Easter 5 – 2024
Acts 8:26-40
Marian Free
In the name of God whose love encompasses all people. Amen.
The reading from Acts today powerfully illustrates the transformational power of the emerging church. The Ethiopian whom Philip meets on an isolated road, is a figure of. some importance in the region from which he comes. He was a court official who had responsibility for the treasury and was either privately wealthy or significantly important that he could travel in a chariot and have access to or own a scroll. That he could read the scroll tells us that he was educated and that he could read at least one language other than his own. In other words, he is unlike any other person whom we have encountered so far in the gospels or Acts.
The Ethiopian is an unusual in a great many ways and his presence in the story of the early church is puzzling. To begin with, he comes from a country beyond the control of Rome and the colour of his skin sets him apart. He might be a person of wealth and significance in his own country, but he certainly does not belong within the Judaism of pre 70 Judea which makes him a poor fit with the largely Jewish community of Jesus’ believers.
We are told that this stranger was returning from Jerusalem, but we have no idea what he was doing there. As Gentile, the Ethiopian would not have been able to enter the inner court of the temple and as someone with physical anomaly (whether from birth or through castration) the Ethiopian would have been considered imperfect and not even able even to enter the court of the Gentiles. If, as the reading of Isaiah suggests, this is a man who is attracted to Judaism, everything about him excludes him from active participation in that faith.
In the meantime, Philip along with some others has been having some success as a missionary and healer in Samaria (8:4) when the Holy Spirit urges him to get up and go (by foot) to a road in the wilderness – between Jerusalem and Gaza. We are not told how he gets there, let alone how he happened to be in just the right place as the travelling Ethiopian. The Ethiopian was on his way home from Jerusalem, and Philip had to come from Samaria. Yet somehow Philip finds himself following a chariot and the Spirit urges him to join it.
It is an odd story and raises many questions. In particular: Why, one wonders, when so much was going on in Jerusalem and Samaria, does the Holy Spirit send Philip south for just one person – an outsider, a person with no influence within the. Judean community who is returning to a country which is as far removed as possible from Judea (and the believing community)?
Of course, Luke’s placing of the story here is no accident. Acts is a stylised account of the formation of the Christian Church. Luke has envisaged an orderly growth of the faith – from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). In so doing, the author has tidied up the church’s messy beginnings and has glossed over the disagreements that arose especially over the inclusion of the Gentiles.
Acts 8:26-40 plays a pivotal role in this part of the story and amplifies the inclusive nature of the early church. It represents a movement away from evangelism to the Jews and opens the door to spreading the gospel – not only to the Gentiles, but to those who for any reason were considered impure and were therefore excluded from participation in the Temple worship and common meals. From now on the book of Acts will focus on the inclusion of the Gentiles and the question of who is in and who is out will be definitely determined in Chapter 15.
As suggested in Acts 1:8 the gospel has moved out of Jerusalem, through Judea, into Samaria and, through the Ethiopian, to the ends of the earth.
The text that the Ethiopian is reading is also important. Not only does it provide Luke with an opportunity to quote the Old Testament (which he does at length) to prove the historicity and validity of the notion of a suffering Messiah, its location in Isaiah (Chapter 53), is only significant. Only a few chapters away in chapter 56 we read: ““Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord say, ‘the Lord will surely exclude me from his people.’ And let no eunuch complain, ‘I am only a dry tree.’” And ‘“For this is what the Lord says: ‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant — to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.’”
One of characteristics of Jesus’ ministry was his inclusiveness. Jesus associated with prostitutes, tax-collectors and sinners. He healed and spoke to people of Samaria. Now his followers are taking that inclusion one step further and affirming that the only criterion for belonging is faith. Indirectly, Luke, by his choice of text, is showing his readers that Inclusion is no new thing, but is consistent with God’s written word. By selecting a character who by all accounts should not belong in the historic faith, Luke is demonstrating just how radically inclusive the Christian faith has become.
The story of the Ethiopian eunuch speaks to our time. If someone as radically “unsuitable” as the Ethiopian could be welcomed into the church, are there any grounds on which we can exclude someone? The text forces us to think whether there are people whom we, either formally or by our disinterest or judgement, make unwelcome? Are there those whose lifestyle we believe puts them beyond the bounds?
What matters is this – if God’s welcome embraces all humanity, who are we to withhold ours?
Swallowsrest 