First Presbyterian Church
April 28, 2024, Easter 5B
Everyone Everywhere All at Once
Things have changed a great deal since we last looked in on that fledgling community of Christ-followers back in Acts chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 5 brought another attempt by the Sanhedrin to shut up the disciples (all of them this time), only for one wise member of that body to counsel that trying to silence them only made them stronger, so maybe don't do that? In Chapter 6 we get our first introduction to the deacons, assigned to bring order to the distribution of resources. One of those deacons, Stephen, turned out to be a lot more of an evangelist than table manager, and that got him in trouble, but this time no one was going to stop a lynch mob from stoning him to death. That set off a larger wave of persecution that resulted in the scattering of much of this body out of Jerusalem, while the apostles somehow remained there. Chapter 8 introduces all of this while also introducing a wannabe Pharisee by the name of Saul, who launches his own personal campaign against these followers of the Way; his story will change greatly in chapter 9, which we regrettably won't get to in this Acts run.
We are also introduced to Philip, another of those deacons (not to be confused with the apostle Philip), who is among those scattered and dispersed from Jerusalem. He finds himself in a town in Samaria, and comes to the conclusion that there was no reason not to proclaim the good news here just as they had been doing in Jerusalem. It went extremely well, and many were saved and joined the dispersed but still growing community of Christ-followers. Things went so well, in fact, that word got back to the Twelve in Jerusalem, and Peter and John came to check things out.
For Philip, this must have seemed like his big break. A new community of believers was coming together, and there was plenty of potential for more witnessing and ministry. It must have seemed like this was a situation in which Philip could settle down and do the Lord's work.
So of course, God called him to pick up and go. Ministers will tell you: this happens a lot.
Even for all that these instructions from "an angel of the Lord" in verse 26 must have seemed downright strange. As our author helpfully reminds us in parentheses, the road to which Philip was sent was a wilderness road, one might say in the middle of nowhere. Whatever his compunctions might have been, Philip got up and headed south for that road.
It turns out he wasn't the only one headed that way. A chariot draws near, and a fine one at that.
On the chariot is no less than a high official of the queen of the Ethiopians, the Candace (the official title for that queen). He oversaw her treasury. He was seated in this chariot, driven by another man, trying to read from the book of Isaiah; as the custom of this time was that such reading was done out loud, Philip quite likely heard him and possibly recognized what was being read.
A couple of clarifications: "the Ethiopians" refers to those from an area that would have included the modern-day nation of that name but much more; at its most expansive usage the term encompassed all of sub-Saharan Africa. It's worth noting that the modern-day nation of that name has a Christian history that dates back well into the first centuries of the first millennium, and it's quite possible that this story plays a role in that happening. It's also worth noting that the region, for many citizens of the Roman Empire, constituted the farthest known realm at least to the south; it was, for all practical purposes, "the ends of the earth."
Another point involves something that Philip probably didn't know, but that Luke (the author of Acts as well as the gospel by that name) seems keen to emphasize. In some nations and cultures, it was held that a high woman official could not be served safely by a man who might be tempted to some form of sexual aggression against her. As a result, such high officials were often served by eunuchs, who because of that alteration could not so threaten the queen. Whether this official had been so sexually altered as a youth in preparation for such service, or was so eunuched only before taking office, we don't know.
This complicates the story somewhat. According to the law, a person who had been so altered could not be accepted as a man, much less as a Jew, but some teachers, reading from Isaiah and other prophetic sources, were inclined to grant some grace to such individuals and welcome them into the community. Again, it's not clear how Philip would know this about this visitor, but Luke is quite emphatic about making this clear, perhaps in light of what it means for this emerging faith community (and faith communities of the future, perhaps).
Philip, again taking the divine prompt, offers to help the traveler with his reading and finds that the passage in question just tees up the chance to introduce this man to Jesus, and the story culminates with the traveler excitedly spotting a pool of water in the desert and begging to be baptized with the question "what can stand in the way of my being baptized?" Philip quickly concludes that the answer is "nothing," and baptizes the man. When he comes up from the water, Philip isn't there, but the man rejoices and resumes his journey home, where for all we know he started the process of spreading the good news among the Ethiopians, down at "the ends of the earth."
Philip, meanwhile, found himself (which is how "appeared" is translated in other modern translations) in a town called Azotus, much closer to the Mediterranean coast and not far from Caesarea, the center of Roman governmental authority in the region. Like he had done in Samaria, he concluded that he might as well preach, and set about spreading the good news in those towns from Azotus to Caesarea. If nothing else you have to credit the man with some serious resilience; no matter where God diverts him to go or to "appear," he gets up and dusts himself off and sets about proclaiming the good news.
For what it's worth, Philip will show up one last time, in Acts 21, when Paul and his party visit him on their way to Jerusalem. Apparently, he got to settle down in Caesarea and had fathered four daughters, who were all evangelists or prophets, depending on what translation you read.
But back to what happens in chapter 8, with a brief detour to Acts 1. Remember that when Jesus was about to ascend into heaven, his last words were:
It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (1:7-8)
Philip had first ended up in Samaria, where he bore witness to Jesus. Then, when God sent him elsewhere, he gave his witness of Jesus to the Ethiopian, a man from somewhere like "the ends of the earth" in the perception of a typical occupant of Roman territory. Look at Philip, taking on two of those ultimate destinations in Jesus's final words, and all because no matter where he ended up or found himself, he got up and dusted himself off and started bearing witness. It's a small start, to be sure, but it is a start to the word being proclaimed everywhere, to everyone. No, it's not quite all at once, but it's a start, and at least part of that start is attributed to one deacon-turned-evangelist who, no matter where he "found himself," dusted himself off and set about the work of proclaiming the good news.
May God show us how to do likewise. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Hymns (from Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal): #611, Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee; #482, Baptized in Water; #541, God Be With You Till We Meet Again.
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