What a story that was!  Angels, and the Holy Spirit, and chasing chariots, and a baptism, and a church deacon disappearing in a flash.  There’s a lot to wade through, and buried in this text are lessons that might be helpful for us here, today.  But the questions!  I’ve read several summations of Acts 8, and the scholars don’t even seem to agree whether the unnamed eunuch is a Jew or a Gentile.  If he was a Jew, he would not have been allowed into the Temple in Jerusalem, based on Deuteronomy 23:1, which states, “A eunuch shall not enter the assembly of the Lord.”  If he were a Gentile, why was he reading Isaiah?

This unnamed eunuch held a position of great importance and trust in the governance of Ethiopia.  He was in charge of the queen’s treasury.  There he was highly valued for what he DID, but not for who he WAS.  We don’t know the circumstances of his castration—a act of birth or a common requirement of his employment, where forced castration as done as a means of keeping the royal women safe.  But we know that this eunuch was important to those controlling Ethiopia.

So how could he afford time off to go all the way to Jerusalem to pray in a temple where he was unwanted?  I’m not really good at geography, but Google informed me that the distance between Jerusalem and Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa is 2,146 miles, and with light traffic and today’s cars and roads, it would take 43 hours 7 minutes to drive between the two.  But it all looks so little and so close on the map!  Actually, though, the distance is further than going from Chicago to LA.  I guess this eunuch really wanted to go to church!

Why would he be that willing to undertake such a journey?  He must have been seeking something extraordinarily valuable—more valuable than the monetary wealth his position afforded him.  We don’t know what he was seeking, but God did.  And that’s where Philip comes in.  Note, please, that he was on the wilderness road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza.  I think I know that road—at least metaphorically.

Anyway, Philip is told to join the man’s chariot, and doing so, he gets right to the point.  He doesn’t say—or at least it’s not recorded here—“Hi, I’m Philip.  Do you mind if I join you?  An angel sent me.”  No, he starts the interaction by asking, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”  If someone came up to me at Starbucks and asked that about whatever I happened to be reading, I might not have been as welcoming as the eunuch.  Maybe that’s why I’m not on the church growth committee!  But I digress.

So, you heard the reading, how Philip explained the Scriptures to the eunuch and “proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.”  The eunuch had asked about Isaiah 53:7-8.

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.

Specifically, the eunuch asked about whom the passage was written.  You can see how he might think it described his own life.  He seemed desperate to understand this prophecy, especially in light of his own life.  Could this be what was leading him on his search to find answers in the temple?  I think that when he could not get answers there, God came to meet him, through Philip, on the wilderness road.

Isn’t it that way with most of us?  God meets us where we’re at and sends the people into our lives that we need to unravel our questions.  I can relate to the eunuch in terms of my own experience with church.  I, too, found that I was unwelcome in the church of my youth, not because of anything I had done but because of who I am and who I chose to love.  God sent Pastor Nansi to that wilderness road for me and Terry, and I believe God needs us to help find the “lost sheep.”  So many people are hurting today, feeling feared and unwelcome, and feeling afraid themselves—many for their very lives.  Today’s reading invites us to do something about that, and I pray we consider how we can reach and embrace the marginalized as we redefine ourselves as a loving community.

One of the commentaries I read made an interesting comparison between this encounter between Phillip and the eunuch and the one captured in Luke 24, where two disciples met the risen Christ on the Road to Emmaus, were instructed by Him as to the meaning of the Scriptures, and who finally recognized Him in the sacramental breaking of the bread.  They said, “Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

This is similar to Philip instructing the eunuch about Scripture, their finding water, and the eunuch being sacramentally baptized by Philip before the deacon disappears.  The unnamed man asked what was to prevent him from being baptized.  We find out, of course, that the answer is a resounding “Nothing!”  Remember the passage in Romans 8:

Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. . . .

For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This news is as good for us today as it was for Philip and the eunuch 2,000 years ago.  But there’s a challenge in it for us, one that seems really important for our church family at this time.  We are in the process of defining who we are as church and what we want to be in the future.  That is incredibly valuable work, and I am grateful to all who have participated in this discernment process.  We need to ask ourselves how we can be Philip in the Dousman/Lake Country area today.

How can we reach out to those who are hurting?  To those who are seeking a community or a way to reconnect with God?  How do we even recognize them, let alone welcome and support them?  God gave us eyes to see, and God will lead us if we are willing to let go of whatever blinds us to the needs of others.  I don’t have the answers—we will have to live our way to them—but I pray to be part of the solution for those who are seeking answers along their own wilderness roads.

This desire on my part comes from painful inaction on my part.  Years ago, a friend asked me to reach out to a young woman who was struggling with depression.  I was intimidated by her because she was thin, blonde, and talented.  My own insecurity overrode any concern about her and her needs.  The young woman committed suicide—and though I am not personally responsible, I regret to this day that I did not reach out when asked to do so.

As I struggle to act more like Philip—though I shan’t be chasing chariots on I-94—one prayer that I recently learned has been very helpful to me.  It addresses my inner fears that can stop me from reaching out in even the smallest ways.  I share it now, hoping it might find a place in your heart, too.  It’s called “The Knot Prayer.”

Dear God,

Please untie the knots that are in my mind, my heart, and my life.

Remove the have nots, cannots, and the do nots.

Erase the will nots, may nots, might nots that may find a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots, would nots, and should nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all, dear God, I ask that you remove from my mind, my heart, and my life all of the “am nots” that I have allowed to hold me back—especially the thought that I am not good enough.  Amen.

Today’s Scripture ends this way: “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.  I sincerely want to be part of helping others find way of connecting to God and rejoicing in His love.  I hope we all leave Sunday worship rejoicing, eager to share the good news with each other and with the world.  At least that would be my prayer for us today.

Amen.