Easter 7
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.
-- Acts 16:16
The strange thing about this incident is that the slave girl told the truth about Paul and his companions. "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." She was the mass media of the day, and she was giving Paul plenty of publicity. While a contemporary evangelist might shun bad publicity, most would be pleased to receive good publicity that raised their profile among the people whom they desired to reach. What possibly could be wrong with a spirit of truth giving an evangelist lots of publicity? Paul was annoyed and in response to her behavior he turned and healed her of this spirit that possessed her. Was he annoyed that her owners were using her to make money or that even truth-telling can be disturbing if it is no respecter of persons?
By his healing her, he was removing this strange spirit from her by which her owners had made a profit. Whatever Paul's original motivation, the result of his healing the girl was that she was no longer valuable to her owners. When the gospel interfered with the economics of the market place, not only were her owners disturbed but also so was the crowd. If truth can be used for profit, people are pleased. But sometimes even truth can exploit people in the process. Truth must be blended with compassion if its message is to be healthy. Paul's healing of the girl cost her owners a profit and the crowd a good show. The result was that Paul was not only flogged but also thrown into prison. Rather than being disturbed by the injustice of his punishment for doing good, Paul used it as an opportunity to witness to the jailer that resulted in his conversion.
The church will always find itself in the conflict between truth and economics, and at times it will suffer injustice in the process. However, regardless of the fairness of the world around us, how we choose to respond can become an opportunity for God to work through us.
-- Acts 16:16
The strange thing about this incident is that the slave girl told the truth about Paul and his companions. "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." She was the mass media of the day, and she was giving Paul plenty of publicity. While a contemporary evangelist might shun bad publicity, most would be pleased to receive good publicity that raised their profile among the people whom they desired to reach. What possibly could be wrong with a spirit of truth giving an evangelist lots of publicity? Paul was annoyed and in response to her behavior he turned and healed her of this spirit that possessed her. Was he annoyed that her owners were using her to make money or that even truth-telling can be disturbing if it is no respecter of persons?
By his healing her, he was removing this strange spirit from her by which her owners had made a profit. Whatever Paul's original motivation, the result of his healing the girl was that she was no longer valuable to her owners. When the gospel interfered with the economics of the market place, not only were her owners disturbed but also so was the crowd. If truth can be used for profit, people are pleased. But sometimes even truth can exploit people in the process. Truth must be blended with compassion if its message is to be healthy. Paul's healing of the girl cost her owners a profit and the crowd a good show. The result was that Paul was not only flogged but also thrown into prison. Rather than being disturbed by the injustice of his punishment for doing good, Paul used it as an opportunity to witness to the jailer that resulted in his conversion.
The church will always find itself in the conflict between truth and economics, and at times it will suffer injustice in the process. However, regardless of the fairness of the world around us, how we choose to respond can become an opportunity for God to work through us.
