Sermon on Act 16:16-34 (RCL May 29, 2022)

As noted last week,

the Narrative Lectionary uses the time between Easter and Pentecost to focus on the early church,

this year telling the story of Paul, using passages from Acts and (this year) from Philippians

Acts is, of course, the continuation of the story of Jesus’s followers as told by the author of Luke

And so, although last week we saw some resonances with the Gospel of John in our Acts passage,

the themes and context for our readings are better found in the Gospel of Luke

In today’s reading, the theme

the reality, that makes the authorities attend to Paul & Silas is financial

It is when their actions interfere with the take,

the livelihood of the masters of the female slave

when they hit ‘em where it hurts—in the pocketbook

that they get brought up on charges…

And this financial theme is evident in Luke as well