The Fifth Sunday of Easter, 28 April 2024, Austwick
A man is travelling out of town, a foreigner heading home, a devout man, who had been in town to worship.
He's heading back home on what they called a wilderness road, a long journey through unknown territory. Home, for him, is a place quite far away.
The man is sat in his carriage reading; reading out loud - which isn't unusual to him, it's normal in his culture for people to do that.
He has open in his hands the Book of Isaiah. A book he may have been drawn to because he’d found that it seemed to be talking about himself, his very own life.
As a man who travels into Jerusalem to worship, he is a foreigner devoted to the Lord. As a man who serves in the court of an Ethiopian queen he is a eunuch. Both of these things make life difficult for him in all sorts of ways. His foreignness means that the rest of the Lord's people cut him out of their society; and because of his unusual physical nature, he’d be all the more cut off.
But when he comes across chapter 53 of Isaiah, to his joy this man finds words of affirmation and hope which seem to be talking directly about him, his very nature and his very life; in awe and wonder, in relief and celebration, he reads them out aloud:
Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,
'The Lord will surely separate me from his people';
and do not let the eunuch say,
'I am just a dry tree.'
For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
I will give, in my house and within my walls,
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off. [1]
The man finds great hope in these words; he feels a joy welling up inside him that the Lord who he worships values him so highly, so much more highly than his brothers and sisters in the faith do; The Lord promises him so much more than anything or anyone else in life ever can, or ever will.
The man reads on. He wants to know more about this Lord who he worships. His journey is long so he reads a great deal. And as he reads on, questions come to him; about who the Lord is, what the Lord says, what the Lord does.
Meanwhile, another man is travelling out of town, a devout man, who, since the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus has devoted himself to trying to walk in the way of Jesus, to evangelising, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others.
He is travelling out of town partly for his own safety, for the followers of Jesus were being persecuted in Jerusalem. He is also travelling out of town because he believes that God has told him to - an angel told him to travel south on the wilderness road to Gaza. Why, he doesn't know. But he wants to follow God's promptings. He's aware, perhaps, what Jesus said to his followers, as later recorded by John: ‘Abide in me as I abide in you. ... I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.’
The man - whose name is Philip - wants to do something for Jesus that day. The man - whose name is Philip - wants to ‘abide in Jesus’, to respond to the promptings of God's Spirit as he travels that road. He wants his faith to bear fruit.
And so he comes alongside another traveller, a man in a carriage heading south, reading aloud from the book of Isaiah as he goes. And Philip feels God's Spirit in him prompting him to speak with the man, to strike up a conversation about the things that the man is reading.
And so here is a meeting of hearts and minds. A meeting set up by God, between a man full of questions about God, and a man keen to respond to the promptings of God’s Spirit.
The rest of the story we know. Philip asked the man in the carriage, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' and the man replied, 'How can I, unless someone guides me?' He invited Philip to get in and sit beside him, and they talked over the passage about a sheep who was led to the slaughter, and Philip explained that this was about Jesus, and carried on sharing with the man the good news about Jesus.
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 baptised?' He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptised him. When they came up out of the water, the eunuch saw Philip no more, for the Spirit of the Lord had led Philip away. But the Ethiopian eunuch went on his way rejoicing.
On the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, we have witnessed a meeting of hearts and minds. A coming-together of two men both abiding in Christ, taking an interest in who the Lord is, and what he says and does. Asking questions about him. Exploring the scriptures. Exploring answers. Being open to God's Spirit, being ready to respond to the promptings of God's Spirit through the journey of life. Expecting to be used by God in his service and for the blessing of others.
On the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, two outsiders, two spiritual seekers, find common ground.
On that dangerous journey, vulnerable to attack, they find a place of peace.
On that wilderness road, they discover to their mutual joy that there is nothing to prevent the outcast belonging to God.
Notes
This is a lightly edited version of Philip and the eunuch, abiding in Christ, preached at The Good Shepherd, Croxteth, 2009.
[1] Isaiah 56.3-5
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