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Acts 16:16-31
As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
19 But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and 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 bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
No, that title isn’t either an email string of apologies, nor a text string of take-backs. It’s actually known as the Lowry Loop. Eugene Lowry was a student of Fred Craddock, a noted professor of preaching: Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching and New Testament Emeritus in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He was an ordained minister of the Christian Church from rural Tennessee. And could he preach a sermon. He told stories that brought you into the plot, made you laugh before making you stop and realize you were laughing at yourself, and in need of a dose of Gospel reality. I attended a few of his lectures when I lived in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Eugene Lowrey built on what Craddock taught, teaching homiletics (preaching) and influencing many pastors, including yours truly. I don’t always use Lowry’s Homiletical Plot, but I often recall his advice: Get Jesus into as much trouble as possible and then see how he still saves the day. I’ve included a link below to a lecture/sermon he gave at Drew Theological School in 2008.
But you don’t have to work too hard to find Jesus in trouble here – or at least Jesus’ servants. First they’re mocked. Then they’re beaten. Then thrown into prison. Then comes an earthquake! Seems like lots of trouble for these servants of the Most High God. Then – just as the jailer is about to kill himself in fear of having lost his charge – these servants call out, “Don’t harm yourself. We’re all still here.”
What’s going on here? Is God orchestrating all this just so that Luke has something interesting to report? Is this just the makings of a Christian cinema offering? No. And no. Luke will write about it; we’re reading his book even now. And this would make a great movie. But this isn’t about books or movies – plotline or not. This is about the grace of God and his desire for all people to be saved. It’s about helping us understand that through faith in Jesus we are saved. That’s true whether we’ve lived a life totally apart from God from our birth, or claim a lifelong commitment to Jesus and a front pew in the Church on the Corner of Grace and Truth Streets.
I love how this story unfolds. That’s especially true because the ending of this episode sets the stage for even more of the story of God. No matter how much trouble Jesus and his followers get into, there is always hope for a new chapter of his grace and goodness to be lived. Yeah…
Lowry is also a jazz pianist. The opening minutes of this video show him playing a jazz rendition of What a Friend We Have in Jesus. He uses that to help illustrate that just when you think you know where the music is heading, you discover a nuance or an unexpected beauty. He says that’s the way it is in our life with Jesus.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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