Scripture: Acts 8:26–39
Today’s Scripture finds us at the crossroads of exclusion and inclusion. It is not the first time that Scripture has found itself there.
We find both of those roads in the Old Testament.
- There are verses that hint at exclusion. The great leader Moses ran into trouble with his brother Aaron and his sister Miriam; apparently they were angry that he married outside of his race, and especially someone from the foreign land of Cush. Meanwhile, there are a lot of exclusive texts regarding Temple worship, namely who is allowed and who is not. The Temple had separate courts for women, for Gentiles, suggesting that they were second class citizens. And there were some folks who were never allowed because they were considered impure, such as eunuchs.
- Meanwhile, there are also texts that suggest inclusion of those on the outside. The prophet Elijah went all the way to the enemy territory of Zarephath to care for a widow there. The prophet Elisha healed a man named Naaman, even though he was a commander for the hated army of the Arameans. And there is a long section of the second half of the book of Isaiah, sometimes called Second Isaiah by scholars, that paints a picture of a leader who suffers instead of overpowers, and promises that God will celebrate the coming of all nations into the covenant, not just Israel.
- We read of both roads in the Old Testament: exclusion and inclusion.
So when Jesus began his ministry, he obviously knew of both of these options in the Scripture that he knew. But I would argue that he deliberately and consistently chose one road over the other. And I would further argue that it was part of what got him into trouble:
- Early in his ministry, Luke tells us, he returned home to his town of Nazareth. In his hometown synagogue, he read from that Second Isaiah text, specifically Isaiah 61 about caring for all of God’s peoples, especially the poor, the blind, the imprisoned, and the oppressed. But just in case they didn’t get the message of inclusion, he added the stories of both the widow of Zarephath and Naaman, reminding them that God’s prophets could have chosen people like them, but they instead went out of their way to include those outside of the favored status.
- For his pointedness, his townspeople drug him to the edge of town where they planned to throw him off the edge of a cliff. Jesus was radically anti-exclusivity, even when it threatened his life to be so.
The Early Church found itself at a similar crossroads between inclusion and exclusion, and early on there were some indications that they were leaning toward the ways of exclusion.
- In Acts 5, a couple of early church members lied about and retained their wealth and the exclusive privilege and power that it held, instead of sharing it fully with others.
- In Acts 6, we read that the widows of Jewish descent were getting preferential treatment, leaving out the widows of Greek descent, demonstrating an exclusivity based on nationality. The Church rectified the situation by creating and ordaining a group of disciples that they called Martus, which literally means “witness,” and was meant to include those who had been left out, witnessing to the power of God present in such service. But it was still an open question whether these Martures would be fully included or remain second class citizens.
- In Acts 7 and 8, we read about this guy named Saul who demanded that Jesus-followers return to the fold or face the penalty of death, resulting in the murder of one of the Martures, a man named Stephen.
- Finally, the biggest early struggle of the early Church was whether or not converts had to become Jewish first, before becoming Christian. In short, would Gentile Christians be included, or again treated as less-than.
- Through this all, the Jesus way of inclusivity was at stake, and there was a very real possibility that that Way would be abandoned before even a generation had passed since his ministry on earth.
A long introduction, I know, but it’s important to set the context. Because now, in Acts 8, we read the story of another one of those Martures, a man named Philip, who faced that same crossroads. He began his ministry with the Samaritan people—some the folks most often excluded by the people of God—but Philip’s biggest test of inclusion vs. exclusion lie ahead of him. Which road would Philip choose? Let’s find out.
Acts 8.26–39
26 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, the 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.
If you wanted to drive to Dallas this afternoon, would you start driving on I-70, or drop down to Ottawa and take I-35? The road you choose to take determines your destination. I would argue that this is a pretty important crossroads moment for the Early Church. When Jesus left the disciples, he told them to go to Jerusalem, which we saw on Pentecost and the earliest days of the Church. He told them to go to Judea and Samaria, which Philip and Peter and John had already begun to do. And he told them to go to the ends of the earth. The fulfillment of that commandment began in this passage, and I would offer that this is one of the most important stories of inclusion and openness in the book of Acts, if not the whole Bible. See if you agree.
Philip was open to the Spirit
Acts doesn’t tell us that Philip was especially gifted as a speaker, or a healer, or a leader. But Philip’s biggest gift is the ability to do whatever the Spirit says in the moment. He is attuned to that leading, perhaps more than most. The Spirit told him to get up and start walking along the Wilderness Road, a road that he had likely never been on before. Philip didn’t flinch. While on the road, the Spirit told him to go closer to this strange entourage of people who looked different than him, and spoke a different language. Philip didn’t flinch. The Spirit told him to ask if this man knew what he was reading. Philip didn’t flinch. Again and again, even if it didn’t make sense, he followed that leading, in the moment, ready to take on whatever came next.
