“Bugged”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Acts 16: 16-24 (Forward, p. 51) CEV p. 1155

I’m afraid that human nature has not changed, not even one tiny bit. People still get ‘bugged’ by the things happening around them. There wasn’t an established synagogue in the city of Philippi, and so those who wanted to pray corporately were forced to meet at a location near the river and outside the city gate. One day, on their way to prayer Paul and his companions were met by a slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination, that is, the ability to tell the future.

So far, no problem, but then the girl kept on following and harassing the disciples, and this went on for days. Finally, Paul reached his breaking point: he’d had enough of this and commanded the spirit to leave her. Now, we don’t know just why he did this, and can only speculate:

-perhaps he was bugged by the undesired notoriety, as this woman was continually calling attention to he and the other disciples in an undesirable way.

-perhaps he was bugged by the oddity that her message was actually ‘spot on’: “These men are servants of the Most High God! They are telling you how to be saved!” Undoubtedly, it was more than a bit embarrassing to have this message delivered by a demon-possessed woman.

-and perhaps it was more of a justice issue: this poor beleaguered woman was being ‘used’ by her owners to make a great deal of money. They were profiting big time from her ‘illness.’ Maybe this, or the mere fact of her enslavement, is what bugged Paul. Now, this sounds very commendable to modern ears and sentiments, but really, do we have even the least evidence elsewhere that Paul was generally motivated by this concern? Well, maybe his intervention of behalf of the poorer members of the congregation in Corinth who were losing out at the communal meals (see 1 Corinthians 11:21-22) can be seen this way. But what then of Philemon? (So, we need to be careful about applying modern sensibilities to ancient texts and situations.)

Whatever the reason, Paul released her from her bondage to the enslaving spirit, which meant that she no longer had the ability to foretell the future. So, with their pet ‘cash cow’ gone, her owners were mightily upset, bugged, you might say, and decided to do something about it. They grabbed Paul and Silas and hauled them into court. Now, here is where things get ‘interesting.’ What was their charge? Surely, it wasn’t the incident of exorcism, of delivering their slave girl from demonic possession. No, listen to them, “These Jews are upsetting our city! They are telling us to do things we Romans are not allowed to do” (verses 20-21). And what were these ‘things’? Their accusers never specified them, never spelled it out. Anyway, the real reason for their upset is that they’d lost a dependable source of income—even if nefarious and questionable--and that, I’m afraid, is something that certain people will always see as contrary to the common good.

Here's where it gets even more interesting: the crowds, without hearing even one bit of evidence to back up the allegations, joined in on the attack on Paul and Silas, and even the officials—who should, properly, have been neutral in the matter and come to their defence, actually tore off the men’s clothing and ordered them to be beaten with a whip. And, as if this severe beating wasn’t enough, they were then put in jail, with instructions that they be guarded carefully and securely. And so they were put into the deepest recesses of the jail with their feet securely chained to heavy blocks of wood. And all this without a trial or a hearing of any sort.

But doesn’t this sound overly modern? People make accusations without any substance, or upon the flimsiest of foundations, and people ‘run with it.’ Or, worse still, people make up stories, with the sad result that others believe it and act upon it.

All this says to me that we need to listen very carefully and weigh the evidence, and then—this is very important—to think twice about whether we repeat what we have heard. As ‘delicious’ as rumours can be, and how gratifying it can be to be ‘on the inside track’, it is often best to wait a while and see what other information comes to light—and even then, to be very slow, and careful, in what we repeat. It is for the good of everyone, including ourselves, that we do this, for it lowers the tone of public conversations considerably and allows for a more peaceful and measured atmosphere and response.

Forward notes: “But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour” (verse 18).

“I can relate to Paul’s experience of being ‘very much annoyed.’ I’m very much annoyed by drivers who seem to have nowhere to go, by policy and politicians who prioritize greed over need, by family members who project frustrations onto me, or by colleagues who lack urgency and efficiency. Never have I thought that God could use me to accomplish something holy when I’m gripped by a state of annoyance.

“But perhaps there is something to be said for holy agitation. In this passage, Paul is ‘very much annoyed’ by the circumstance of a young girl being regarded as a commodity, someone whose gifts ‘brought her owners a great deal of money.’ Paul’s annoyance and anger become a vehicle for releasing the girl from an injustice.

“I wonder how I could transform my venting into righteous lament so that it can become a prayer on behalf of another rather than one of self-pity that bears no fruit.”

Moving Forward: “Have you ever used ‘holy annoyance’ to fight an injustice?”

A concluding note: ‘regarding someone as a commodity’: isn’t that what much of the drug trade is about, or sex trafficking, or even some seemingly ‘legitimate’ commercial enterprises like the tobacco industry for instance?