Easter People are Story People

Easter People are Story People.

We are people whose stories have been intersected by the Story of Jesus. Our stories have been swept up in the Story of God and God’s people. We find ourselves connected to a long history that may well not have anything to do with our biological or ethnic history. But our lives, in Christ, are bound up with Abraham and Sarah, with Isaac, with Joseph, with Moses, with Miriam, …

And, having met the Risen Jesus, and being part of the Spirit-birthed community of faith we call the Church, we are people who are always ready to enter the stories of the people we encounter. And sometimes entering those stories lead to chances to ask questions.

Our text today is a wonderful example of evangelism for those of us who squirm when we hear the word.

When I was 19 or 20, I helped take a group of high school girls to an evangelism conference in Seattle.

It was awful.

We were “trained” (in a matter of hours) to hit the streets, parks and public spaces of Seattle and to accost strangers with our message. We were like telemarketers gone bad.

And I had some great conversations that week. But I also failed miserably at following the script that I was meant to work my way through. I didn’t feel good about it. So I bailed. I was a “failure” at becoming an evangelist, at least according to the “system” this organization had devised.

What did happen to me that week stuck with me. I decided I was okay to strike up conversations with strangers (that can’t really be a huge surprise to anyone listening), but that I would actually be interested in them. Not in watching for an opening so that I could recite my “stump speech fo Jesus” … not in seeking to say certain words so that I could check off some sort of box related to “shared the gospel” …

I didn’t have language for it then, but I was already sensing the Spirit’s invitation to enter the stories of people to whom I would be sent. And I was longing for meaningful encounter rather than some sort of pressured sales call.

Our text today is the final part of chapter 8.

What’s happened between last week’s reading in Acts 6 & 7 and this week at the end of chapter 8?

Well, you’ll remember that Saul was lurking around while Stephen was being stoned last week. In fact, chapter 8 begins with this dark statement: “Saul was in full agreement with Stephen’s murder.”

In the face of Stephen’s death at the hands of the religious leaders, the church in Jerusalem faced increasing harassment. vs 3 tells us that “Saul began to wreak havoc against the church”…

And so the apostles decide to remain, but the church itself scatters, into … well, where do you think? Based on Luke’s announced outline… they find themselves in Judea and Samaria. The nearby places. Both those comfortable and uncomfortable nearby places.

And those who scatter, take the gospel with them.

Those who leave out of necessity, have a message of good news to share with those they encounter along the way.

And so the early part of chapter 8 highlights second in that list of Greek-speaking deacons who were anointed to care for the widows. (Which begs the question… did these vulnerable ones scatter too or were they left behind?)

Philip, though, in the scattering ends up in Samaria. And after a time there, he is called to go somewhere else. It’s a vague calling, though a compelling one.

So, when Easter people are scattered, by no choice of their own, by no act of God, but by the presence of sinister movements and people, they remain bearers of good news wherever they go. They have a story to tell. The scattering doesn’t change this. They bring the good news with them even though the “sending” might feel more chaotic. It’s as though God says, “Oh. Ok. I can use you even here.”

But other times, Easter people are called to go somewhere in particular. They are sent. And the end of Acts chapter 8 follows up the stories of a scattered Easter people with a sent Easter person...

Let’s pick up with our reading in Acts 8 vs 26 to see what becomes of Philip. Joyce will you read for us?

[Acts 8:26-40]

So Easter People are Story people. People whose own stories have been intersected by the story of Jesus and now who live in such a way as to be genuinely interested in the stories of those they meet. We are “story people” who are genuinely open to whomever the Spirit leads us to… not so that we can “share the Jesus story” in some sort of rote, memorized way, but so that we can see how the story of that person and the Jesus story intersect. Sometimes it’s a quick reveal. Other times it takes months or years or decades. But we are people who are always on the lookout for a story.

