Twelve O'Clock Rock: When The Jailhouse Is Rocked
Sermon
Deformed, Disfigured, And Despised
First Lesson Sermons For Lent/Easter Cycle C
The prisoners and the jailers had their world rocked one midnight 2,000 years ago. The report includes the following details:
1:00: Paul and Silas while on their way to a place of prayer see a slave girl who was popular for telling the fortunes of others. She made much money from this enterprise and a fortune for her owners. Each day she would go to the town square and as people passed by she would shout out her readings of their future. Some revered the slave girl for the accuracy of her predictions. Others feared her for the same reason.
Paul and Silas saw this woman when they first entered the city several days earlier and tried to avoid her. She followed them around and said nothing. Everywhere they went she went, yet she remained silent. Now as they were again going to the place of prayer, she follows them and shouts that they are men of the most high God and that they know the way to be saved. Annoyed by her presence and the spirit inside of her, Paul turns around and calls the spirit out of her, and the spirit leaves her.
2:00: Realizing what Paul has done, the owners of the girl have words with Paul and Silas. They accuse the two of infringing on their enterprise by taking the fortune-telling spirit out of the girl. The men stand in the town square arguing with Paul and Silas, stomping their feet on the ground, pointing fingers in their faces, and threatening to kill them. The men shout for them to apologize and to make monetary amends for the money they have lost. Paul does not apologize for rebuking the spirit and calling it out. The two men stand firm, back to back. They utter a prayer in the presence of the angry men and hold their ground. The men leave vowing to come back for revenge.
3:00: The men ambush Paul and Silas as they are walking to the place of prayer. Further accusing them, slapping, beating, and kicking them to the ground, they drag the two into the town square and beat them more furiously with sticks and bricks. Crowds gather to gape at the awesome spectacle.
4:00: More friends of the owners of the slave girl come and continue their beating of Paul and Silas. Now they are dragged from the town square to the hall of the magistrate. The men continue their accusations and recriminations of Paul and Silas. Nearly unconscious from their beating, the two men can barely speak. Silas has teeth knocked out and bleeds profusely. Paul's left eye is swollen shut and he nurses a gash on his right cheek.
5:00: A fat, stinking, jolly, greasy magistrate leaps up from his chair, shaking his head in disgust, twirling a broom straw in his mouth, sucking grape wine from a jar, and watches as the crowd now joins in on the beating. After twenty more minutes of beating, kicking, spitting, cursing, and shouting, the magistrate waves the crazy crowd off and orders Paul and Silas to be officially stripped, beaten, and thrown into prison. "What we have here is a failure to communicate," growls the magistrate.
6:00: Roman centurions arrive at the scene with the flogging whips, beat the men some more, and drag them off to prison.
7:00: Arriving at the prison the captain of the guard orders the jailer to "take care of the prisoners." Here they are beaten again by the jailer and are doused with buckets of cold water.
8:00: Still in the holding area, they are now taken to their inner cells and have their hands and feet fastened in the stocks.
9:00, 10:00, and 11:00: Paul and Silas lay motionless. Paul wakes up and touches Silas to see if he is still alive. Silas moves, groans, and open his eyes. Paul thanks God that Silas is still alive and tries to give him a cup of cold water to revive him.
11:15: The two men sit up and talk. They are sore from their beatings. They petition God to forgive them for their transgressions and to forgive their transgressors. They embrace each other and cry together and begin their prayers.
11:30: Still praying, they begin shouting victory. They pray for release as the Holy Spirit descends and anoints them.
12:00: Paul and Silas begin to rock with hymns and prayers! They begin singing songs and hymns: "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" ... "Lord, I Want To Be A Christian" ... "On Christ The Solid Rock I Stand" ... "Amazing Grace" ... "Blessed Assurance" ... "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" ... "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" ... "We'll Understand It Better, Bye and Bye" ... "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms."
They alternate prayers with hymns and Holy Ghost songs. As they sing and pray, their voices get louder and stronger. A pure spiraling crescendo of a Hallelujah chorus in mezzo forte swells in the prison. As they pray and sing, they shed their wounds and pain and stand and begin to rock and sway.
They rock harder as the silence breaks! They rock stronger as the storm dikes break! They rock longer as the back of discouragement and injustice breaks! They rock wider as the prison chains break! They rock deeper as the jail bars break! They rock with a "Mississippi in the valley" rock! They rock with an "Alabama in the morning" rock! They rock with a midnight hour rock! They rock with a "Help Me, Holy Ghost" rock! They rock with a "sweet bye and bye" and a "joy cometh in the morning" rock! They rock with a "trouble don't last always" rock! They rock with a "a soon and very soon" rock!
12:00: The jailhouse rocks! They rock and sway and sing and pray as the jail cell walls begin to twist, crack, dip, and split! They swing and sway, sing and shout the Holy Ghost hymns of the church and the prayers of the saints. They rock with the rock of ages. While they rock, the jailed in other cells join in the rock and the prison guards begin to roll.