Scholar Justo Gonzalez calls Acts the “Gospel of the Spirit.” People throughout the book do some pretty amazing stuff, but the Holy Spirit is the one leading, empowering, directing. We are pretty ordered and controlled, as a denomination…and a church…and your senior pastor. I wonder what it would take for us to become more like Philip: more prayerful for God to lead us, even in ways that don’t make sense…. more attentive to God’s work in the world around us, even in less predictable ways… more ready to take actions because it feels like God is leading them, not just because a committee voted on it. Are we ready to be as open as Philip to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit, in all of her unpredictability?
Philip was open to the “other”
Have you ever noticed this seemingly contradictory experience where someone who has been considered “other”—outside, excluded—makes it to the inside, only to then turn against a new “other” and exclude them like they were excluded? You would think that someone who knows that experience of being left out would know the pain that it inflicts and choose to include. But the history of Scripture—and really the history of humanity—is full of examples to the contrary. In the story I referenced earlier about Aaron and Miriam, Moses’s siblings, they had been “othered,” even to the point of enslavement. But when they escaped slavery in Egypt, one of the first things they did was to look down their noses at Moses’s wife because she was black. She was a Cushite, from Ethiopia, and they resented that their brother married someone of a different race and nationality, and tried to dictate who Moses should marry. They have this “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” moment, and God wants no part in their racist and exclusive attitude.
Philip, very recently part of the excluded Hellenists, again finds himself at this crossroads. He could have reacted to this Cushite from Ethiopia in similar ways. But, again, he doesn’t flinch, and walks right up to the side of the chariot, and starts up a conversation with this man that he has never met, from a different race and culture than his own. If he had judged that man as beneath him, or not worth his time, or as anything short of the full and perfect image of God that he was, he would have missed the chance to share the Gospel.
Meanwhile, Philip also could have “othered” this man because was a eunuch, what we might today call “gender non-conforming.” The requirement from the Law of Moses was that this man and men like him he would not have been able to participate in Temple worship, and would have been banned from even assembling with worshippers. Thus, when it says that he had been to Jerusalem in order to worship, it is very likely that he had been turned away. In fact, there are clues to suggest that this man had been left out. Did you notice what the man asked when he wanted to be baptized? Not “here’s some water, let’s go!” Or “water in the desert? Thanks be to God!” But “What is to prevent me?” That sounds like the words of one who has been prevented. Prevented from joining the assembly. Prevented from worshipping. Prevented from belonging. Philip could actually have answered him with a pretty good list of Bible verses that would have prevented him from participating in this worship practice. But again, he didn’t flinch. Unlike the legal reasons and temple practices, where eunuchs were not allowed to join in worship, Philip chose the way of Jesus.
Again, what would it take for us to be this open to otherness? How often has the church chosen to exclude those who are not the “correct” race? Those who are gender nonconforming? Those who are (fill in the blank) other? Are we ready to be radically open to those different from us? To listen to their stories? To learn from them? Philip was.
Which brings us to our final point about Philip: he was open to conversation.
“Do you understand what you are reading?” asked Philip. Scholar Amy Robertson reminds us that there is a Jewish tradition of studying Scripture together, with a partner, a “havruta.” It is the way that Philip begins this experience with the Ethiopian Eunuch. In community. In conversation. He began with a question. He began with listening. The man was reading a section from Second Isaiah, a section of Hebrew Scriptures that would have been welcoming to him, but he didn’t make that connection. Until Philip opened with that question.
Our congregation has tried to make this a central part of who we are and what we do. I think that one of the ways that we are open to the Spirit, and one of the ways that we are open to the “other,” is by being open to conversation. To opening the Scriptures together and discussing, praying, imagining, applying together. To begin with questions, instead of thinking that we have all the answers. It is why we have so many Sunday school classes that encourage discussion and reading in community with one another. It is why we have a thing called the Two-Way [Sermon Discussion Group], where after most every 11:00 worship service we open the door to anyone who has questions or thoughts about the sermon, and then read the text for the next week…in conversation. It is why the 838 service sees the text as an opportunity for discussion, not just a one-way monologue…in our notes for the service, Christy and I don’t call it a sermon; we call it the “Shared Homiletic Adventure.” And quite the adventure it is!
Kyle Matthews is a songwriter and minister of pastoral care. In his music, he often speaks to the truth that he finds in Scripture. He has written a song about this passage, titled “You Belong Here.” In his liner notes about the song, he writes these words:
This is the Bible in a nutshell: God leading God’s people from a members-only, circumcised, circumspect tribe to an in-Christ-there-is-no-difference church. Old world, pagan membership clubs replaced with community servants practicing justice and mercy, humility and hospitality.
It is the message that Philip delivered to the Ethiopian Eunuch, and it began the Church on a new path toward international inclusion and welcome! Matthews hopes that we might continue on this road of inclusivity and love. In fact, he says so in song:
You are welcome in this family
You are wanted in this place
You have value to your Maker
That your past cannot erase
There is room for all your searching
There is music for your song
There are shoulders you can cry on
And the strength to carry on
You belong here
Welcome home
Today, we celebrate that this the kind of place we want to be. Open to the Spirit. Open to the other. Open to the power of Scripture come alive in our shared reading. May we become this open in our walk of faith.
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