[SLIDE] William James Jennings:

“A disciple of Jesus is someone who not only enters the story of another people, Israel, but also someone ready to enter the stories of those to whom she is sent.”

And that’s why today’s text is so fascinating.

Philip encounters someone with a very interesting story.

There are two characters in our story.

Philip, we’ve already met last week.

He’s one of the Greek-speaking or Hellenistic Jews from the church at Jerusalem. He’s been identified as someone who is “Spirit-filled” and so has been commissioned as a deacon in the church to attend to the vulnerable. In the scattering, that took his attention to Samaria, to a whole group of people that the Jewish community and the new Church in Jerusalem were less than comfortable engaging. But, the Spirit once again is leading Philip to see the overflowing love of God… overflowing into (even) Samaria. And now… well, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The second character in our story is a fascinating person.

The text tells us this… he is an Ethiopian man on his way home from worshipping in Jerusalem. He’s a high-ranking government official, responsible for overseeing the treasury for the Candace - the Ethiopian queen. We are told that he is a eunuch. And we learn from the text that he is able to read.

A couple of things to note.

Ethiopian in the New Testament is a way of saying “dark skinned” - not necessarily from the land we know as Ethiopia

Now a eunuch. Awkward to mention. But I think it matters that we understand what this means. Common in the first century world, men were castrated, so that they could be trusted with great responsibilities, however their aspirations were always limited. They’re considered reliable because they have no families of their own, and have no access to upward mobility. (ie They can’t take over!) They had access to all kinds of restricted spaced, and yet they held no social status.

This unnamed person is also someone who has just made a huge journey in order to worship in Jerusalem. He is seeking to be faithful to Yahweh.

He may or may not have known

Deuteronomy 23:1 NIV

No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.

He may or may not have known that when he got to Jerusalem, he would only be able to enter the “outer courts” - that his status as a eunuch would keep him from fully participating in the temple worship. (Imagine that conversation… “uh. I can’t go in any further”… why not?… or the even more awkward conversation, “what are you doing in here?! You can’t be here!”)

A pastoral colleague describes him this way:

“One of the more interesting things about the character of the Ethiopian is that he is everything at once. He is not Jewish, but he is studying the faith, he is a slave, but he is literate and reading, he is a eunuch which makes him “less than a man” but he is a powerful court official, he is a black [visitor in a Mediterranean society], he is a walking contradiction, and he is an outsider.”

So Philip meets this person. And he asks a question. That is his evangelistic strategy.

It doesn’t hurt that the reading material is Isaiah 53… but still. What are you reading? seems like a question that we could ask someone, right?

And, of course, he doesn’t just say, “What are you reading?” but “Do you really understand what you are reading?” It reminds me of Jesus on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24… coming up on the disappointed disciples and asking “What are you two talking about as you walk along the way?” He could have just as easily asked, “Do you understand what you’ve experienced in Jerusalem this past weekend?”

This African official responds to Philip’s question with a question of his own. In fact, with three questions…

#1. Without someone to guide me, how could I? And this is followed by an invitation for Philip to stop running alongside (ha!) and to climb up and sit with him. The question highlights the self-disclosed limitations of the reader.

And so Philip is invited to join in and discovers that the scroll is unrolled to show Isaiah 53.

Have you ever read something with someone else and had their presence with you change what you see in what you’re reading? What does it mean for this person to read this text with this person?

#2. Tell me, about whom does the prophet say this? Is he talking about himself or someone else?

When he asks his second question, notice how he seems drawn to the pain, suffering, humiliation and shame in the text.

It is in response to THIS question that Philip now can preach his “sermon for one”… but I LOVE how the text tells us that Philip starts with this passage, Philip proclaims the good news about Jesus to him.

Easter people are Story people. Which means we have to learn the story well enough that we can start from anywhere. That we can see the nuance in someone else’s story to realize which parts of the Jesus story might make the most sense to another person. (This is some of what we’ll learn about in Michele’s Intercultural Communication course)

We remain students of the story. Always.