12:00: The jailhouse is rocked! Hearing the music, one of the minor jailer's throws his keys in the air and does a 360 twirl and catches his keys. The other jailer does a split in the front office and starts singing "Oh, happy day!" The other jailers begin running every which way like they don't know the time of day!
As they rock, a violent earthquake begins to rumble, and the walls begin to tumble. The doors fly open. Teeth shudder. The chains come loose at 12:00 and the jailer is roused by what he sees! Fearing for his life, he grabs his sword and tries to kill himself. But Paul and Silas caution him to spare his own life because "the prisoners are all here."
Through songs and prayers and faith and the Holy Ghost, the jailhouse was rocked and the chief jailer was so shook up by what he saw that he asked what he must do to be saved. And as things settled down, they began to speak to him about the power and joy of the Lord. So rocked was the jailer that he washed their wounds and he and his entire household were baptized and saved. The jailer invited the men into his home and the magistrate ordered them released. Because they were Roman citizens, they would not walk out of the jail on their own. They demanded Roman escorts because of the way they had been mistreated.
The jailhouse was rocked at midnight and the prisoners were set free. The truth is, Paul and Silas were already free men although they were in chains. Their faith, perseverance, tenacity, and joy could not be vanquished by their surroundings. They were men of great faith whose prayers and hymns had so much power that the jailhouse was rocked at its foundations.
Have you ever had your world rocked to the point where things just fell apart? Have you ever been rocked by injustice, evil, oppression, sin, and other forms of iniquity? Have you ever found yourself in what appeared to be an impossible situation? After you have been beaten, mistreated, given up for dead, and thrown into jail, did God make a way out of no way? Did walls that held you in come tumbling down because of your great faith?
Has ill treatment from others ever caused you to live out your life in the solitary cells of hell and unhappiness? Know that whatever your situation, condition, imprisonment, confinement, restriction, God can rock that situation and bring about a change for the better. There is nothing that prayer and praise cannot change. If they do not change our condition they can certainly change our outlook and response to our condition.
This is our faith in Christ. A faith that will rock the very foundations of our various forms of imprisonment. A faith that will rock our enemies and the very confinements in which they try to place us and keep us. God can rock the foundations of injustice and untruth and will bring victory and joy to those imprisoned by iniquity. However great the injustice, however cruel and diabolical the enemy, God will rock the foundations of our imprisonments and abolish the pain of our solitary confinement. God will rock untruth with truth, hatred with love, evil with good. He is a Rock of Ages who can rock every fortress of sin and evil to bring release and freedom to those who trust him. Let us sing our songs and pray our prayers until the walls of imprisonment come tumbling down! This is the meaning of the "Twelve O'Clock Rock!"
1:00: Paul and Silas while on their way to a place of prayer see a slave girl who was popular for telling the fortunes of others. She made much money from this enterprise and a fortune for her owners. Each day she would go to the town square and as people passed by she would shout out her readings of their future. Some revered the slave girl for the accuracy of her predictions. Others feared her for the same reason.
Paul and Silas saw this woman when they first entered the city several days earlier and tried to avoid her. She followed them around and said nothing. Everywhere they went she went, yet she remained silent. Now as they were again going to the place of prayer, she follows them and shouts that they are men of the most high God and that they know the way to be saved. Annoyed by her presence and the spirit inside of her, Paul turns around and calls the spirit out of her, and the spirit leaves her.
2:00: Realizing what Paul has done, the owners of the girl have words with Paul and Silas. They accuse the two of infringing on their enterprise by taking the fortune-telling spirit out of the girl. The men stand in the town square arguing with Paul and Silas, stomping their feet on the ground, pointing fingers in their faces, and threatening to kill them. The men shout for them to apologize and to make monetary amends for the money they have lost. Paul does not apologize for rebuking the spirit and calling it out. The two men stand firm, back to back. They utter a prayer in the presence of the angry men and hold their ground. The men leave vowing to come back for revenge.
3:00: The men ambush Paul and Silas as they are walking to the place of prayer. Further accusing them, slapping, beating, and kicking them to the ground, they drag the two into the town square and beat them more furiously with sticks and bricks. Crowds gather to gape at the awesome spectacle.
4:00: More friends of the owners of the slave girl come and continue their beating of Paul and Silas. Now they are dragged from the town square to the hall of the magistrate. The men continue their accusations and recriminations of Paul and Silas. Nearly unconscious from their beating, the two men can barely speak. Silas has teeth knocked out and bleeds profusely. Paul's left eye is swollen shut and he nurses a gash on his right cheek.
5:00: A fat, stinking, jolly, greasy magistrate leaps up from his chair, shaking his head in disgust, twirling a broom straw in his mouth, sucking grape wine from a jar, and watches as the crowd now joins in on the beating. After twenty more minutes of beating, kicking, spitting, cursing, and shouting, the magistrate waves the crazy crowd off and orders Paul and Silas to be officially stripped, beaten, and thrown into prison. "What we have here is a failure to communicate," growls the magistrate.
