Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were stuck in prison? Do you know that as a Christian, you are actually commanded in God’s Word to contemplate that very thing? Further, do you know why you are commanded to do that? Jesus told why, which is so that you can go to heaven when you die. Obeying the second greatest command, to love your neighbor as yourself, is required to inherit eternal life (Luke 10:25-28). Yes, it’s that important, but how do we do it?
There’s a written standard on how we are to love others. We can’t just love them any way we want to. The standard is us. We have to first look at how we would like to be loved and apply that standard to the way we behave toward and treat others (Matthew 7:12). Putting this all together, here’s the key passage for this lesson. “Let brotherly love continue. …Remember the prisoners as if chained with them…” (Hebrews 13:1, 3 NKJV).
Remembering prisoners is a command of God, a love command contained within the second greatest command, but very often ignored by many if not most Christians. Have you ever in your life even heard a sermon on Hebrews 13:3 or read an article on that verse? And just like the second greatest command, it has a standard. We have to picture ourselves stuck in prison and contemplate how we would want others to remember us there. There is no option here if you want to inherit eternal life. You must show love to your brothers and sisters behind bars as commanded. If you have never been in prison (or imprisoned), and thus may be a little foggy on how to remember such people, not to worry, there are plenty of experts (i.e., prisoners) who can tell you how. Most will tell you that probably the best way you can remember them is simply to on occasion visit them. Hmm, where have we heard that before?
“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me” (Matthew 25:34-36). Besides that, we have examples of ancient Christians doing exactly what Jesus talked about, visiting probably the most famous prisoner in the New Testament (Acts 28:16-17, 30; 2 Timothy 1:16-17).
Now, did you know this? America has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world. There is no country that has more prisoners in it than the USA. You won’t find anyone dying of thirst in America or even going hungry. Free food is all around, and thus, no one, not even the poorest, is starving. However, there are plenty of prisons and prisoners all around us here in the land of the free – over 2 million prisoners. They’re everywhere. There’s even a prison less than 15 miles from where I live. Do you ignore prisoners near where you live?
In Luke 16:19-31, the rich man ignored the plight of hungry Lazarus who was there near him, and even now he is paying a heavy price because of what he did not do. Maybe the rich man just didn’t consider Lazarus his “neighbor.” Jesus clearly defined who our neighbors are: people around us whom we may not know or maybe even don’t like, people we may have to risk our own lives to help, people we may have to sacrifice time and personal belongings for, including our own transportation and even our own money (Luke 10:29-37). In the first century, Rome was about 12 square miles in size, and most people got around the city on foot. Still, that didn’t stop Onesiphorus from searching “very zealously” (2 Timothy 1:17 NKJV; “very diligently” KJV; “earnestly” ESV; “hard” NIV) for imprisoned Paul in Rome until he finally found him so that he could visit him and even ‘refresh’ him. There’s no telling how much time, walking and searching it took for Onesiphorus to achieve his goal, possibly days. If it’s not painfully hard, extremely difficult and a real chore for you to love your neighbors, maybe they are not the “neighbors” Jesus talked about.
However, some say that Jesus probably didn’t literally mean what he said in Matthew 25:31-46, and they are willing to chance that our Lord was being figurative, despite the horrific consequences if they guess wrong. Maybe the rich man thought Isaiah 58:7 was just a figurative statement and was willing to take that chance. Others say that visiting prisoners is just not their talent. Isn’t it interesting that the two parables just before Matthew 25:31 were about people who were willing to take their chances with the groom by potentially being delayed and a servant who wasn’t willing to increase his talent base to please his master?
Through World Bible School and similar correspondence courses, and even from just reading the Bible for themselves, many in prison have obeyed the Gospel. They are your fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Therefore, for example, the Ramsey Unit church of Christ in Rosharon, Texas usually has over 100 prisoners in attendance for Sunday services (some are truth seeking visitors; many eventually will be baptized), but relatively very few Christians outside the barbed wire visit them, or to be brutally honest, ever even think about (remember) them. The vast majority of prisons in America have no outside presence from the church of Christ.
If you would like to obey God’s command in Hebrews 13:3 to “remember the prisoners,” I can help you. Write to me c/o the Memorial church of Christ, 900 Echo Lane, Houston, TX 77024 (include your email address and phone number).
[Editor’s Note: In our western, materialistic world, in which the majority of people satiate themselves with pleasant amenities, there is no segment of our society that is more receptive to giving an audience to the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ than prisoners. Their circumstances more than those of any other group in the USA approximate the humble environment of persons in developing countries who are receptive to the Gospel message. Many prisoners realize that they have reached a tipping point in their lives where they need to make better decisions, beginning with their spiritual relationship with God. The greater number of baptisms, for instance, in these times appear to be occurring behind bars. ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]
