Something Happened on the Way to Gaza
Weekly Reflection on Acts 8:26-40.
My most vivid memory of the Ethiopian eunuch is a mini-series that aired on network television in the early 80s. It told the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch, with the actor Ben Vereen playing the eunuch. I remember watching this with wonder. You see Phillip and the eunuch interact and then we see Ben Vereen getting baptized by the actor playing Phillip. Maybe I didn’t know back then, but I realized that this faith was for me as much for anyone else. I knew that for years, but when it is fleshed out, there is something special.
The story we hear today is an important one, especially as we talk about being a Sent people a people sent by God. There are three main points to this story: first, this story talks about reaching beyond our comfy boundaries to meet new people from different cultures. We learn that no one is beyond God’s love and grace. Second, is that this is a story about evangelism, about telling the story of Jesus to others that we meet. Finally and most importantly,, this is a story about what it means to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Our story begins not at verse 26, but at verse one. In the preceding chapter and like we preached last week, the deacon Stephen was martyred for his beliefs. His death unleashed persecution against the young church and that caused everyone to scatter from Jerusalem. People went to nearby lands partially to get away from the persecution. This caused the gospel of Jesus to do just as he said before he ascended into heaven, that it would move out from Jerusalem, into Samaria, and then to the boundaries of the known world. The deacon Phillip traveled into Samaria. Samaria is made up of people of mixed ancestry. They are part Jewish and because of that, the Jews see them as unclean. But Phillip went in and started preaching the good news to these Samaritans. In verse 26, the Spirit or an angel tells him to head for the road to Gaza.
There are two roads to Gaza from Jerusalem. One road is a coastal road and it is well traveled, probably because people took the opportunity of the cool ocean breezes. The other road is less traveled, maybe because it goes through the desert. Guess which road the Spirit sends Phillip? Yup, he is walking down the dusty and hot desert road. Some versions of scripture say that Phillip is on this road at Noon when the sun is at its highest and it is hot. After a while, Phillip sees something moving slowly towards him. It is a carriage and in it is a man dressed in fine clothes. We learn that he is the treasurer of the Candace or Queen of Ethiopia. He was coming from Jerusalem after worshipping. He is a God-fearer, worshipping the God of the Jews. It was probably the case that he learned about God through the Jews living in or near Ethiopia. We also learn something else: he is a eunuch, which yes means exactly what it means, he has been castrated. In places outside of Israel, it was common for the men in the royal court to be eunuchs, which offered some protection to the women in the court. But this also meant that the Ethiopian eunuch could not worship with everyone else because under Jewish law anyone with crushed testicles (that’s how it is translated) from worshipping in the assembly. Even though he was in the temple, he was in many ways sets aside unable to take part in the full experience.
Phillip sees the carriage moving slowly on the road and runs to catch the retinue prodded by the Spirit. He sees the eunuch reading from Isaiah in what is commonly called the Servant songs. He asks the eunuch if he understands what he is reading. The official replies that he can’t unless someone explains it to him. Phillip climbs into the carriage and tells him about Jesus, interpreting the passage as describing Jesus' work.
When the carriage passes some water, the Ethiopian eunuch asks an odd question. “Here’s some water. What’s to keep me from being baptized?” Knowing that Jewish law forbade him from worshipping in the Assembly, he wondered if this was another thing that he could not do. Phillip answers by baptizing the eunuch. The story ends with the Spirit taking Phillip to Ceasarea, the newly baptized Ethiopian official going away rejoicing.
This passage leaves us with three important points. The first is that the gospel is by nature, something that breaks barriers. The eunuch may have been kept from parts of the temple because of his status. But Phillip not only explains the passages to him but baptizes the official. Baptism in the Jewish faith is an entrance rite, just like it is in Christianity. So baptizing this man who was considered an outsider was massive.
The second thing is something we tend to skip over. We want to talk about the first one, but not this. The second thing is that Phillip witnessed to the eunuch. He told the Ethiopian about Jesus, linking the text the official was reading to the man who recently walked among the people. A sent community shares the good news in words. Sometimes we hope that if do something like make sandwiches for the homeless, then we are speaking about Jesus. But people aren’t going to know about Jesus unless you tell them.
The final thing to learn from this is that a sent people of faith is guided by the Holy Spirit. Some say Acts should be called, the Acts of the Holy Spirit instead of Acts of the Apostles because the third person of the Trinity has such a central role in the book. We are called to be a sent people, but you can’t be a sent people unless you are guided by the Holy Spirit.
Something happened on the way to Gaza. Phillip and the Ethiopian encountered the boundary crossing Holy Spirit. How do we encounter this Spirit in our lives?
"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."