6:00: Roman centurions arrive at the scene with the flogging whips, beat the men some more, and drag them off to prison.
7:00: Arriving at the prison the captain of the guard orders the jailer to "take care of the prisoners." Here they are beaten again by the jailer and are doused with buckets of cold water.
8:00: Still in the holding area, they are now taken to their inner cells and have their hands and feet fastened in the stocks.
9:00, 10:00, and 11:00: Paul and Silas lay motionless. Paul wakes up and touches Silas to see if he is still alive. Silas moves, groans, and open his eyes. Paul thanks God that Silas is still alive and tries to give him a cup of cold water to revive him.
11:15: The two men sit up and talk. They are sore from their beatings. They petition God to forgive them for their transgressions and to forgive their transgressors. They embrace each other and cry together and begin their prayers.
11:30: Still praying, they begin shouting victory. They pray for release as the Holy Spirit descends and anoints them.
12:00: Paul and Silas begin to rock with hymns and prayers! They begin singing songs and hymns: "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" ... "Lord, I Want To Be A Christian" ... "On Christ The Solid Rock I Stand" ... "Amazing Grace" ... "Blessed Assurance" ... "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" ... "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" ... "We'll Understand It Better, Bye and Bye" ... "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms."
They alternate prayers with hymns and Holy Ghost songs. As they sing and pray, their voices get louder and stronger. A pure spiraling crescendo of a Hallelujah chorus in mezzo forte swells in the prison. As they pray and sing, they shed their wounds and pain and stand and begin to rock and sway.
They rock harder as the silence breaks! They rock stronger as the storm dikes break! They rock longer as the back of discouragement and injustice breaks! They rock wider as the prison chains break! They rock deeper as the jail bars break! They rock with a "Mississippi in the valley" rock! They rock with an "Alabama in the morning" rock! They rock with a midnight hour rock! They rock with a "Help Me, Holy Ghost" rock! They rock with a "sweet bye and bye" and a "joy cometh in the morning" rock! They rock with a "trouble don't last always" rock! They rock with a "a soon and very soon" rock!
12:00: The jailhouse rocks! They rock and sway and sing and pray as the jail cell walls begin to twist, crack, dip, and split! They swing and sway, sing and shout the Holy Ghost hymns of the church and the prayers of the saints. They rock with the rock of ages. While they rock, the jailed in other cells join in the rock and the prison guards begin to roll.
12:00: The jailhouse is rocked! Hearing the music, one of the minor jailer's throws his keys in the air and does a 360 twirl and catches his keys. The other jailer does a split in the front office and starts singing "Oh, happy day!" The other jailers begin running every which way like they don't know the time of day!
As they rock, a violent earthquake begins to rumble, and the walls begin to tumble. The doors fly open. Teeth shudder. The chains come loose at 12:00 and the jailer is roused by what he sees! Fearing for his life, he grabs his sword and tries to kill himself. But Paul and Silas caution him to spare his own life because "the prisoners are all here."
Through songs and prayers and faith and the Holy Ghost, the jailhouse was rocked and the chief jailer was so shook up by what he saw that he asked what he must do to be saved. And as things settled down, they began to speak to him about the power and joy of the Lord. So rocked was the jailer that he washed their wounds and he and his entire household were baptized and saved. The jailer invited the men into his home and the magistrate ordered them released. Because they were Roman citizens, they would not walk out of the jail on their own. They demanded Roman escorts because of the way they had been mistreated.
The jailhouse was rocked at midnight and the prisoners were set free. The truth is, Paul and Silas were already free men although they were in chains. Their faith, perseverance, tenacity, and joy could not be vanquished by their surroundings. They were men of great faith whose prayers and hymns had so much power that the jailhouse was rocked at its foundations.
Have you ever had your world rocked to the point where things just fell apart? Have you ever been rocked by injustice, evil, oppression, sin, and other forms of iniquity? Have you ever found yourself in what appeared to be an impossible situation? After you have been beaten, mistreated, given up for dead, and thrown into jail, did God make a way out of no way? Did walls that held you in come tumbling down because of your great faith?
Has ill treatment from others ever caused you to live out your life in the solitary cells of hell and unhappiness? Know that whatever your situation, condition, imprisonment, confinement, restriction, God can rock that situation and bring about a change for the better. There is nothing that prayer and praise cannot change. If they do not change our condition they can certainly change our outlook and response to our condition.
This is our faith in Christ. A faith that will rock the very foundations of our various forms of imprisonment. A faith that will rock our enemies and the very confinements in which they try to place us and keep us. God can rock the foundations of injustice and untruth and will bring victory and joy to those imprisoned by iniquity. However great the injustice, however cruel and diabolical the enemy, God will rock the foundations of our imprisonments and abolish the pain of our solitary confinement. God will rock untruth with truth, hatred with love, evil with good. He is a Rock of Ages who can rock every fortress of sin and evil to bring release and freedom to those who trust him. Let us sing our songs and pray our prayers until the walls of imprisonment come tumbling down! This is the meaning of the "Twelve O'Clock Rock!"
