From the Daily Lectionary, Saturday March 13, 2021
Acts 8:26-39 (NRSV)
26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) 27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” 30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
Lesser Feasts and Fasts designates Saturday, March 13 as the day to celebrate the life of James Theodore Holly, Bishop of Haiti and of the Dominican Republic in the early 1900s. This reading from Acts is the suggested epistle for Bishop Holly. I chose it in lieu of the readings for the Daily Office because it is such a fascinating story with several avenues for reflection. For context we will begin with Deuteronomy 23.1, which states that a eunuch could not be admitted to the assembly of the Lord. Eunuchs (castrated men) and certain ethnic categories were excluded from membership in the community. Now skip ahead to the time of Acts. The disciple Philip along with Stephen and five others had been chosen as servants responsible for the daily distribution of food, “to wait on tables” (Acts 6: 2-5). Although there was no such ecclesiastical office at that time, later tradition held that these seven were the first deacons. It was shortly thereafter that Stephen was stoned to death, while Saul stood by and “approved of their killing him,” prior to his conversion following his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Philip meanwhile became an active evangelist, spreading the gospel to Samaria and beyond, as he and others began reaching non-Jewish regions, proclaiming the word of Christ to all who would listen. Samaria was inhabited by remnants of the northern tribes who worshiped God and used the Pentateuch, but the Jews despised Samaritans. Thus Philip was breaking down religious barriers and at the same time fulfilling the expectations and promise in the first chapter of Luke that “the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Luke 1:8).
It is with this background that today’s pericope takes place. Philip has been called to go south from Jerusalem toward Gaza. There he encounters the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading the prophet Isaiah, and who asked Philip to explain the passage. Philip did and went on to tell him the good news of Jesus. Passing by some water, the eunuch asked if he could be baptized, and Philip did just that. When they came up out of the water, “the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.” Philip’s evangelizing journey then took him along the Mediterranean coast from Gaza north to Caesarea. Scholars have said this story may be a fulfillment of the words of the prophet Isaiah, who had a much more inclusive message: “And do not let the eunuch say, ‘I am just a dry tree.’ 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” (Isa 56:3-5).
Philip was preaching and living the all-inclusive gospel of Jesus, at a time when the religious authorities were restricting access to the community of God to the select few in power to maintain the status quo, despite the words of the prophet Isaiah and others who warned of the misuse and danger of such exclusion. Philip evangelized that all were welcome at the table, Jews, Samaritans, Greeks, Ethiopians, and social outcasts alike. His baptism of the eunuch was a bold action that dramatically broke down the social and ritual barriers of his day. It has been called the first baptism of a “heathen.” How is it that still today we face the same mindset of exclusivity that Philip and others tried to overcome two thousand years ago? The first-century eunuch is our present day social outcast, one cast aside. The first-century government and religious establishment are our present-day power structure that systematically oppresses many and excludes them from equal opportunities to share in the riches of our land. We are a land of plenty, but that plenty is only for the few. I think our calling is to continue today what Philip did two millennia ago, in whatever way each of us is gifted to do. If we can somehow see Christ in ourselves, in one another, and in all of creation; if we can somehow see and know and be Christ’s love for ourselves, for our neighbor, and for God’s creation; then I think we will experience the Kingdom about which Jesus speaks, a kingdom already here for all of us.
Rev. Bob Donnell
Prayer For the Oppressed (BCP p. 826)
Look with pity, O Heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
