A faithful traveling companion of Paul, Silas might
well be a model for some of today’s social activists
who fight against the exploitation of workers.
Silas is best known for sharing imprisonment with Paul
in Philippi and the seemingly miraculous event in which an
earthquake caused the prison doors to open and their shackles
to break (Acts 16:25-27). But it is what got them into this
jam in the first place that sheds light on his character and
the nature of his faith.
When Silas and Paul first arrived in Philippi, a leading city
of Macedonia and a Roman colony, they ventured outside
the city gates to find a spot on the
riverside which they had been told
was a place of prayer. (There was no
synagogue in the city.)
We are told in Acts 16:11-15 that
the two itinerant preachers found
a group of women gathered there,
possibly socializing while doing
laundry or praying. Seizing the
opportunity of a receptive audience,
Paul and Silas, a “prophet” in the
sense that he had been anointed by
the Holy Spirit, began to talk to the
women about Christianity.
We don’t know how most of the
women responded, but we do know
that one of them, Lydia, was profoundly
moved by what she heard.
After she and her household were
baptized by Silas and Paul, she begged them to stay at her
house while they were in town, an invitation the weary travelers
gladly accepted.
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Although the timing isn’t clear, Silas and Paul returned to
the riverside place of prayer in search of more converts. On
their way, they encountered a young slave girl “who had a
spirit of divination” (Acts 16:16, NRSV). This was a gift that
brought her owners a lot of money, although, as a slave,
none of it was for her.
This girl followed Silas and Paul around for several days,
calling out to anyone who could hear that the two men were
“slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way
of salvation” (Acts 16:17).
Rather than being pleased by this apparent display of
devotion, Silas and Paul were annoyed, evidently distrustful
of someone who engaged in pagan acts of divination.
Believing she was probably possessed, Paul and Silas
stopped and turned to face the girl. Paul charged the evil
spirit to come out of her in the name of Jesus Christ. And
so it did.
But this compassionate act of Paul and Silas, while spiritually
freeing the exploited slave girl, angered her owners,
who now faced a serious loss of income.
The slave’s owners seized the well-meaning pair and
dragged them into the marketplace before the local magistrates.
They charged Paul and Silas with a breach of peace
as Jews “disturbing the city” (Acts 16:20). In other words, the
men were guilty of upsetting an intrinsically exploitive status
quo.
Just as today’s social activists and
yesterday’s civil-rights leaders have
suffered for courageously standing
up for what is right, so too did Silas
and Paul. The magistrates ordered
them to be beaten and imprisoned.
But Silas and Paul didn’t give up the
fight. We know that Paul was successful,
thanks in large part to his
faithful companion, Silas.
God may be telling us through
the life of Silas and other early Christians
that we must not be passive
in the face of injustice. Slavery and
worker exploitation, especially of
children and women, are in some
ways worse today than was the form
of slavery that existed in the time of Silas and Paul.
Today’s activists include Kailash Satyarthi of India, who
has been responsible for freeing more than 75,000 bonded
and child laborers since 1980. Jesse Sage works with the
internationally focused American Anti-Slavery Group.
Ann Jordan is director of the Initiative Against Trafficking
in Persons at the human-rights organization Global Rights.
These and others like them would surely admire Silas
and Paul’s spirit of social activism in fighting injustice.
These are issues for all of us to consider, especially during
the next year: This month the Church begins to celebrate
a special jubilee year of the 2,000th anniversary of St. Paul’s
birth and, implicitly, a celebration of his faithful companions,
including Silas.
Next: Joanna
Christopher Gaul is a semi-retired journalist whose past experience includes managing
editor of The Catholic Review (Baltimore), White House correspondent
for National Public Television and reporter for The Baltimore Sun. |
