I like to imagine that the Holy Spirit has a mischievous sense of humor. At least that’s the feeling I get when I think about how the Spirit moves in our lives, and in the lives of our faith ancestors. Often the Holy Spirit nudges, cajoles and pushes us into situations that are life changing and faith formative. I often blame the Holy Spirit for my journey into ministry. But that’s between her and I. I bring this up because one of the major players in today’s scripture is this playful Holy Spirit who encourages Phillip to embark on a journey that would challenge and shake up his faith a wee bit.
Let’s do a little “previously on the Acts of the Apostles” moment so that we are all on the same page. Jesus has died and been resurrected, showing up to his disciples in a variety of places, sharing meals and teachings with them. Just before Jesus ascends to Heaven he sits downs with his friends and promises that they after they receive the Holy Spirit, they will go out into the world, to the ends of the world in fact, witnessing to Jesus’s ministry. So the disciples, who really weren’t sure what Jesus meant at the time, went back to Jerusalem and huddled up in a room until the Spirit rushed in and messed everything up… for now the teachings of Jesus weren’t just for them, but were now for everyone – heard in every language. As Nadia Bolz Webber writes: “when the Holy Spirit came she brought with her all the people who were not like them which had to be annoying.[1]” And they went out into the world to teach, preach and perform miracles.
But they needed to be convinced. Right before Jesus’ ascension he tells them (the disciples) about the Holy Spirit coming to them and then follows this with a warning, “and then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem (Jerusalem’s nice), and in all Judea (sure, Judea’s our stomping ground), and Samaria (hold up Jesus. We hate Samarians), and, after Samaria, to the ends of the earth (the ends of the earth? That’s like saying the Gospel is for, gasp, everyone).” That’s what the Holy Spirit had to work with, hesitant disciples not quite ready to go out into the world to preach the inclusive, expansive ministry of Jesus. But she doesn’t give up, but finds creative ways to encourage them to experience the Gospel in life shifting ways.
Take Phillip for instance. This Phillip is “a second generation leader of the young church. A second-round draft pick –really a strategic choice, a position player for the Gentiles. (Not to be confused with first round Philip the Apostle – just Phillip the deacon here.) [2]“. He goes out to Samaria (eek!) to preach to thousands of gentiles. Fine, he does great work out there, converting hundreds of people to the fledging religion of Christianity. In the midst of baptizing like crazy, the Holy Spirit comes in and tells him “get up and go out to the desert at noon.” Not one to question the HS, Phillip goes and while he is on the road, notices a fancy chariot… to which the HS nudges him to go over and join it – which, meant – remember what I said about the HS sense of humour? -that Phillip had to run along side it. Phillip is not an active participant, which is highlighted by the fact that the author of Luke uses the passive voice to describe him. “Phillip is led. Phillip is directed. Phillip is told[3]”
In the chariot sits the Ethiopian Eunuch. There are things to know about this guy… the eunuch who is given no formal name – he is highly educated, wealthy, and powerful…did you catch who he worked for? The Candace, Queen of Ethiopia – he is her CFO, chief of her treasury. You don’t just get handed a job like that without being important. He has power, prestige, and authority. I mean he owned his own personal copy of an Isaiah scroll. But he is a eunuch, which we are reminded of time and time again. Now, we all know, or maybe we don’t all know, but a eunuch is a man who has been castrated, had his genitals removed. You might be surprised to know that the word eunuch “in the Greek is the same word for prime minister, chamberlain, royal administrator. In the Ancient Near Easter, voluntary castration was the surest, safest way to ascend to governmental power.[4] “ So this is who Phillip runs beside at the behest of the Holy Spirit.
Why a eunuch? Well, here’s the thing… the eunuch has made the incredible journey of over 1500 miles from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. A pilgrimage of sorts to worship and connect with God. But there is one thing that the author of Luke left out… eunuchs were forbidden from entering the temple. There’s this law in Leviticus 21 that, how do I say this gently? Well, if a man has had genitals removed then they are not allowed to participate in worship, no offerings, no prayers nothing in the temple. So what was this Eunuch doing on the road from Jerusalem? Did he really travel all that way to be turned away once he got to the temple? He sure did… but I have to wonder if he was meant to do this, that somehow the Holy Spirit orchestrated this whole experience so that the eunuch and Phillip could meet.
