Readings: Acts 16:22-34; Psalm 137; John 16:5-11
In the First Reading of today, we have an account of how Paul and Silas were tortured and imprisoned in Philippi for ministering God’s deliverance to a girl possessed by a spirit of divination.
The most dominant message here is their ability to praise God in prison. However, today, I want to approach it from a different perspective. I will draw two lessons from the text.
I. Paul and Silas praised God and the prison doors flew open and their chains were broken. This is a powerful miracle. It testifies to the power of praises. The challenge is that there are times when we praise God and there is no earthquake, the door remains shut and the chains intact. Are we able to keep praising God even when there is no sign of a miracle?
The truth is that praises may not always work this kind of dramatic miracle of liberation but they always cause a liberation – they deliver our soul from captivity, from the prison and chain of misery, self-pity, despair, and negative thinking. Even when our praises don’t bring physical liberation, they will always liberate the soul, the mind, and the spirit.
II. How can I praise God when circumstances are unfavourable?
We can praise God in unfavourable circumstances when we understand that everything God does is for our good, that things happen for us and not to us. This is why in today’s Gospel, Jesus explained to the disciples that they should not be sad that He was going away because He was going away for their good and not to desert them as they thought.
Dear friends, whatever we are going through is designed or permitted by God for our good. If it will not serve God’s purpose and our good, then God won’t permit it.
With this understanding, let us not allow any prison or chains, jailer or mocker to stop us from praising God, who is worthy of our praise, both in the prison and the palace.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on May 16, 2023.