Sermon at All Saints’ Church,
Whiteparish, Morning Worship - – Sunday 2nd May 2021
Acts
8:28-40
Thank you
again for your very warm welcome back here at Whiteparish again this morning. It has seemed very strange to have been away
for so long but like so many of you, Liz and I have been anxious to ensure that
we remain well and take no unnecessary risks.
On Tuesday I am, hopefully, receiving my second vaccination and then we
can feel much more relaxed. It has been
wonderful to see so many of you join our online services but we hope that we
can now return to some further semblance of normality as we move forward
through 2021 and share worship together in person.
We had two
readings this morning. I think our
Gospel reading is probably more familiar to most of us – and I know I have
preached on it quite a few times – I rather like vines and their products –
fermented grapes – nothing quite beats a good Claret – but this morning I have
decided to concentrate on our other reading from Acts which I have always found
quite inspirational for quite a few reasons which I’ll explain as we go
on. So let’s first look at the passage
again and for this I am going to use the assistance of “The Message” – the
paraphrased version of the bible by Eugene Peterson to see it in its context.
Well, first
of all, who was this eunuch and whom did he serve? We are told that he was in the service of
Queen Candace of Ethiopia but there are no historical records of such a person
reigning with that name. The name
Candace is actually Kandake and means the mother of the king of Nubia – in
other words, she was the “The Queen Mother”. Nubia was a kingdom to the south
of Aswan on the Nile. The term “eunuch” could have meant “trusted servant” and
he probably had been emasculated meaning he would have been barred from the
inner courts of the Temple at Jerusalem.
In fact why the eunuch was in Jerusalem in the first place worshipping
there is another mystery but the implication seems to be that he was a Gentile
who, nevertheless, worshipped Israel’s God but had not become a fully converted
Jew. His reading of Isaiah might be quite significant too as in his writings
Isaiah held out the promise that God would grant devout eunuchs heritage
“better than sons and daughters (Isaiah 56:3-5) and he may have thought by
worshipping the Jewish God he could be made whole.
The
importance to us as Christians today, though, is the working of the Holy Spirit
upon Philip – bringing together the ministry of the word and the ministry of
the Holy Spirit – both leading to the third type of ministry – the ministry of
the sacrament with ultimate baptism of the eunuch.
We read that
Philip received a heavenly message from God telling him to take himself along
the road from Jerusalem to Gaza – the main road anyone taking themselves south
from Jerusalem to Egypt and the Nile would have to take across the desert.
Obediently Philip does just this not knowing why he is being told to go into
the wilderness. It might have seemed a
strange request but as we read it was with a specific reason – to meet up with
the eunuch on his travels back to Nubia.
I wonder,
have you ever had the experience of Philip?
Have you ever been diverted from where you are or what you are doing in
order to tell somebody the Good News?
When I read this passage again it reminded me of an event which occurred
only this week. I took my first ride on
a bus into Salisbury last Monday to attend a medical appointment at the medical
centre on Fountains Way. I nearly got off outside Marks and Spencer but decided
to stay on to Blue Boar Row outside Debenhams instead. I really don’t know why as I had originally
intended to walk up Fisherton Street from the corner of Barclays Bank. My change
of plan meant that I would now walk by the library and past the Big Issue
seller. He started to engage me in
conversation and having established he obtained his copies of the Big Issue
from Alabare Place where I am the chaplain he was anxious to tell me that he
was a born again Christian. We ended up praying together for the recovery of
the city of Salisbury from its passed problems – Novachoc and Covid and I also
prayed for him and his ministry on the streets of the city. He went away, I
believe, feeling that his life was worthwhile even if difficult. That conversation would never have happened
if I got off the bus where I originally intended.
I think
Philip had a similar experience, and I believe we all can have the experience
of the Holy Spirit compelling us to do something different for a purpose. We should never ignore those feelings and
messages otherwise we may miss out and are, effectively, disobeying the Spirit.
The next
lesson we are taught from the eunuch’s story is the need to fully study
scripture and understand it. We can
easily read our bibles, especially those passages which are so familiar to us –
like the gospel reading today – but never really understand what they are
saying to us in today’s modern world. The bible Society tells us that when we
read the bible we should ask ourselves two questions – what did the passage
mean in its original context?; what does this passage mean for my life
today? Understanding the passage in its
original context is most important – especially as scripture is, at its
youngest, still 2,000 years old. There is a wonderful adage which says if you
take “text” out of “context” all you are left with is a “con”. That is why we must first of all examine what
is actually happening in our story, who the eunuch is, where is he from, what
is his mission, what is he reading and why?
Then understand how and why Philip is placed in the situation he is.
We learn
that the eunuch has been reading the passage from Isaiah which describes and
prophesies about Jesus. The eunuch,
whilst understanding the words of the passage is confused as to whom the
passage refers. Philip is on hand to
explain that it is about Jesus and is given the opportunity to spread the
gospel to this Gentile. He clearly does
a good job as the eunuch immediately wants to be baptised and become a
Christian. What a wonderful piece of
witnessing! Like my story about the Big Issue Seller, if Philip had not obeyed
the call to witness he would never have met the eunuch.
We read that
with Philip having done his ministry, he was then whisked away to do further
witnessing all the way to the great port of Caesarea. I wasn’t whisked away
after my meeting with the Big Issue Seller but I like to think that I can
continue to spread the Good News to others I meet within my sphere of
influence.
We don’t
know what happened to the eunuch after that but assume he safely returned to
the Queen Mother of Nubia and told her all he had experienced. What we do know
today is that South Sudan and Ethiopia are very strong areas of Christianity in
Africa with the wonderful rock churches of Lalibela, built after a later
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and that the roots of their Orthodox Christianity go
back to the time of the Apostles. Perhaps it did indeed all start with our
eunuch. The Great Cross of Lalibela (a small replica of which I have here) is
said to have great healing powers and is the powerful draw for modern day
pilgrims.
So what are
we to learn from this piece of scripture for our everyday lives? Well, as said
before, to learn to obey God’s call to ministry when we receive it, however we
receive it; to read scripture carefully in context and call upon others to help
us understand it if and when we struggle with it; and that the three types of
ministry – Ministry of the Word, Ministry of the Spirit and Ministry of the
Sacrament are all important to each other, that one is not more important than
the other and that we need all three in order to be holistic, whole
Christians. Many disputes within and
outside the church have majored on the differences and perceived conflicting
importance but, like the Trinity, you need all of them - the Three in One.
This is what
our eunuch received – the Holy Spirit sending Philip to him; an interpretation
of the Holy Word with the help of Philip and finally his Baptism.
I say Amen
to that!
Amen MFB/158/30042021
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