A Convenient Story
based on Acts 8:26-40
Rev. Karen A. Goltz

            A few weeks ago at the pastors’ text study that I attend, one of my colleagues made the comment that he thought the book of Acts was written by a PR guy for the church.  I kind of agree with him.  Everything happens a little too perfectly in Acts.  By the beginning of the fourth chapter, Peter has preached two sermons, and a total of eight thousand devout Jews abandon their heritage and religion, get baptized, and become followers of the way of Jesus.  Peter gets arrested, preaches another sermon, and is let go.  He and the other apostles continue preaching, and the church grows at an insane rate, with all believers living in perfect harmony with one another, unencumbered by greed, mistrust, ego, differences of opinion on how things should be done, or any of the other human failings that have plagued every other institution I’ve ever heard of, religious or otherwise.

            The church is growing so quickly that they have to form a social ministry team, which consists of Stephen, Philip, and some others.  This impresses the people of Jerusalem so much that now even some of the priests begin to follow the way of Jesus.

            Now the religious authorities are getting really peeved, and they arrest Stephen on false charges.  At his trial, Stephen preaches a sermon, which really ticks them off, and they take him out of the city, have a young guy named Saul watch their coats, and then throw rocks at Stephen until he dies.  First real negative thing to happen to the church, but Stephen faces it with grace and courage, the model for all martyrs to come, and doesn’t seem to mind dying at all.  He even pulls a Jesus, and prays that God will forgive his murderers even as they’re in the very act of murdering him.

            Now this young guy Saul who watched everyone’s coats while they were stoning Stephen decides he hates the church, and engages in a serious persecution of the church in Jerusalem.  (You might recall that this same guy will later have an amazing conversion experience on his way to Damascus, change his name to Paul, and become the greatest missionary of all time.)  But before this happens he persecutes the believers in Jerusalem, and this persecution has the unintended consequence of scattering the believers all over the countryside and the surrounding cities, where they can now preach about Jesus to whole new groups of people who haven’t heard it before.  Even the longtime nemesis of righteous Jews, the people of Samaria, become followers of Jesus.

            Then we get to today’s reading.  An angel of the Lord speaks to Philip and tells him where to go.  Don’t you just hate it when that happens?  And when he goes, he meets an Ethiopian eunuch who’s reading the Hebrew Scriptures.  And not just any part of the Hebrew Scriptures, but the part of Isaiah that just happens to be talking about the suffering servant, probably the easiest passage in the entire Hebrew bible to interpret in regards to Jesus.  Which of course Philip does, and then of course the Ethiopian eunuch is baptized, and Philip is snatched away by the Spirit of the Lord (again, something that I’m sure happens to all of you on a regular basis) and is deposited to another place, where without missing a beat he continues to proclaim the good news.

            The whole book of Acts continues like that, with everything getting set up just perfectly for the optimum effect of growing the church.  It all seems so convenient, and maybe a little contrived.  I mean, of all the passages of the Hebrew Scriptures to be reading, the Ethiopian eunuch just happens to be reading that one from Isaiah?

            But when I looked at that passage in its context, I realized it’s not such a farfetched coincidence at all.  First of all I wondered why Luke the PR guy bothers to tell us that Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch.  I get that the fact he’s from Ethiopia means the gospel is spreading far and wide.  But the eunuch part—doesn’t that fall into the category of ‘too much information?’  Until I found out that eunuchs have always been excluded from the worship assembly of Judaism.  Both Deuteronomy (23:1) and Leviticus (21:18-21) specifically prohibit them from membership in the congregation of Israel.  As such, they were often tormented and demeaned, never allowed to forget that they were less than everyone else.  This particular eunuch was as much a Jew as he could be, returning home from worshiping in Jerusalem.  He wouldn’t have been allowed in the Temple proper, but would have had to remain in one of the outer courtyards.  In spite of that, though, he was committed to the Lord, and was committed to worshiping to the greatest extent he could, including traveling all the way from Ethiopia to the Temple in Jerusalem, where he’d be derided and excluded, and even tormented.  And on his way home, he was reading Isaiah.  That particular section of Isaiah is speaking words of comfort to a people who are afflicted and tormented, reassuring them of God’s love and promising them that their suffering will soon be over, and that God will redeem them, restore them to glory, and provide for all their needs beyond their imaginings.  That section of Isaiah specifically states that infertile women will bear children (54:1), the thirsty will have water (55:1), the hungry will eat (55:1), the foreigner will be welcomed (56:1-8), and the eunuchs will be included and honored (56:1-8).  And it will all begin with this man who suffered so publicly, much like the Ethiopian eunuch himself has suffered.  It’s really not surprising at all that he’s drawn to this particular message of hope.

            And out of the blue the Spirit of the Lord directs Philip to tell him that this man of public humiliation, this suffering servant, is real, is named Jesus, has been glorified, and is ushering in the reality of that hope for the excluded and the forsaken.  Philip tells him that through the waters of baptism, everything that made him despised will no longer matter, that he will be accepted as he is into the whole body of Christ, the Church as it should be, the Church as it must be.

            There are parts of the book of Acts that are convenient and contrived, but what can’t be mistaken is the radical inclusion of all people into God’s love.  All those barriers that we work so hard to build and to keep ourselves separate from those we deem undesirable, God in Christ breaks through.  God sees something desirable in each and every being he creates, and we are one in the body of Christ, and the body of Christ is not complete without every one as members.  Not necessarily members in the administrative, church records kind of way, but true members of the body of Christ, who abide in him as he abides in us.  Because apart from him, we can do nothing.

            I may not be able to convince eight thousand people to make radical changes in their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ by simply preaching a sermon or two, but I pray that the Spirit of the Lord will help me to say this to you:  the love of God in Christ reached this Ethiopian eunuch when he was drowning in a place of sorrow and exclusion, lifted him up, and sent him on his way rejoicing.  The love of God in Christ reaches out to you wherever you are, too.  Amen.