Why Not?

Last week I pointed out several times that we’d be talking about Philip this week and now we have that chance. But just to back up really quickly I think it’s good to remember that Philip was among the 7 deacons that were lifted up by the 12 apostles. And one of the main points of my sermon last week was that no matter what service we do in the name of God it always seems leads to proclamation: sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. And before we pick up in today’s text we see that Philip was in Samaria preaching to the Samaritans and there were many who accepted Jesus and were baptized and it is after this experience that an angel then directs him to go to this wilderness road to Gaza.

It is on this wilderness road that he encounters an Ethiopian Eunuch who is in charge of the treasury of the Candace, which is the title given to the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had just left worship in Jerusalem and we see that he somehow has a copy of the scroll of Isaiah. I say somehow, because we have to remember that scrolls, especially of religious texts weren’t printed off in mass. There is also a lot to unpack in these 2 verses besides the rarity of the scroll. I may jump around a bit as we talk about these two verses but I promise I have a reason for it.

First and foremost, we need to remember that this man is Ethiopian which is a part of Africa, so one of the very first poeple that are outside of Israel to convert to being a follower of Christ is an African and that Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian countries in the world and one of the commentaries I read said that they are very proud of this text, and I am sure tie their faith directly to this incredible story. The man was also a eunuch which was common among males in high positions especially someone so close to a queen.

Because of this high status and being in charge of the treasury he would have had a lot of influence himself as well as being very intelligent which includes being able to read. Again I don’t know how he would have gotten a scroll of Isaiah, but we do see that he had just come from worship in Jerusalem. That statement, that he worshipped in Jerusalem, alone has a lot of context to it, combined with the fact that he was a eunuch. Because of a passage in the Bible that said that eunuch’s should not be a part of the worship community and that eunuch’s should not be ‘made’ would have made this man an outsider to Israelites. There was also a passage that later says that all people should be able to worship Yahweh, but just as with Christianity today people don’t always pay attention to every scripture and uphold things for one reason or another.

So in all likelihood, when he was worshipping at the temple in Jerusalem, he was likely out in the observer section of the temple, not too dissimilar from people who come to see the Vatican, only the difference is that this man likely was not allowed any further in because he was a eunuch. So there wasn’t really a way for him to fully participate in the worship life of Israel. He wouldn’t have been too different from a leper or a blind or lame person in that he was not considered whole or pure.

It wasn’t just in Israel that eunuch’s were treated differently. It was the world at that time. A eunuch was basically an asexual person in a world where passing on your inheritance, your legacy, your family name was very important and obviously depended on the ability to have children. As I mentioned before eunuch’s had a very specific and important role in court life, but that didn’t mean that they were somehow magically accepted by the greater society. They were a very small and very different subset of people that held roles that were all in positions that probably caused them to have a small circle of people already.

We’ll come back to why knowing so much about this eunuch is important, but I want to focus on the part of Isaiah that this man is reading. He is reading from Isaiah 53:7-8 which is part of one of several texts we referred to as the Suffering Servant texts. As Christians when we look at this text we see how what Isaiah says speaks as if Isaiah were directly talking about what Jesus went through in his life. So God sees that this man is reading this text and knows that this man is unsure of what it means, so God sends an angel to Philip to send him to this man. Philip then interprets this text for this eunuch so that he can see that this suffering servant is Jesus who lived, died and rose from the dead.

The eunuch seems so moved by the interpretation of scripture and the good news of Jesus Christ that when he sees water he wants to be baptized. Oftentimes when we read this particular passage with the eunuch saying, “what is to prevent me from being baptized?” we tend to think how beautiful a statement it is, and it is but I think for different reasons that when we think.

Remember everything we’ve talked about that basically made a eunuch an outsider in society and in practicing faith? I don’t think this is a rhetorical question as we might think, but I think the Ethiopian eunuch is legitimately asking Philip that question. He wants to know all the barriers that are preventing him from fully accepting and being a contributing member of the body of Christ. Does he have to worship in the courtyard instead of inside the building? Is he allowed to take part in communion or can a eunuch not do that? Can he even be baptized or should he just have to live with being an unbaptized member of the believers? He wants Philip to lay it out for him so that he can really know what he can and can’t do as a follower of Christ. And not that it’s right but he’s used to it.

We don’t get a verbal answer from Philip, but we do get an answer. The answer that Philip gives is ‘nothing’. Philip takes him to that water and baptizes him right then and there. There is nothing about you that would prevent you from being baptized. That is gospel, good news. A man on the outskirts of society yet in the very middle of it, for the first time in his life being told that he is fully a part of the body of Christ. That he is fully accepted by God. That there is nothing about him that is outside of God’s love.

I think we could use more Philip’s in our world today and we could all be a little bit more like Philip. Telling people that there is nothing in all of creation that could prevent them from being baptized, from fully participating in the life of the church. That we are all loved just the same by the one God who created us all, who gave us life, who made us in God’s image and who sent Jesus Christ to live and die for all of us. Philip welcomed the Ethiopian eunuch into the body of Christ and accepted him, just as Christ accepted each and every one of us. May we be so bold as to open our doors to accept those who are the marginalized and the outcast and tell them that the same love and promises that have been given to us are for them and that the waters of baptism are waiting for them. That there is nothing preventing them from that life giving water. Not one thing. Amen.