Salvation: Believing in Christ Jesus

In today’s first reading, Acts 16: 22-34, we read about Paul and Silas being arrested, beaten with rods, and chained to the prison floor.  God intervenes. The prison doors are blown open by an earthquake and the chains that securely restricted Paul and Silas’ movements are shattered, pulled right out of the cemented floor.  Frightened of the punishment that would be inflicted upon them, the jailers decide to kill themselves. Paul and Silas stop them. Falling down before them, the jailors ask:  “What must we do to be saved?” Paul and  Silas respond:  “Believe in the Lord Jesus.”

Each of us, from time to time, find ourselves chained, that is unfree to act justly, to love tenderly, to walk humbly with his/her God (Compare Micah 6:8).  Sometimes, we engage in actions which we would not otherwise do or refrain from actions which we would, when free, do. In other words,  at times  we are no different from the jailers  who beat Silas and Paul with rods and chained their feet to the prison floor.  Whom, I ask, have I beaten, not with rods, but with words? Whom, I ask, have I put in chains by my efforts to control them, by  denying them their rights to be respected, loved, and honored when I did not have the courage or, for some reason, did not feel free to speak up for them when others were treating them harshly or speaking unkindly about them or about to impose their will upon them unjustly?

“What, Lord, must we do to be saved in those situations?”  The answer is the same that Paul and Silas gave to the jailors. We need to believe in the Lord Jesus and His power to set us free. If we do believe in Jesus, then, we need to bring our situation to the Lord. Yes, we need to describe what is going on within and around us that is depriving others and us of our freedom to act in accord with God’s holy will. God’s will is our peace, our happiness, our wholeness, our holiness, our becoming one with Him and with one another in love.  When we invite Jesus into our reality, then, and only then, as in the case with Silas and Paul, will we be set free.