Jail Ministry-Part 3: What Do you Talk About - by Paul Muller

So what do you talk about? - I almost always talk about the same two bible stories.   I can get away with this because the turnover in the jail, the volunteer schedule and the cell blocks we are assigned are such that I rarely see the the same inmate twice.  I have found that the most effective message for the inmates comes out of  Luke 22:1-60, then Acts 3 and 4. 

The story in Luke is the Last Supper, the betrayal of Jesus, his arrest and the denial three times by Peter.  I think a lot of inmates can relate to this story – when they are arrested often their friends have betrayed them, have scattered in fear or deny even knowing them.  I tell them that this was, arguably, the lowest point in the Christian story: Jesus arrested and certain to be executed, none of the disciples coming to his aid and all are hiding in fear.  I tell them that this is how we all are, scared when trouble comes and fearful, even if we talk big like Peter in Luke 22:33: “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”  I ask them why we even have a church today if this is how the disciples acted when Jesus needed them most.

At this point I read Acts chapters 3 and 4.  It tells the story of Peter and John in Jerusalem at the temple, just a few weeks after Jesus was crucified.  Peter heals a lame beggar in the temple courtyard, a big crowd gathers - astonished - and Peter preaches to them about how the power of Jesus Christ has restored the man's health.  This attracts the attention of the authorities – I love how it reads at the beginning of Acts 4: “While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.”

So now Peter and John – the same people who just a few weeks before had denied even knowing Jesus – are in the most public place in Jerusalem, at the busiest time of day, they are preaching about Jesus and then wait around to be arrested for it.  What's going on? 

Read a little further in Acts 4 - Peter and John are put on trial and are identified as associated of Jesus, the executed criminal. When asked by what power they healed the man, Peter says flatly  “.. by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is: 'the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.'  There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” 

So instead of keeping silent or making something up to the judge, Peter's words put the blame for the death of Jesus' back on the same religious authorities he was now facing.  What is to keep Peter and John from being crucified as well? 

Finally, the court decides that it would be better not to make new martyrs for the cause and to keep this quiet they will simply give Peter and John a warning not to preach in the name of Jesus.  So when you are in court and you are going to get off with a warning, what do you do?  Easy: - look down, mumble your thanks to the judge and then leave as quickly as possible.  But not Peter and John - instead they fire back: “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Many of the inmates know the story of Peter's denial, so now the question is: how is it that Peter and John, who a few weeks earlier went into hiding and denied even knowing Jesus, are now boldly preaching in the name of Jesus in the temple, getting arrested and talking back to the same authorities who had Jesus put to death?

We talk about this and often the inmates point out that Peter and John saw the resurrected Jesus and this experience gave them the certainty of their actions.  I then confess that I have left out part of the story and we read a few verses in Acts 2 – the coming of the Holy Spirit.  This is the source of Peter's strength and courage.   I tell them that all Christians can call on the Holy Spirit for strength and courage and to pray and be open to it. 

If Christ died for our sins, all we have to do as Christians is to be open for the Holy Spirit to guide our actions.  In this we way we have the strength to do what Christ has called us to do: “Love our God with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul.  And love our neighbors as ourselves.”  And jail is a tough neighborhood, but this is what the Christians there are called to do.