April 28, 2024
Isaiah 53:1-12 NRSVue
Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces, he was despised, and we held him of no account. 4 Surely, he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 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. 8 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. 9 They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring and shall prolong his days; through him, the will of the Lord shall prosper. 11 Out of his anguish, he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
Acts 8:26-40
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. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Today's text is about two characters for which God has a plan. The first is Philip. Philip is not an apostle. He was a deacon, one of the seven chosen by the apostles to take care of the widows of the young church. Please keep this in the back of your mind as we analyze today's lesson. You see, in this story, we are witnesses to God's power at work in the world.
The second character in the story is a Eunuch, a man who, in the past, was often employed to guard the women's living areas in a royal court. Eunuchs, because of their castration, were given significant power and responsibility within their assigned areas of the palace, such as a king's harem. Eunuchs were considered very loyal and trustworthy. While we are not told the eunuch's name, we do know that he was a court official of the Candace (the Queen) of Ethiopia, a position that would have carried significant influence. Let me elaborate for a moment since our scriptures assume that you are aware of the royal order of the nations of ancient Africa.
Contrary to what the old white European religious leaders wrote and preached, the continent of Africa had many advanced civilized kingdoms. Most notably the kingdom of Egypt. But the other would have been south of Egypt, in what in the Old Testament called the land of Cush (or what is known today as Ethiopia). In fact, Moses married a Cushite woman. In the Book of Numbers, his brother Aaron and sister Mariam spoke against Moses because of this, and God punished Mariam by giving her a skin disease. It lasted for seven days. (kind of like a Godly time out) (Numbers 12)
The word Candace is not the name of the queen of Cush but the title. It means Queen Regent or Queen Mother. Had we been around when Luke wrote this passage, we might have understood the impact of Philip, a servant called by the apostles to feed the widows, interacting with the eunuch of the Queen of Ethiopia. This is a big deal! The Eunuch was never named and would not have traveled alone, after all, he was in charge of the palace treasury. Even if he had been given a leave of absence to go to Jerusalem to worship, he would have traveled with bodyguards because of his knowledge of state secrets.
Bear with me because I am building up to an excellent point. Philip is told to go from Jerusalem to Gaza (a wilderness road), where he runs into the Eunuch. If you live on a dirt road, you know how hard it is to keep your car clean. Imagine walking in sandals down such a road. How much harder would it be to keep the dust and dirt off your shoes, your cloak, your face?
Nevertheless, the Spirit then tells him to go and introduce himself. Can you imagine Philip, a church servant in his blue-collar attire, dirty from walking this dusty wilderness road, walking up to a palace official and asking him if he understands the scripture that he is reading out loud? (The passage is Isaiah 53:1-12) I find this entire scenario something to behold. Call it the spirit; call it one servant understanding the measure of another servant, whatever you call it; the Eunuch does not have him removed and replies that he could understand it if someone would walk him through it. So, Philip does just that. He explains that Isaiah is talking about Jesus. And that Jesus was killed unjustly, like a lamb to slaughter, as part of God’s plan to defeat death and assure that those who believe in Jesus will one day be reunited with him in heaven. What wonderful news! The Eunuch, whose purpose in Jerusalem was to worship God, understood that Jesus is the resurrected son of the living God.
Another interesting note: The Eunuch would not have been able to worship in the temple in Jerusalem. Duet 23:1 says, “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall come into the assembly of the Lord.” But what Isaiah predicted (700 years before the birth of Christ) was hope. Hope for someone whose path in life would have made it impossible to find forgiveness in the laws of the temple.
Later, Isaiah would write this, “3Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people,” and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” 4 For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, 5 I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters.” (Isaiah 56:3-5) You see, even as the humans whom God claimed as his favored showed that they were getting God’s plan all screwed up, the prophets were yelling warning after warning about their misdeeds; God was making plans upon plans. While we were playing checkers, God was playing chess. God knew that we would screw it up, so God sent Jesus.
