The Saturday after Cantate Sunday
Posted on May 9, 2026 by under
Scripture: Acts 16:25-36 (NKJV)
16:25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go.”
36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”
Devotion
This reading in Acts could have been the original “Get out of jail free” card. Paul and Silas had been thrown in prison for casting out a spirit from a slave-girl, so that certain men could not make money from her fortune-telling anymore.
Being thus unjustly imprisoned, their jailer was prepared to take his own life out of shame for not keeping the prisoners secure under his care. An earthquake opened the doors and loosed the chains; surely the prisoners would flee! Most people probably would, but Paul and Silas did not. They were still in the prison. This was not expected behavior.
So the jailer gladly heard the Word of the Lord from Paul and Silas, who would tell the man of his sin, and what Christ had done to pay the debt that sin owed. The jailer believed them, trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of his sin, and he and his whole household were baptized and saved. The jailer’s new faith soon bore fruit as he then provided Paul and Silas with medical care and with food.
Collect: O God, Who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will: Grant unto Thy people that they may love what Thou commandest, and desire what Thou dost promise; that, among the manifold changes of this world, our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
