“My Name is Philip, and I’ll be Taking Care of You this Evening”

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?" [Acts 8:36].

One of the interesting dynamics of the scripture readings appointed for the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost in all three years of the scriptural cycle formed by the Revised Common Lectionary is the fact that the first reading each week comes not from the Old Testament, but rather from Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. The reading for this upcoming Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Easter, is the relatively familiar story of the marvelous, miraculous encounter between Philip and an unnamed Ethiopian eunuch [Acts 8:26-40, Fifth Sunday of Easter, RCL, Year B].

We may recall that after Pentecost [Acts 2], the Jerusalem church began to grow. As noted in Acts 6, a practical problem soon arose. The Hellenists—the Greek-speaking Jews—began to complain that their widows were being ignored regarding the daily distribution of food, whereas the widows of the Hebrew-speaking group were favored. The Twelve called together the entire community of the disciples and said:

It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word [Acts 6:2b-4].

And so, the community chose Stephen, who would go on to be the first Christian martyr [see Acts 7], Philip, who is featured prominently in this week’s reading, and five others to “wait on tables” [see Acts 6:5 for the full list]. Some say these seven were the first deacons.

By the time of this week’s story, Stephen has been stoned while Saul, who would later be known as Paul, watched after the murderers’ cloaks [Acts 8:1]. With Stephen’s death, we’re down to six deacons. Well, we’re really down to five since, as we see from this week’s reading, an angel of the Lord tells Philip to stop waiting on tables and instead, to get up from his perch within the Jerusalem church, and to head toward Gaza along a wilderness road.

Philip does as he is told. Along that road, Philip runs into an interesting character—a eunuch from Ethiopia. This guy is important. He’s sporting a chariot. It’s government-issued, of course, since he’s actually Secretary of the Treasury for Ethiopia, as well as a close confidant of Candace, the queen.

With regard to this Ethiopian noble, there’s a lot going on just beneath the surface. He appears not to be Hebrew, but rather a “God-fearer” or proselyte, thus a convert of sorts to Judaism. He’s come all the way to the Jerusalem Temple to worship, and now he is returning home.

Over the years, there has been much scholarly speculation as to what would likely have happened when this Ethiopian showed up for Sabbath services at the Temple. Some have strenuously argued that he would have been turned away. They stress that “someone like him”—a eunuch—would not have been allowed to participate in Temple worship [see Leviticus 21:20 and Deuteronomy 23:1].

I’m of the camp that says if you think the most important thing about the Ethiopian is his sexual characteristics, you might likely miss the real power of this text. The writer, Luke, seems much more interested in the Ethiopian’s status as a member of his Queen’s court. He is obviously erudite; he’s sitting in his chariot reading from the Greek Septuagint.

As Philip approaches, he sees that the Ethiopian is reading aloud from the prophet Isaiah. A bit puzzled, Philip asks, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

The Ethiopian retorts, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”

And so, Philip climbs up into the chariot, sits down beside the Ethiopian, and says, “Keep reading.” The Ethiopian continues, fascinated with a portion of what we refer to as Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant” passage:

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 …
[Acts 8:32b-33a, quoting Isaiah 53:7-8].

The Ethiopian asks the not-so-obvious question: “Is Isaiah talking about himself, or someone else?” We don’t know exactly what Philip said in reply. Luke, after all, wasn’t present to take it down for posterity. Luke does tell us that Philip began to proclaim to the Ethiopian the good news about Jesus.

Wow! Whatever Philip said had a powerful effect. The Ethiopian, with Philip still riding in the chariot, comes to a pool of water. The Ethiopian asks an interesting and important question: “What is to prevent me from being baptized?”

A lot of ink has been spilled over the past 150 years speculating about what must have passed through Philip’s mind as he contemplated the Ethiopian’s question. Had Philip followed the thread of conventional thought of that day—indeed the conventional thought by many of our own day—he might have said something like, “Can I mansplain it to you? In case you’ve forgotten, you’re a eunuch, and Holy Scripture says that folks like you just aren’t acceptable.”

