Prison without prisoners

After Acts 5:21-32

Bring the prisoners here,

say the powers, the elites

posturing for effect and

self-congratulation and

not a little smug with

the condemnation 

they will deliver. 

Bring the prisoners here,

say the powers, the elites,

savoring the questioning

to come. 

They wait. They wait.

They grow restless

in their waiting, until

the soldiers come,

sheepishly and not

without a little fear, 

to report the empty cells

and the locked doors,

and the prisoners now

walking the streets,

doing exactly what

they’d been imprisoned

for:

giving hope.

Escorted to the courts,

the former prisoners

show no remorse, no fear,

and instead speak (rather

boldly for uneducated

men) the shocking

most revolutionary words

in history: we must obey

God, not men.

Photograph by Vidar Nordli-Mathieson via Unsplash. Used with permission.