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Readings
Job 42:1-17
Acts 16:16-24
John 12:20-26
Meditation
Paul meets a servant girl with a spirit. The text interestingly doesn’t lable it an evil spirit, but this spirit does something that they all did when they saw Christ – they shout out who He was. In this case the girl shouts out that these men (Paul, Silas, Timothy) are servents of the Most High God. The spirits know what is what. They don’t see through a glass darkly. This calling out continued many days. It annoyed Paul. That is an interesting phrase. When Jesus cast demons out, it was usually becuase he was moved to compassion or had pity on the possessed. Paul is annoyed. Just an interesting way of putting it. Especially when this spirit might have been helping their cause. People paid this girls owners very well to hear what she had to say. Paul was getting free publicity.
The reaction is a familiar one. There is always something at the center of people’s lives. Religion is treated as an add on – a nice pious practice that nice people do. You can have your religion up to a certain point. For the owners of this slave girl, they let Paul preach in the marketplace for many days. It wasn’t a naked public square. It crossed the line when Paul’s actions changed their lives. Christ was no longer something that might have been slightly annoying as this girl screamed out the truth. Christ through Paul had cast out their money maker. Now religion had crossed the line. These men are disturbing our city…they advocate unlawful customs. Every Christian disciple faces those lines in their journey. Christ is about changing lives. What lines are you maintaining – this far Jesus but no farther, I’m not letting you mess with my: free expression, money, sexuality, politics, sports, family? Is there a point where you would say this preacher is disturbing our church or city or community? Is that line valid (i.e. is the preacher a false one) or have you discovered something other than Christ at the center of your life?
May the Lord help you to brightly see those lines and grant you the freedom to break them.