Might Philip have moved beyond those old Mosaic laws, thinking instead to himself that the newly formed Christian church was different, that it was more broad-minded and accepting of people, that just as Jesus Christ had mingled with tax collectors and sinners—persons condemned by Jewish society—so the Christian church now was open to all sorts of persons, even those with ambiguous sexual identities? Perhaps, but I wonder if something else might have been on Philip’s mind as he formed his answer to the Ethiopian’s liminal question.

I wonder if the thought that was bouncing around in the back of Philip’s head was an altogether different potential response, “Hey, Mr. Secretary of the Ethiopian Treasury, let’s slow down just a minute here. After all, I’m just a church waiter. I’m not one of the apostles. If we’re going to talk about big theological steps, like conversion and baptism, shouldn’t we consult with those who have been fully ordained?” We see this in many churches today. The person says, “I want Christian fellowship.” All too often our response is, “Our session meets every other Thursday evening. We’ll take up your request at our next gathering.”

I think several important issues were at the heart of the Ethiopian’s question. Geographically, how widely does Yahweh desire the Gospel to be dispersed? What are the racial and/or social limits, if any, on the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Who has been entrusted with the Gospel? Is it those who can point to a lineage with the original apostles? Or is it anyone who has been touched by the Grace of God? Moreover, if those who have been entrusted with the Gospel are not diligent in the spreading of that Good News, what is to be done about that?

Recall that following the crucifixion, following that first Easter morning, yet before Christ’s ascension, the Risen Lord met the eleven apostles on the mountain in Galilee. As Matthew relates, Jesus told them:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you [Matthew 28:18-20a].

And yet, when the first seven deacons are elected, where are the original apostles (minus Judas, of course)? Have they dispersed to the far reaches of the globe so as to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ as He had asked? Have they forged out into the world with nothing but the strength of Christ within them, determined never to stop or return until all had heard the Good News?

No, actually they’re all still in Jerusalem. Even given the mandate by their Lord, they still haven’t ventured far beyond the walls of First Church Jerusalem. The tremendous irony here, of course, is that they seem to have forgotten what Jesus did “on the night that he was betrayed.” After he had washed their feet, he became their waiter. He served up to them nothing less than his body and his blood. He tended to them in those last hours. And then later, when the church needed folks to wait on tables and tend to the widows, the original disciples were so busy with their theology that they couldn’t take the time necessary to serve those around them in the same manner that they had been served by their Lord.

You see, I think by the time the Ethiopian formulated his question to Philip—“What is to prevent me from being baptized?”—Philip recognized that neither the Ethiopian nor the Spirit of the Lord cared two twits about Philip’s “credentials.” Jesus Christ had been a waiter and the Spirit of the Lord intended to use Philip in a similar capacity. Rather than give the Ethiopian an extensive excuse or a lengthy theological discourse about what was going on, I think Philip’s words were something like, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.”

Oh, I know, I know. Church legend has it that the apostle Thomas went to India (eventually) to evangelize. Peter went to Rome. As for the others, we’re not quite sure where some of them went. There isn’t a lot of evidence that they went very far in spite of the fact that they received the Great Commission. The Risen Lord had even breathed upon them, but most seemed content to stay in and around Jerusalem.

Can we see that the lesson in the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian is that Yahweh is intent upon the spread of His Gospel? Yahweh will have His way, no matter what. If you are one of the original chosen—or perhaps one of the much later chosen/ordained—and you fail to act upon your mandate, then Yahweh will simply choose someone else. He could even be the young man or woman who served you dinner last night!

Here, Yahweh chose a mere waiter—Philip—to spread the Gospel to a black Ethiopian man with questionable sexuality, in order that the latter might rejoice, go back to his home, and continue to spread that Word. As the story continues, the angel of the Lord sweeps Philip up yet again and deposits him further to the north, where Philip, the waiter, goes on to preach the good news as far as Caesarea (i.e., Asia Minor). The Risen Lord will later appear to one of His own chief persecutors—Saul, a/k/a Paul—and the gentile world will never be the same.

Yahweh will use anyone at any time He pleases. Be careful out there folks. If Yahweh settles for waiters and eunuchs, he might very well “settle” for you (or me)! All praise to you, most glorious Lord!