The first and last sections of this incident (16:16-21 and 16:35-40) are never read in the liturgy, and the center section (16:22-34) is used only as a daily Mass reading on Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter. It is quite a story. Note, the “place of prayer” where Paul and Silas had met and converted Lydia, was a river bank outside of Philippi, indicating that the Jews of the town had no place of their own to worship. We pick up Luke’s writing here:
16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl with an oracular spirit, who used to bring a large profit to her owners through her fortune-telling. 17 She began to follow Paul and us, shouting, “These people are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” 18 She did this for many days. Paul became annoyed, turned, and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” Then it came out at that moment.
19 When her owners saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the public square before the local authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These people are Jews and are disturbing our city 21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us Romans to adopt or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in the attack on them, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely. 24 When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake.
25 About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, 26 there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew [his] sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.” 29 He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.” 32 So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. 33 He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once. 34 He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.
35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the lictors with the order, “Release those men.” 36 The jailer reported the[se] words to Paul, “The magistrates have sent orders that you be released. Now, then, come out and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, even though we are Roman citizens and have not been tried, and have thrown us into prison. And now, are they going to release us secretly? By no means. Let them come themselves and lead us out.” 38 The lictors reported these words to the magistrates, and they became alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and placated them, and led them out and asked that they leave the city. 40 When they had come out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house where they saw and encouraged the brothers, and then they left.
A fascinating incident!
Notice Paul listens to the medium “many days” –she certainly attracted attention to Paul and Silas, which was fine, but it was quite annoying, too. With “many days,” Paul had a lot of time to think over the implications of casting out the spirit. First, it would free the slave girl from personal oppression by the spirit–but her owners would be angry at losing their income! In fact, it was predictable that it would get Paul and Silas into trouble with “people who mattered” in Philippi. I’m sure Paul was “annoyed” from the beginning, but he did not react precipitously. It is not likely he cast out the demon without talking it over first with Silas: they were risking rough treatment. Two notes for us: 1. Take your time, if you can, in difficult cases. Pray. Consult. 2. Patience does not mean putting up with things forever.
Another thing that suggests Paul and Silas have thought through “the cost of discipleship” in this case, is that Paul does not mention his Roman citizenship through the entire beating. Under the blows, he keeps that to himself. Why? He certainly makes strong use of it later. It can’t be because he wants to be beaten! Is it to be a living example of patience in suffering for Lydia and the others they have baptized? That would be something valuable they can leave with the small community when he and Silas have to move on and evangelize others. It would show them that Paul and Silas did not merely mouth words about suffering for the Kingdom, but lived them out.
Finally, the larger “earthquake” in the story is Paul and Silas’s refusal to escape from the jail at the cost of the jailer’s life. That won an entire family for Christ! Once again, persecution leads to evangelization. The blood of suffering becomes seed for the Church.
There is a significant postscript to this story. The little group they left in Philippi eventually becomes Paul’s most beloved church family–as we see in his Letter to the Philippians.