Untitled Sermon

May 2, 2021

Acts 8:26–40 NRSV

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.) 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 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 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. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 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?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 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. 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.

The angel of the Lord send Philip in a strange direction to a wilderness all alone.

Yet Philip immediately gets up and follows God’s instruction. Philip didn’t know why the voice of the Lord lead him their until he got their and saw the Ethiopian’s chariot.

After seeing the chariot, the Spirit then told Philip to get close and join himself to the chariot, and Philip obediently ran up to the chariot even though he didn’t know who was in it.

When Philip gets close enough he hears a familiar peace of scripture (Isaiah 53) which is a prophecy concerning the lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.

Philip, not knowing who the spirit had led him to, asks the man if he understands what he is reading. (note: Ethiopians believed in God and read from the same scriptures as the Jews they were African Jews)

The Ethiopian asks Philip who the prophecy is concerning, and Philip begins to evangelize explaining that the suffering servant that Isaiah wrote about has come into the world. This would have be exceedingly joyful news since the Jews were also awaiting a Messiah.

Although this Ethiopian Jew was a worshipper of God who came to Jerusalem to worship at the temple, he didn’t know that his scriptures were talking about Jesus. (Growth is always timely so long as we are willing to receive new information.

The Ethiopian receives the word of God whole heartily and insists that Philip baptize him.

When Philip baptises the Ethiopian he immediately disappears because the Spirit has snatched him away, but the Ethiopian was not lost by Philip’s disappearing, instead he focus his attention on God and begins to worship him.

Philip found himself in Azotus and proclaimed the good news to all that were there.