Price of freedom

In Philippi, Paul had some more adventures.
First of all, a slave girl was possessed by a spirit of divination. The owners of the slave girl milked a lot of money from the soothsaying of this girl. Therefore, it seems that this spirit was not at all evil. It did no bodily harm to the slave girl. However, being possessed by a spirit is no fun. You lose all your privacy. You are constantly under its cold gaze. You may not even be able to control your own bodily movements at will or the things you want to say. Therefore, this slave girl had lost autonomy on both the physical and spiritual planes. Physically, she was owned and controlled by her masters. Spiritually, she lost control of herself to a spirit.
She followed Paul and us, crying, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation."
And this she did for many days. But Paul was annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, "I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. (Acts 16:17-18).
Exorcism was probably not Paul's expertise. The spirit did not come out immediately. Did it take half an hour?
"that very hour" may probably be a Lukan style. The word "hour(s)" appears 13 times in the Acts. He was very specific in places such as "the third hour" (Acts 2:15), "the sixth hour" (Acts 10:9), "the ninth hour" (Acts 3:1, 10:3). "that/the very/same hour" appears elsewhere (Acts 16:33, 22:23). Therefore, the spirit might have been driven out immediately.
Like Jesus, Paul did not want the testimony from spirits. Indeed, nowadays, despite breathtaking scientific advances, many people still hunger for supernatural phenomena, the more inexplicable the better. These mysterious events are very much sought after and there is a huge market out there. Even though possession was not any miracle in the benevolent sense, the testimony from spirits must have great impacts on the audience. This would be excellent publicity. So, why did Paul and Jesus reject the testimony from spirits?
Well, let us keep in mind that we understand very little about these spirits. Since they do not have a body to tire them down, to limit their intellectual capability and no emotion to affect their judgment and problem-solving skills, they can outsmart us very easily. Will you then trust these creatures? We are unable to decide when they speak the truth, why they do it. In short, we are at their mercy if we happen to get involved with them. In fact, many possession cases are self-induced. People "invite" spirits to possess them for different reasons. The story of Faust is all too common these days among youngsters who experiment with Ouija Boards and the like.
Now that the slave girl was free, at least spiritually, from the control of the spirit. Probably she was freed physically from her owners as well because she was no longer able to make money for them. Consequently, Paul and Silas had to pay a price for the freedom of this slave girl. They were thrown into prison after being beaten up by the magistrates. To gain freedom, someone else has to pay the price. This is called ransom.
That night, God worked an earthquake to free Paul and Silas.
and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one's fetters were unfastened (Acts 16:26).
Don't you think that no price would be paid for their freedom. In fact, seeing all the prison doors opened, the jailer intended to commit suicide. Probably he knew very well what tortures he would receive from his Roman overlords for failing his responsibility of keeping the prisoners in. Suicide was a more dignified way for him to exit. Once again, we see how someone else has to pay the price for the freedom of others.
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 (Acts 16:27).
Lucky for him, Paul, Silas and all the prisoners did not escape. Paul saved the life of this anonymous jailer. From this story, we have the most popular quotation of many Protestant churches.
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household (Acts 16:31).
Jesus has paid for our freedom from sins with his life. Through faith in Jesus, we are saved. We are no longer slaves of sins. We are free at last.

My Lord, since the Second World War, our life has been abundant and we become addicts. I pray that we make good use of the grace and freedom You have gained for us. Work with us to liberate our brothers. Enrich our hearts to be more generous. Amen.