Even though the Eunuch could not worship in the temple, God sent Philip. That’s Good News! God will meet you where you are. What are you doing right now in your life that God needs to set right? Listen to the good news that Isaiah preached, which Philip explained. When we make plans on our own and we do not seek God’s will in our plans, we end up with 600 laws that could be summed up in one two-part law. Love God, love your Neighbor; the rest is just semantics. Philip understood this; as a servant deacon in the new church, he was painfully aware of the needs of the poor, widowed, and orphaned. He was also aware of the needs of the royal official in a chariot traveling down a wilderness road. In both cases, he approached with boldness and served with humble assurance. Not arrogance but Boldness. Not pretentiousness but kindness and empathy.
This lesson is a powerful reminder that we do not always see God’s plan in action until we are being put on notice. Sometimes, we don’t see it at all, but we often feel the consequences of trying to do it our way. Listen to this one last fun fact:
The Eunuch asks Philip to baptize him in some water beside the road. Why? Does Philip have the authority to do this? Don’t we need an ordained apostle to do something like that? See how easy it is to fall back into the legalism of religion. Do you know what the Bible says about who can baptize? NOTHING! NOTTA! ZIP! There is not one word about it, and you know why? Because it doesn’t matter. Baptism will not get you into heaven; that ticket has already been purchased. Baptism is a public proclamation of faith; it is not for you but for others to witness. When we baptize a baby, as Presbyterians, it is for the parents to say to their church, “We will raise this child in faith.” And it gives the church the opportunity to say, “We will help you do just that.” And if we pray, lead by example, and love that child, they will grow up and claim that baptism for themselves and walk the path of Christ in this world.
Well, Rob, I can hear you say, what about an adult baptism, as we see in our story today? Well, I’m glad you asked. You see, the Eunuch understood that Jesus died for him. When he asked Philip to Baptize him, it was for those who traveled with him. It was a public proclamation of faith that followed him and his entourage all the way back to his homeland, where he evangelized everyone in the country, so much so that Ethiopia developed one of the purest forms of Christianity in the world, outside the influence of Rome. Just like their social and political structure was more advanced than many people were taught in public school. The Ethiopian church has a Christian heritage that has gone 2000 years without being influenced by the European church. Ethiopia has some of the oldest scrolls of Israel. Unlike the typical protestant Bible, which contains 66 books, the Ethiopic Bible comprises a total of 84 books and includes some writings that were rejected or lost by European churches. Certain Ethiopian tribes have been worshiping the God of Israel for over 3,500 years.
God has been at work in this world since the beginning. It’s easy to get caught up in our presumed assumptions about how things are and how they should be. God is at work in places, and within people you may never know. God may use you to influence a stranger you meet on a dusty wilderness road, who may, in turn, change an entire nation of people. How are you seeking to be that person for God today? You may think that you are not capable of walking in the footsteps of Jesus or the footsteps of Peter and John, but how about the footsteps of Philip? Let us pray that we seek the will of God in our lives so we, too, can find the path God wants us on.
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, we come before you with hearts full of gratitude for the profound wisdom and power displayed in the story of Philip and the Eunuch. Help us, Lord, to be bold and empathetic in our interactions with others, just as Philip was. Guide us to see the divine opportunities you place in our path and empower us to follow Your will with unwavering faith. As we reflect on the lessons from this narrative, may we be reminded of the intricate nature of Your plan and the unexpected ways in which You work through each of us. Grant us the courage to step out in faith, knowing that You are with us every step of the way. Lord, help us to break free from the constraints of legalism and embrace the true essence of faith – love for You and for our neighbors. May our actions be reflections of Your love and grace, spreading hope and light in a world often clouded by darkness.
We pray that, like Philip and the Eunuch, we may be instruments of Your peace and bearers of Your truth to those we encounter on our journey. Lead us to walk in Your footsteps, Lord, and guide us to fulfill the unique purpose You have for each of us. In Your Holy Name, we offer this prayer, Amen.
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