Gathering the Outcasts
Welcome back – it’s been a minute. As we return to our Gathering the Outcasts Series, I want to take a moment to remind us of the two promises God made through Isaiah in the first passage we read. There was a promise to eunuchs that they would be given a place in God’s house and a name better than that of son or daughter and a promise made to foreigners, those of marginalized race and ethnicity, that they will have a place in God’s house, their worship will be accepted, and they will have a place to call home.
Today, we find ourselves in the Book of Acts, and we read of an interaction between a foreign Eunuch and the disciple, Phillip. This takes place after Jesus’ time on earth when the Holy Spirit had come to dwell with his followers, and it follows as Phillip is led to meet and share God’s spirit with this Ethiopian Eunuch. Let us read together this story of God’s love at work!
Here’s Water. Why Can’t I Be Baptized?
Later God’s angel spoke to Philip: “At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” He got up and went. He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road. The eunuch had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was returning to Ethiopia, where he was minister in charge of all the finances of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was riding in a chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit told Philip, “Climb into the chariot.” Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”
He answered, “How can I without some help?” and invited Philip into the chariot with him. The passage he was reading was this:
As a sheep led to slaughter,
and quiet as a lamb being sheared,
He was silent, saying nothing.
He was mocked and put down, never got a fair trial.
But who now can count his kin
since he’s been taken from the earth?
The eunuch said, “Tell me, who is the prophet talking about: himself or some other?” Philip grabbed his chance. Using this passage as his text, he preached Jesus to him.
As they continued down the road, they came to a stream of water. The eunuch said, “Here’s water. Why can’t I be baptized?” He ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down to the water, and Philip baptized him on the spot. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of God suddenly took Philip off, and that was the last the eunuch saw of him. But he didn’t mind. He had what he’d come for and went on down the road as happy as he could be.
Acts 8:26-39
Commentary
At this time, the early Church was still deciphering who it was and who was allowed to be part of it. There was a general belief that in order to be Christian (or a ‘Follower of the Way’ as they would say), you had to also be Jewish. Just two chapters from this passage, the Apostle Peter will have a dream that challenges this understanding, but at this moment, the Spirit of God has only come upon folks who are Jewish, and there’s no reason to believe that gentiles or foreigners will be welcomed into the fold.
Phillip is, at this time, in a group ministering and preaching Jesus in Samaria, a land occupied by people of mixed Jewish and Gentile descent. Samaritans were considered unclean by the Jewish people because of their mixed ancestry and different approach to following God (they viewed only the Torah, not the whole Tenakh as authoritative and had their own temple in their land). Yet they are still descended from the Jewish people and have some of the same holy books, so preaching to them is not quite the same as welcoming foreigners into the faith.
Peter is the one usually credited with opening the church up to non-Jewish folk, but in this passage, Phillip preaches, teaches, and baptizes a foreigner, making him the first to welcome a stranger into the faith.
Phillip acts with a bravery beyond our immediate understanding in this passage.
He’s told by the Spirit to go down to a desolate road – leaving behind a fruitful ministry in Samaria to go to the middle of the desert where it was unlikely anyone would pass him. He trusts God and goes.
When he gets there, an Ethiopian Eunuch – a highly trusted servant of the Queen of (what was then a much larger) Ethiopia – passes by in a carriage, reading the Scroll of Isaiah out loud.
Ethiopia was at that time much larger than it is today, and people who lived in the land has heard of Israel and her God long ago. The Queen of Sheba had come from the land that made up the vast Kingdom of Ethiopia. She experienced Solomon’s kingdom before proclaiming faith in the God of Israel (1 Kings 10), and would have brought back knowledge of the Israelite faith with her when she returned. This knowledge apparently persisted, and this Eunuch knew enough about it to go on this pilgrimage to learn more, where he encounters – on his way home – an apostle of Christ.
Phillip recognizes that this is why God sent him, and he runs after the carriage. In my prophetic imagination, it’s like one of those movies where the guy chases after the girl, a little comedit but full of love, and he asks through gasping breaths if this man understands the words he’s reading.
He doesn’t, so Phillip jumps up alongside him and explains, teaching him all about Jesus in the process, answering his questions, sharing the answers he has come to understand, and by the end of it, this foreign Eunuch is ready to be baptized!
He sees that there is water nearby, turns to Phillip and asks: Why can’t I be baptized?
Phillip, led here by the Spirit, moves with confidence as he takes the Ethiopian down to the water and baptizes him then and there. He does not send word back to the “mission control center” to see if the Ethiopian is qualified or accepted by others. He does not lecture the Ethiopian on the political scene within the faith or even let on that this is unusual. He trusts in the Spirit’s leadership, then simply takes this new believer by the hand, and baptizes him.
Phillip is brave enough to say yes when God leads him to the middle of nowhere, to say yes to baptizing the first foreigner into the faith, to say yes to the Spirit’s leadership.
May we all be so wise.
Questions
Phillip experiences the Spirit’s prompting with an acute clarity in this text. Have you ever experienced such a clear instruction from the Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit usually feel or sound like to you? How do you know when the Holy Spirit is near you?
The Ethiopian Eunuch is reading a holy text that he cannot understand on his own. He has questions, and he chooses to ask this kind stranger who approaches his carriage. Phillip is able to share knowledge and truth with him because of his curiosity and open-mindedness. What passages of scripture do you struggle to understand or wonder about? How can you seek guidance or the interpretation of others to inform your own understanding?
At this time, there was debate over whether someone could follow Christ and be any ethnicity other than Jewish. Phillip did not let that debate stop him from preaching Christ, sharing in God’s spirit and baptizing the Ethiopian. He did not know if others would understand his choice, but he made it anyway, following where he believed God to lead. Who is considered unwelcome in the Faith today? How can we follow Phillip’s example, share God’s spirit with them, and welcome them in?
A Blessing for Your Week
Child of God,
May the Spirit of God lead you
Into crowded hubs of civilization and need
Into the middle of nowhere on desolate roads
And everywhere you are led,
May your ministry flourish.
May God bless you with curiosity
That you read, study, and follow with zeal and passion
With humility
That you ask for the interpretation and clarification others can provide
And with wisdom
That you recognize the Truth when you hear it.
And May God encourage you,
Giving you bravery to break the rules
In the name of service
In the name of the Word
In the name of Love.
Amen.
Rev. Kelsey Sherazi 