Lectionary Readings: Acts 8.26-40, Psalm 22.25-31, 1 John 4.7-21, John 15.1-8
In a time when the media has been dominated by issues of justice surrounding the death of George Floyd and subsequent trial of the police officer involved, not to mention the issues of Windrush generation closer to home– their rights to citizenship, access to livelihoods and the benefit system; and at a time when the Methodist Church is busy considering Conference Report, God in Love Unites Us, about human relationships and sexuality, we are confronted by the image of a castrated East African in the pages of scripture.
It serves as a timely reminder, that bible stories are rarely neat and comfortable once we leave the security of the primary department of the Sunday school, and to read them with any integrity may well challenge our own sense of justice and righteousness.
Before we consider how this story challenges us today, let’s return to the tale as told by Luke in the books of Acts.
And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
The story begins with the young church moving out of Jerusalem due to growing opposition which caused the early disciples to flee to Judea and Samaria. At this point, the Mission of the young church in Samaria was under the leadership of Philip. According to Luke’s account, this mission is flourishing, when Philip is directed by the Spirit of God to go to the wilderness of Gaza.
Here Philip meets the chancellor of the exchequer for the Candace (Ethiopian Queen) who is travelling home to somewhere in modern Sudan in his chariot. (Ethiopia was much larger in those days!) I’m guessing that the Ethiopian had a driver, because he is reading aloud from Isaiah 53:7-8 as Philip approached.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
Philip’s question was quite straightforward, “Do you understand this? Or in other words, can you make a connection between what you are reading and your own life?” And of course, the answer is no. So, in the course of the conversation which develops, the Ethiopian asks three questions: How can I understand unless someone guides me? (v 31) About whom does the prophet say this? (v 34) What is to prevent me from being baptised? (v 37)
Luke famously writes stories of the marginalised and the outsider, and are usually about women, the disenfranchised, the poor and those forbidden to enter polite society. Yet this time, it’s different: the man is educated (he can read), wealthy (he travels by chariot), powerful (he is the chancellor of the exchequer). Even so, he is definitely an outsider because Eunuchs were seen as defective: because they were unable to be ‘fruitful and to multiply’. Deuteronomy 23:1 is quite categorical about this:
No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.
For this reason, the priestly regulations in Deuteronomy and Leviticus would not permit him to be admitted to the assembly of God, or even to bring an offering.
But don’t you just love the knack that scripture has of turning your understanding upside down with its diverse traditions and theology? And Philip knew that there were other parts of God’s word that spoke of a God of overflowing, gracious love. The book of Isaiah offers us another insight from divine grace, and is ‘full of hope and promise for eunuchs, captives, the poor, the sick, the lame, and the outcast‘. 1
For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
I will give, in my house and within my walls,
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off. Isaiah 56:4
What the Ethiopian really needs is someone who not only knows the scripture, but also knows the God of scripture. As Thomas G Long puts it ‘he needs someone to teach him who has felt the embrace of God, who can turn the cold ink on the page in the warm light of God’s Spirit.1
Philip was able to pay attention to the Ethiopian’s questions, and at this point we often move swiftly on to rejoice at the request for baptism: but today let’s just pause and hear what seems like a wistful request from the Ethiopian. ‘What is to stop me from being baptised?’ I suppose, some might say, ‘how do you read or interpret the scriptures on such matters?’
Those who follow the Deuteronomy school will say there is everything to prevent you from being baptised, it is all a question of observing the purity laws.
But those whose journey through life has been immersed in the understanding of the grace of God seen in Isaiah, will know that there is another way to understand the scripture and to apply it to the way we respond to one another.
It’s odd though, because at the end of this story, we know the Ethiopian was baptised, and we know that the church in Ethiopia is amongst the oldest in the world. I like to think people like this court official lived out his faith in royal court for the rest of his days, bringing to bear a Godly influence, for he had become a member of the household of faith. But what about Philip? After all, every encounter causes us to pause and reflect, and often challenges our faith. we don’t know the impact on him, he just carried on preaching in the next place he found himself. But what about us; who do we exclude from the community, and why? Are we able to allow encounters with other people to help us move on in our faith and discern new ways of being the people of God today?
1 Karen Baker-Fletcher in Feasting on the Word Year B vol 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 456
2 Thomas G Long in Feasting on the Word Year B vol 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 456
Worship at home 