“He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.”
Acts 16:34 (NLT)
After saving the jailer’s family, Paul and Silas don’t just leave town and move on. They’re brought into his home. They’re part of the family now because Jesus’ blood has washed everyone there clean. Jesus is at the center of the room, and the jailer and his whole household rejoice because they believed in God. There is joy around the table.
There are no details that show the jailer and his household were Jews or converts to Judaism. It’s possible they had none of the story about God before this moment. So when Paul and Silas sit around the table with them, they’re sitting with people who have been far from God. They are practicing what Jesus did. When Jesus called Matthew in Luke 5, he took Jesus into his home and they ate with people the Pharisees called scum.
The jailer’s family understands something similar to Matthew, and they don’t just follow Jesus down the road. They follow Jesus where it matters most. They follow Jesus at home, where we are the most authentic version of ourselves. And when we let Jesus into our whole life, we can rejoice when we look around the table and see what God has done in each person’s life. We can act like one family in Christ when we recognize what Jesus did to break down the barriers between God’s people. Now we all have the same Daddy, and we can come to Him in prayer the same as Jesus did on earth. That’s what Ephesians 2:14-18 tells us.
I imagine that around the table, whatever pain might still be there (from the beating Paul and Silas received for sharing Jesus with the community) is no longer noticeable. It’s gone. With joy around the table, there’s nothing to be concerned about, nowhere else to be, and nothing else to do. When we’re at the table with Christ at the center, everything else washes away. I pray today that we’ll be like Jesus and seek to sit with sinners. I pray we’ll be like Matthew, the jailer, Lydia, and Cornelius. Let God into your whole life by inviting your family of believers to joyfully sit around your table with Jesus at the center.