And then the eunuch asks his final question… and it always floors me:

#3. “Look! Water! What would keep me from being baptized?”

Someone in his position, with his experience, with his non-normative body, with his lack of social status while bearing huge responsibility,… he likely has heard all sorts of things that prevent him from doing one thing or another.

His recent experience in the temple in Jerusalem held some sort of boundary.

“You’re welcome, but only this far.”

“You’re okay to be here, BUT...”

“What do you think you’re doing in here?”

“Get out.”

“Your kind”

But Philip has read further in Isaiah…

Isaiah 56:1–8 CEB

1 The Lord says: Act justly and do what is righteous, because my salvation is coming soon, and my righteousness will be revealed. 2 Happy is the one who does this, the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not making it impure, and avoids doing any evil. 3 Don’t let the immigrant who has joined with the Lord say, “The Lord will exclude me from the people.” And don’t let the eunuch say, “I’m just a dry tree.” 4 The Lord says: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, choose what I desire, and remain loyal to my covenant. 5 In my temple and courts, I will give them a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give to them an enduring name that won’t be removed. 6 The immigrants who have joined me, serving me and loving my name, becoming my servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath without making it impure, and those who hold fast to my covenant: 7 I will bring them to my holy mountain, and bring them joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their entirely burned offerings and sacrifices on my altar. My house will be known as a house of prayer for all peoples, 8 says the Lord God, who gathers Israel’s outcasts. I will gather still others to those I have already gathered.

If God is already saying this in Isaiah, then of course, the arrival of Jesus is only serving to make this kind of radical inclusion… God has always been about gathering “still others” but now, in Jesus, there is no one who cannot be included in the story of Israel. We all get added in.

Now, the other reason I love this question is because I have been part of conversations and debates even around how to prepare someone for baptism. How do we know someone is READY to be baptized?

I’m not saying that our preparation for baptism isn’t important - but I love how this story reminds us that the necessary things on the part of the baptized is a hunger for the water and for the Spirit. How much “content” we’ve delivered is somewhat arbitrary. In baptism, we publicly identify that our story has been swept up in the Jesus story… which is the culmination of the story of Israel.

And like the eunuch, we don’t magically have all of our identity wiped away in baptism. We are still the people we were before we got wet. But now, all of that, all that we are is being woven into the story of Jesus.

Philip is snatched away by the Spirit. The eunuch is left. But he is left in his joy. He has been granted the freedom to be a disciple of Jesus, JUST AS HE IS.

God wanted this person to be part of the Church. So much, that the Spirit called Philip to run down a road in the afternoon heat. And now, the rest of this person’s journey is left openended… and it asks US the question… What does it mean to welcome and embrace people who are different for the sake of the gospel?

The gospel. The good news that in Jesus, God has come near and is reconciling all things.

Again, Jennings is so helpful and challenging…I close with this quote from his commentary on Acts:

“Evangelism, offering witness to the gospel, is quite unavoidable if one seeks to yield to the Spirit of God. The gospel exposes a life captured by God’s love, a love that overflows, constantly pulling us more deeply into God’s own desire for other people and for all of creation.”

Let’s pray…

we want to be people whose lives are captured by Your love...

we want that love to overflow, to pull us more deeply into Your desire for “still others” and for all of Your creation...

where we have gotten stuck in too small a gospel, forgive us

where we have gotten stuck in who can be “in” and who is divinely excluded, open our eyes

where we have settled for toleration of differences within Your people, move us beyond that into celebration and embrace of all that makes us different from one another. Move us from merely offering welcome to people who aren’t like us - in whatever way - towards mutual embrace of one another that would lead to solidarity when we realize what life is like lived “in their story”…

Do this in us and through us so that a world that desperately hungers for this kind of response to our differences might see the good news of Jesus acted out in a community of people who don’t appear to have anything in common.