Hard Time
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, exhort you to walk worthily of the calling in which you were called, Ephesians 4:1
Prisoner – What was it like to be a prisoner in the first century Roman Empire? One rather famous dungeon in Rome was twelve feet underground. It doesn’t take much to imagine the conditions. No sanitation. No light. No accommodations to prisoners. In fact, if outsiders didn’t routinely provide food, prisoners often starved to death. It really didn’t matter much to the officials. The only reason one ended up in the hell holes was because the person could not (to the satisfaction of the State) guarantee he would show up at court or he was scheduled for execution anyway. Crucifixion was tortuous but at least it was fairly quick. Literally rotting in prison extended the agony of death for weeks.
Paul’s claim to be a prisoner of the Lord probably sent shock waves through his readers. Prison was the last place on earth that anyone expected to find grace, mercy or comfort. It was the realm of nightmares, horror stories and numbing fear. But not for Paul! You see, Paul turns the whole metaphor upside-down. Instead of being a prisoner for punishment, he sees himself as a prisoner for protection. You will recall Jesus’ remark in John 17:12. “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name.” Here the Greek word eteroun (keeping) describes protective custody. The followers of the Lord are prisoners, alright, but they are in the guardhouse in order to keep them safe, not in order to penalize them. Paul’s choice of desmois (prisoner) paints the picture of someone who is bound, tied up and captive. For Paul, being a prisoner of Yeshua is the sign of freedom. In the New Testament, desmois equals eleutheros. The world is truly upside-down.
Do you think of yourself as a prisoner? Frankly, most of us don’t. To think like that means we have to see through the preponderance of false evidence. Our culture, our training, our mentality all shouts, “We are free!” But Yeshua looks deeper. We can be prisoners of the Lord or we can be prisoners of our selves. There is no room for “free” in this world. A little reflection on the vicissitudes of life demonstrates the truth of our Lord’s observation. No matter what I claim, I cannot escape the slavery to government legislation, financial obligations, relationship responsibilities and a host of other things that impinge on my life. For the person without Christ, real freedom happens only in death. At least when I die my obligations in this world end.
But for a prisoner of the Lord, death has already occurred. My life is no longer filled with my obligations. Now it is in the hands of my Master and all I am asked to do is fulfill His obligations. I am free of myself at last. Hallelujah, I am a prisoner!
Topical Index: prisoner, free, protective custody, eleutheros, eteroun, desmois, Ephesians 4:1
Speaking of prisons, and of finding God in a prison cell, the following scene is from Shakespeare’s King Lear.
By the end of the play, Lear has been stripped of everything: his wealth, his family, and his kingly ego.
Out of this blackness is born the theophany of Lear’s spiritual transformation.
And he is reunited momentarily with his beloved daughter, Cordelia.
Come let’s away to prison:
We two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: and we’ll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too,
Who loses, and who wins; who’s in, who’s out;
And take upon ‘s the mystery of things,
As if we were God’s spies; and we’ll wear out,
In a walled prison, packs and sets of great ones
That ebb and flow by the moon.
(King Lear, Act 5, scene 3, lines 8-18)