothing in your life beyond the redemptive reach of Jesus to reverse and turn it into good for his purpose. Redeemed people become agents of redemption, active in God’s redeeming work in their generation.

Reflection question:

• What stands out most to you about the redemptive experience of the Philippian jailer?