Seventh Sunday after Easter Yr C (Acts 16:16-34)  05-16-2010

Nearly 20 years ago, Steven Spielberg introduced many people to the story of Oskar Schindler in his dramatic and powerful movie, Schindler’s List. The movie tells the story of a businessman who saves hundreds of Polish Jews from the horror and almost certain death of the concentration camps of the Nazi regime. But the fact that Schindler saved hundreds of Jews is actually the end of the story and not how the story begins. In the beginning of the story, Oskar Schindler set out only to establish a factory that he hoped would be a successful business venture. He began hiring workers for his factory and in an effort to make the greatest profit he hired people who would accept the lowest wage…and the Jewish people of Krakow were paid the lowest wage. His factory was run and staffed by Jewish workers and throughout the difficult days of World War II, things began to change between Schindler and his workers. Unexpected events occurred and gifts of unexpected grace entered their lives and changed their futures. Unexpected grace would change the lives of hundreds of Jews. And unexpected grace would forever change Oskar Schindler. Unexpected events point us toward the grace that is present in our lives, but sometimes comes to us in unexpected ways.

Unexpected events and moments of unexpected grace are found in our first reading this morning. The story of Paul the Apostle and his fellow missionaries traveling in Philippi is a continuation of last week’s reading from Acts. Last Sunday, we heard the story of Paul’s visit to the house of Lydia, a dealer of purple cloth and an influential person in the community. We heard of Paul’s joyful support for the church at Philippi and his appreciation of the leadership of the women in the community. Today, as the story continues, we hear Paul encounter a young slave-girl who is possessed with a spirit that gives her the ability to tell the future. Possession by spirits should be enough for Paul and his friends to feel compassion for this young afflicted girl, but in addition to spirit possession she is exploited by men who seek to make money from her strange abilities. After many days of following Paul throughout the town, he becomes annoyed with the girl and rids her of the spirit. Paul drives away the spirit, not out of compassion for the girl’s condition, but because she is troubling his peace and quiet. The men exploiting the girl are extremely upset with the loss of their money making fortune teller and accuse Paul of causing trouble. Paul is promptly stripped, beaten, and thrown in jail by the town officials; an unexpected event because Paul is a Roman citizen and such punishment is not allowed. Curiously, Paul submits himself to these punishments and remains in jail, even as an earthquake seems to reach into the prison to release him from his shackles by divine decree. Paul’s decision to remain in the prison is unexpected, even to the jailer who prepares to end his life in order to avoid the severe punishment he would receive if his prisoners escaped. Paul assures the jailer that everyone is still present…and we should be again surprised when the Roman jailer kneels before Paul and Silas and seeks to learn the word of God. The story concludes with an abundance of grace…unexpected grace, as the jailer and his entire family are baptized into the body of Christ.

Our reading from Acts contains several unexpected events, but the chain of events began with the exploited slave-girl whose fortune telling ability annoyed Paul. After hearing Paul’s support of Lydia and the women of the community of Philippi in our reading last week, Paul’s frustration and his desire to merely quiet the girl for his own good are surprising. We never hear about the girl again and we can assume she played only a minor part in Paul’s mission, but we can certainly hope she joined the growing Christian community in Philippi. And although a minor part in Paul’s overall mission, her persistence in following Paul played an important role in Paul’s interaction with the jailer…and the unexpected grace of baptism for the jailer and his family.

Like the story of Paul in Philippi, unexpected gifts of grace are given to us throughout our lives. And these gifts of grace can appear to us in unexpected ways – sometimes with striking clarity (as when an earthquake opens the prison cell door of the innermost room), but more often grace is given to us in the subtleties and unexpected events of life. Oskar Schindler was hopeful that he would be a successful businessman; he never dreamed of saving the lives of hundreds of Jews. Yet many Jewish survivors have testified to the unexpected grace given through Schindler’s actions, as they spoke to Steven Spielberg about their experience. Spielberg remembers many of the survivors’ stories when he says, “I’ve never had a survivor say, ‘Categorically, [Schindler] planned to save the Jews from the first day;’ I’ve had many survivors say ‘he planned to make a lot of money off of all of us and off the Nazi party from the first day and then something happened that changed him, but we can’t tell you what day that happened.’”[i] Unexpected grace happened…and Schindler saved 1,200 Polish Jews and went bankrupt in the process. As Paul sat in his prison cell and thought about the unexpected events of a very bad day, unexpected grace happened…and Paul baptized the jailer and his entire family. As we live our lives and experience the unexpected events and curious happenings of our days, we should be ever mindful that we are recipients of God’s grace, often times in unexpected ways. Grace comes to us in the joys and sorrows of our loved ones; the simple smile and greeting to a stranger, and the excitement and strange new wonders of a pilgrimage to Iona in Scotland. And if our hearts and minds are open; open to the wonder and grace of God’s love; God’s grace; God’s unexpected grace will change us forever. AMEN.

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[i] Steven Spielberg, “Steven Spielberg on Schindler’s List,” video short on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAM5q837enk, accessed 05/15/2010. (Warning: this video has graphic scenes shown in the movie that may be disturbing to watch)