Imagine for a moment what Phillip might have been thinking as he jogged to catch up to the chariot. “Okay, talk to this person about Jesus. Maybe get him to be a follower like me, maybe baptise him into the church and add a notch on my belt. Yeah, quick and easy.” Except, Phillip meets a person who, because of the Mosaic Laws, was not allowed to worship in the temple or participate in the life of Israel, and yet is actively seeking to know and worship God… Phillip’s life shifts side ways. Nadia Bolz Weber writes: “It was perhaps a mutual conversion. Maybe because they simply asked each other questions in the desert. The only imperatives came from the Holy Spirit. Phillip and the eunuch only asked each other questions. The only commands came from God and the command was to go and join. Go and join the other. What we don’t know is if the Spirit also gave the Eunuch the command to invite. Invite this nice Jewish boy – representative of all that clings to the law and rejects you from God’s house. Invite him to sit by you. Go…invite…join…invite…ask questions. Perhaps Phillip in his encounter with this gender transgressive foreigner learned what seeking the Lord looks like.[5]”
Take that in for a moment. Phillip’s faith was reshaped, shifted, deepened, by a person of faith who had been repeatedly told they didn’t belong, and were turned away from God. Time and again the church has taken the stance that the only way to belong is to fit into the little box we have created. You must look a way, speak a way, love a way. We, and this is the We of the Christian community, have tried to narrow the entrance into the temple so that only certain people could come in. And those who don’t fit, well, they have two choices…leave or change. Except the eunuch did neither… he kept pursuing God, kept praying and reading scripture and making pilgrimages despite the rejection he received. And Phillip was gobsmacked by that. The baptism the Eunuch experienced wasn’t a confirmation that he’d become just like every other new Christian at the time. The baptism of the Eunuch welcomed him into the community of believers just as he was, because he was already faithful, already beloved of God just as he was.
In that moment, the gospel of Jesus came alive for Phillip in a way he would never have experienced if he hadn’t followed the Holy Spirit’s prodding. He discovered the wideness in Jesus’ teaching and ministry in a way that would never have happened if he had simply kept to Samaria. He might have questioned Jesus’ commandment to go to the world but now he understood. He was converted. And it took the stranger, the other to show him.
You know the church, especially the United Church and other progressive denominations, talk a lot about inclusion. We need to include everyone in our communities of faith, we need to be supportive of and safe for the diversity of humanity that surrounds us. We absolutely do. God’s people aren’t homogenous. God’s people are a rainbow of hues, abilities, orientations, and personalities. But “inclusion” might not be the word we are looking for…. “because it sounds like in our niceness and virtue we are allowing “them” to join us – like we are judging another group of people to be worthy to be a part of this thing… But the truth is that We need the equivalent of our Ethiopian Eunuch to show us the faith. We continually need the stranger, the foreigner, the “other” to show us water in the desert.[6]”
We really do want everyone to feel included, loved and valued in our community of faith. I firmly believe that this is part of our work as people of faith. But we need to keep in mind, when it comes to the church, it’s not our job to stand as gatekeepers keeping those out who don’t fit in the box, it’s not our job to wonder if the church is big enough for all this difference… This is God’s church. The openness and wideness of the church of God should concern us only insofar as it points to, lives into Jesus’ call to love and radical hospitality. The wideness of the church should “only concern us insofar as it points to the great mercy and love of a God who welcomes us all as friends.[7]”
All of this because the Holy Spirit chose to encourage Phillip to change course and walk a wilderness road. Our faith is deepened, our church is widened because the Holy Spirit poked the Eunuch to make the journey. A mutual conversion took place because the Holy Spirit took the risk and nurtured an unlikely conversation – which ended in baptism and a widening of faith. That Holy Spirit, she is a wise one.
[1] Nadia Bolz Weber, The Worst: A Sermon About Baltimore, Eunuchs, Evangelical Conferences and How Irritating the Holy Spirit Can Be.2015 Found at Patheos.com
[2] Laura Evertt, To Fully Preach the Gospel, we need to sit with people wildly different from us. 2015 From:
Faithandleadership.com
[3] Jason Micheli. Easter 5B We’re All Eunuchs Found on Tamed Cynic Podcast on Substack
[4] Jason Micheli. Easter 5B We’re All Eunuchs Found on Tamed Cynic Podcast on Substack
[5] Nadia Bolz Weber, Sermon on Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. 2009. Found on Queermergent.wordpress.com
[6] Nadia Bolz Weber, Sermon on Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
[7] Ibid
