“My hair is grey, but not with years, Nor grew it white In a single night, As men's have grown from sudden fears: My limbs are bow'd, though not with toil, But rusted with a vile repose, For they have been a dungeon's spoil....” So begins Lord Byron’s poem: “The Prisoner of Chillon.”
In the mid ‘60s, First Christian Church in Temple would invite circuit speakers to address an evening congregation with their Christian witness. I remember the white-haired man who once spoke of his conversion: his name was Floyd Garland Hamilton. A few years later, in 1978, he wrote a small paperback, which can still be purchased for a handsome price. The title of the book is Public Enemy #1.
You see, Floyd Hamilton had been a Depression Era gangster, once the driver for Bonnie and Clyde Barrow, and the mastermind of the first attempted, but failed, escape from Alcatraz. But Floyd’s life had been changed by Christ, and he died a free man in 1984 at the age of 76.
A few biblical examples of those who experienced imprisonment: Joseph, who was imprisoned in Egypt; Jeremiah, imprisoned once in a cistern; John the Baptist, for denouncing King Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife; and of course, in the New Testament, Peter and Silas and Paul.
History notes other infamous imprisonments. William Tyndale was imprisoned in 1524 for his translation of the Bible, and spent sixteen months in a hole before being executed. In the 17th century, John Bunyan was imprisoned for his preaching, and while in prison conceived of Pilgrim’s Progress, the most purchased book next to the Bible. Reverend Dietrich Bonhoeffer, imprisoned and executed by Hitler. Nelson Mandela’s political imprisonment from 1962 to 1990.
Today the world’s prison population is estimated to be almost eleven billion. But how many more live an unnecessary portion of their lives in emotional and spiritual prisons? The prison of bitterness, whose bars are unforgiveness. The prison of aloneness - the true solitary confinement. The prison of bigotry - the deceiving robber of the appreciation of the human family. The prison of grief that denies the experience of joy. The prison of greed which denies fulfillment and contentment. The prison of hopelessness - the darkest of all prisons.
When, from a Nazareth pulpit, Jesus inaugurated his ministry, the text he chose for his sermon was from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me. He has sent me to proclaim the opening of the prison.” So often it is only in our minds and in our hearts that we are imprisoned. And for this reason, Jesus came.
Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist, issued a challenge wherever he went. He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free quickly and easily. Always he kept his promise, but one time something went wrong.
Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him. He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal, strong and flexible. He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For 30 minutes he worked and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. By now he was bathed in sweat and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock.
Finally, after laboring for two hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock. But when he fell against the door, it swung open. It had never been locked at all!
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