Wanted—Dead and Alive!

My dear friends in Christ,

     What would it feel like to have your face on a poster that said, “Wanted, dead or alive!” It would seem like the end of the world, wouldn’t it? We would end up feeling like no one really wanted us, except to see us in jail or dead! The three main characters in our story for today were all wanted men. First, we have the apostle Paul and his friend Silas. They had come to the city of Philippi to spread the gospel. As they walked through the marketplace, a slave girl began to follow them. She was possessed by an evil spirit that allowed her to tell the future, and she made a lot of money for her owners. As she followed the two men she began to shout, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved” (Acts 16:17). After a number of days, Paul finally turned around and commanded the evil spirit to leave her in the name of Jesus. Immediately the spirit left her, and her owners had lost their income.

     The owners were so angry that they grabbed Paul and Silas, dragged them to the local authorities, and accused them of stirring up trouble in the city. The rest of the crowd joined in, and the judge ordered them to be severely beaten and thrown in prison. The jailer had them put in chains, with their feet in the stocks. No Tylenol or ibuprofen, no band-aids or ice packs, no comfy beds, no meals or even a cool drink of water. All of that brutality, and for what? Helping a girl? For being Jewish? For proclaiming the news that Jesus saves?

     On the other side of the prison walls we find another wanted man. This one was the jailer. He was responsible for every prisoner in his jail. If any of them escaped, he would be executed. When he was thrown from his bed by an earthquake, his first reaction was fear. His worst fears seemed to be confirmed when he ran to the prison and found the doors wide open. His worst nightmare had come true—the prisoners must have all escaped! He had failed in his duties. He had failed his family. It would be more honorable for his family and for himself if he would just die. He didn’t take any time to investigate. He didn’t check to see how bad it was. He thought he knew, and so he committed suicide in his mind—the only thing left was to pull out the sword and let the blood flow. He didn’t realize that he was already dead and had no hope at all if he took his own life.

     Three wanted men, each one facing death. Not a very good day, was it? Did you have a bad day this week?  How does it compare to Silas and Paul’s day? Did someone treat you unfairly? Was someone inconsiderate to you?  Did someone say something mean and rotten to or about you?  Did someone blow up at you even though you did nothing wrong? Was someone selfish and irresponsible, and you ended up cleaning the mess? And on top of it all you don’t feel good, you’re sick, you’re tired. How do you handle that?

     How does your bad day compare to the jailer’s day? Did you crawl in bed, get in the fetal position and hug yourself hoping it would all go away?  Did you turn on the TV and try to lose yourself in a movie?  Did you open the fridge and eat as much as possible? Were you tempted to swallow a bunch of pills and wash it down with alcohol?  Did you throw a tantrum, find someone to whine and complain to or just go into your room and scream?

     The jailer chose suicide. Many people see that as the solution today. Can you guess which age group the highest rate? Would you believe it is people between the ages of 40-59? It is also the third leading cause of death among teenagers. Most of us know someone who has attempted suicide, and some of us know people who were successful.

     Why is suicide so common? Depression often leads to suicide. Feelings in general speak with authority and mask themselves as truth. But feelings can lie. Feelings speak as God but change as the weather. Feelings can be helped, molded, and influenced. We can treat depression.

     Some want to avoid something—usually some kind of pain.  It’s not that they want to die. They just can’t live with the pain or the trouble, and leaving life is an easy way out or a way to get help. We can understand what the jailer had to deal with. When we have to face people we love and people we have let down, suicide appears like the easy answer, the easy way out. When it seems that we’re wanted: dead…that’s the only choice we have.

     God doesn’t want us to give up when we’ve had a bad day. Look at Paul and Silas. They were singing after a brutal beating and sitting in chains? How? They knew that God wanted them, dead and alive. They had life through Jesus. They knew that they were in prison for a reason, and so they sang to praise God and asked for his help. What did they sing? Maybe the words of Psalm 99:1—“The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake” (Psalm 99:1). Or, from Psalm 114, “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob” (Psalm 114:7). Whatever they prayed and whatever they sang, God heard them. Luke, who was in Philippi with Paul and Silas wrote, “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose” (Acts 16:26). God turned a certain death into life!

     He did the same thing for the jailer. When Paul called out and stopped him from falling on his sword, “The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’” (Acts 16:29–30). He realized that he was trapped in a hopeless situation. He was as good as dead. What should he do? Paul and Silas didn’t give him a checklist to fill out before he could be a good Christian. They didn’t tell the man to do anything. Instead they gave him the simple formula for life: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31).

     That simple phrase didn’t magically turn the jailer into one of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus had given Paul the way to make disciples. He said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20). Paul did exactly what Jesus had commanded. He made a disciple of the jailer, first with the Word. “Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house” (Acts 16:32). They taught the man and his family—everyone in his house. They introduced him to Jesus. They showed the jailer how Jesus had been imprisoned, beaten, and abandoned by his Father. They shared the news that the Son of God died on a Roman cross, not because of anything he had done, but because of Paul’s sins, Silas’ sins, and the jailer’s sins. His life was worth something because of everything Jesus had done for him!

     Now comes one of the most powerful verses in this section. Luke wrote, “At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.” (Acts 16:33). The jailer cared for Paul and Silas’ wounds. He washed off the dried blood from their torn skin. Paul and Silas offered a different kind of washing. They baptized the jailer and his family, washing away the terrible wounds sin had left behind—hopelessness and despair, trust in gods who could not and would not hear their requests. Every wound sin had made in their lives was gone, thanks to the healing water of baptism. It brought them through death into life. That’s the way Paul described it in Romans 6. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3–4). Wanted: dead and alive. God found the jailer and his family when they were dead in sin. That simple water of baptism did something far more powerful than anyone watching would see. It buried their sinful nature—every last one of their sins—with Jesus in the tomb. It also connected them to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Once Jesus rose, the sins of the world were buried in that tomb, never to come back again! God turned a really bad day into a day of rejoicing.

     How can we deal with the bad days we face? Let me ask you a simple question. Are you baptized? Let’s take a moment to think about what just happened to little Lucia here at the baptismal font. God wanted her, dead and alive. I took a little bit of water and poured it on her head. That didn’t do much, but when I poured the water I used some powerful words—a powerful name: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In that instant, Lucia died. The sinful nature that her mom and dad shared with her was drowned by the all-encompassing power of God’s Word. The water buried her sinful nature in Jesus’ tomb. In that same instant, she came back to life—a new life, a perfect and holy life because that water and Word washed her sins away. She became one of God’s saints!

     That’s not all! Last week, Pastor Birkholz reminded us how God puts his name on us at the end of every service. That reminded me of one of the scenes in the movie Toy Story. Remember how Woody, Andy’s toy cowboy knew he belonged to Andy? Andy had written his name on the bottom of Woody’s boot. God did something even better in baptism. He took out his eternal Sharpie and wrote his name on the bottom of Lucia’s foot. He also wrote her name on his own hand. He says, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:16). God will never forget Lucia.

     So, are you baptized? Think of the wonders God has done for you, just like Lucia. He wanted you dead, and through your baptism he buried you with Christ. He wanted you alive, and so he raised you with the power of Jesus’ resurrection. He has strengthened you for the circumstances you are facing right now with his living Word. Your life is worth living because “your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Just like God used Paul and Silas to rescue a jailer from the darkness of sin and death, God will use you to let his Word connect with someone else. He will use you to make them his disciples and give them hope for a new life, a life that will be hidden with our Savior forever in heaven. God wants all of us, dead and alive. Thanks to our baptism, he has us right where he wants us! Amen.