A Disciple In Bonds

During this week, we shall be meditating on facts about serving Father God, which have been brought to us with three main responses and outcomes in mind.

The first is that in hearing the word, you will once again humble yourself before God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, acknowledging that all might and power belong to Him.

The second is that in heeding the word, you will leave all your human mindsets about serving the Lord, accepting that His Word in you is powerful and potent so that you will demonstrate none other, but the Lord’s authority and power in your life.

The third is that in having the word, you will no longer be deceived into living lives which are fine and nice, according to good Christian habits, but totally displeasing and a lie to all who the Holy Spirit is and does in human beings.

May God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, bring us to reality in Him. Amen!

Today and tomorrow, we shall be looking at Jason, a disciple of the Lord.

Jason, has been introduced to us all as a man who has freely opened his home to Paul and Silas. We know about Paul and we know about Silas, who is in mission with Paul, but Jason remains a non-entity, a non-celebrity. Our first and only introduction and information about Jason comes from enemies of The Way. These are some Jews who have become jealous of Paul and Silas and their work and witness for Jesus. Their jealousy comes because of all that God has been lavishly confirming in His servants. Now here is the mystery. Paul and Silas are the ones who are spoken of and described as, These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here. Acts 17: 6b. Yet, they are not the ones being asked to post bond. The people asked to post bond are Jason and some other believers.

Here is the incident. But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. Acts 17: 5. It is only because they were unable to catch the ‘big fish’ as it were, that they grabbed Jason and some other brothers in the faith and held them captive. For one most terrifying, illegal and totally obsessive move, on the part of some Jews – haters of the Way Makers - followers of Jesus the Way, are held in captivity. They now have their freedom returned to them, but not before posting bond. This bond has been brought before me as a kind of covenant.

What is a covenant? Taking the meaning of covenant in its broadest sense, one dictionary gives the meaning as this. A covenant is a promise, agreement, or contract between two parties. As part of the covenant, the two parties agree that certain activities will or will not be carried out.  Now what does it mean to post bond?  The literature tells us that to post bond means that a person who has been found guilty of an offence or crime, agrees to pay the stipulated money set by the courts, so that he or she can be free to go home. The bond being asked for is usually commensurate with the crime committed.

In short, this agreement or covenant made by Jason and his brothers in the Lord, tells us many unspoken and unwritten facts. However, they are there for us to listen to, read and look at, between the lines.

Remember, without warning and most unexpectedly, Jason, and others who have been living freely in their home-place, among their fellow-people, has been arrested for being hospitable to Jesus’ servants. He opened his home to them. 

You too are a disciple, a follower of Jesus and there have been daily opportunities for you to open your home to the servants of Jesus. Sadly, many of us open our homes yes, but they are places where the dictates of the world rule and reign. Our homes are managed and controlled by a watered down, fearful, complaining, murmuring and apologetically weak faith, so that we have become comfortable in living and giving what is definitely not the Lord’s Way. This is not Jason, for we see how he has opened his home – his heart, his hearing, his having – to Jesus’ disciples and in so doing, to Jesus Himself.

Tomorrow, we shall spend time on some unwritten facts.