PRISONER!

The Mamertine Prison is an ancient place of incarceration in Rome dating back to the 7th century B.C. Traditionally, it is held that Paul and Peter were imprisoned in this place, on top of which there is now a church.

The place is a gloomy and dank two-level prison in to which Rome’s high-profile enemies (including the Goth Jugurtha and the Gaul Vercingetorix) were cast, to die of starvation or strangulation. The ancient Roman historian Sallust (86-34 B.C.) noted that it was 12 feet below the ground and “neglect, darkness and stench make it hideous and fearsome to behold.” The bottom level is the prison proper into which captives were dropped from a hole at the top. Apparently, there is a stone that bears the imprint of Peter’s head from when he was hurled in. (I wonder what imprint the stone left on aforementioned disciple’s head. Then again, maybe he wasn’t called “Rocky” for nothing!)

It is possible that Peter was detained here before being executed by Nero, and Paul before his own. The latter, at the end of his third missionary journey, was mobbed in Jerusalem by Jews who accused him of desecrating the Temple by bring in a Gentile (Acts 21:27–30). The Romans took him into custody—two years in Caesarea, and later in Rome (Acts 25:9–11), perhaps right here in the Mamertine Prison.

It strikes me as amazing that here was this guy, always being accused by Jewish rabble-rousers, at least twice being imprisoned by Roman oppressors, calling himself not a victim of the Jews, nor a captive of the Romans. Rather …

I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ….
Ephesians 3:1
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus ….
Philemon 1
I am … Paul, the aged, and now also
a prisoner of Christ Jesus …
Philemon 9

That has got to be one of the most powerful assertions of the sovereignty of God. For Paul, nothing happened without God’s allowing it. And, for Paul, if God allowed it, he was OK with it. In fact, he could see God working in and through his imprisonment.

Now I want you to know, brethren,
that my circumstances have turned out
for the greater progress of the gospel,
so that my imprisonment
in the cause of Christ
has become well known
throughout the whole praetorian guard
and to everyone else,
and that most of the brethren,
trusting in the Lord
because of my imprisonment,
have far more courage to
speak the word of God without fear.
Philippians 1:12–14

So convinced of God’s sovereignty, he was content … even in prison.

And He has said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is perfected in weakness.” …
Therefore I am well content
with weaknesses, with insults,
with distresses, with persecutions,
with difficulties, for Christ’s sake;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9–10

Content, he simply seeks to be faithful to One who called him … even in prison.

… pray on my behalf,
that utterance may be given to me
in the opening of my mouth,
to make known with boldness
the mystery of the gospel,
for which I am an ambassador in chains ….
Ephesians 6:19–20

And this jailbird exhorts the rest of us—freebirds—to be “imprisoned” to Christ, to be faithful, as he was … even in prison.

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord,
implore you to walk in a manner
worthy of the calling
with which you have been called.
Ephesians 4:1

Let’s be faithful … prisoners of Jesus Christ.