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Sermon Ac 10 Acts 8: 26-40 Charleville 11 July 2010 Roma 30 March 2014
Slide 1 teleporter. It’s called a teleportation, and it is probably known best in programs like “Start Trek” and movies like “The Fly”. If realised for humans this technology would allow us to travel over vast distances without physically travelling the distance between. Skeptical? Teleportation ceased to be a science fiction only notion in 1993. That year the physicist Charles Bennett and a team at IBM confirmed that quantum teleportation was possible. In the process that Bennett invisages the original is destroyed by the scanning making the teleported body the only one. Work continues, recently a photon was teleported as described by Bennett. I suspect that Bennett was unaware of the process described in Acts chapter 8. Slide blank Let’s pray: Luke sets out his record of events in Acts by focusing on key people. At the beginning of Acts it is Peter, chapters 1 to 5, most of the time Peter is accompanied by John. Then in chapters 6 and 7 it is Stephen. And now in chapter 8 it is Philip who is centre stage. Have you noticed that each time Luke focuses a new person that he is not new to us, Luke has introduced him to us earlier in someone else’s section? There is a lesson for us in the way Luke writes but today we will continue with Philip’s activity.
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Philip is again involved in pushing back the boundaries of kingdom on earth. The spirit is active in his actions, we can learn much from this passage spiritually and also a great deal about the ancient world as well. This section is not easily broken down into bit sized pieces so I will cover it in two ways: first to give you background to the events and second to extract the lessons for us. The events open with “an angel tells Philip to go south to the road going to Gaza from Jerusalem.” But there are two roads. The angel specifies the desert road in verse 26. He comes upon a eunuch, who is reading the scriptures in his chariot as he returns home from worship. The eunuch is from Ethiopia. He is treasurer to Candice his Queen. There is much we need to know in this short passage in terms of background. Let’s take them as they occur in my bible. 1. Ethiopia sometime translated as Nubia or Abyssinia; in this case it is likely to be Meroe. Slide map. The area you see covers today parts of Ethiopia and parts of the Sudan. 2. A eunuch was an official who was castrated, usually during childhood. They were high ranking members of the household of queens and princesses, in particular. Although there were eunuchs who were so in name only, this is because of the office they held they were called eunuchs, such as Potiphar when Joseph was a slave in Egypt. In our case it is most likely that he was a eunuch physically because of the repetition in the next phrase ‘a court official’. 3. Candace was a name commonly used by ruling queens in this part of the world. Archaeology tells us there were several queens of this name in Meroe and nearby kingdoms. Some archaeologists have suggested that it was more of a title. It seems to be used for queen mothers, especially if they were ruling for their under-age son or if they had real independent power. 4. He had been up to Jerusalem to worship, as a eunuch though he could not be part of Israel. He would remain a ‘God fearer’ and could never be a proselytite; he could never be accepted as a Jew. Nonethe- less he had been to Jerusalem to worship God. Stories abound about the
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Queen of Sheba returning from Solomon a Jew and establishing the religion in her kingdom. Hence some say the origin of African Jews. It is probable that this man was a follower of the Jewish religion, because of these events. Slide blank Verse 28 ‘he was returning in his chariot…’ Most people walked, the wealthy road animals, only the richest of the wealthy travelled by chariot. ‘And he was reading the prophet Isaiah.’ Having a copy of the prophet Isaiah meant two things: first it confirms the wealth of this man, and second it identifies his commitment to Judaism by him; reading out loud was common, silent reading maybe a relatively recent idea. So Philip would have recognised the passage. Philip no doubt prompted by the spirit asks if he understands what he is reading. The response is unusual to us in two ways: 1. Philip was on foot and not even close to the Ethiopian in terms of social status, yet he is asked into the chariot to explain the reading. 2. The idea of a guide to explain the scriptures is not one that sits comfortably with us. The Reformation was in part about each man reading it for himself. This does not mean they we do not need teaching; it means that each of us is responsible to search the scriptures ourselves. The spirit of course is able to guide us and we have many resources to help us but we all appreciate the insight of someone else. However we are not to be dependent upon them, we are to search the scriptures ourselves and to test everything against the scriptures ourselves. The scripture he was reading is from our Old Testament reading today. It is likely that it was the whole passage that was puzzling to him, even though Luke only records these two verses. It is from the later part of the fourth Servant Song in Isaiah. The first Servant Song is in Is 42: 1-4 The second is in Is 49: 1-6 The third is in Is 50: 1-9 And this one, the forth is Is 52:13 – 53: 12.
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This particular servant song is associated with the ‘suffering servant’ in Old Testament prophecy. The first two servant songs refer explicitly to Israel herself. In Is 49: 5 the servant is distinguished from the rest of Israel. So then in the fourth servant song, the suffering servant is described: 1. Is 53: 1-3 he is rejected by Israel, 2. Is 53: 4-12 he bears Israel’s sins, even though he is not guilty. 3. And suffers voluntarily Is 53: 12. In Jesus’ times we know that the main interpretations were but there was not agreement over which one was correct. Some believed that the sheep refer to Israel, others thought Isaiah was referring to himself. A third notion was that it referred to the Messiah. No wander the eunuch is understandably confused but with the coming of Jesus it all makes sense. The prophets were rejected by Israel as a nation. So the points 1 and 3 above could have applied to the prophet but what about point 2? No one can bear another’s sin because no one is without sin, no one is perfect. This is what Philip teaches him. Verse 36,”Here is water! What prevents me from being baptised?” Ceremonial washing or baptism was used by the Jews as a sign that one was cleansed of former things and as an adult you became a Jew through baptism, but this was baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. The door that was closed to the eunuch before was now open to him in Jesus. There is of course a clear lesson for us here – no one group is excluded from life in Christ.
Wait a minute; didn’t I say this was on the desert road? Yes but the road cut a number of wadis. A wadi is a dry creek bed, much like the ones we have here and further west. They only run after rain. It is like around here there would be large deep puddles left sometimes, even enough for an immersion baptism. Verse 39 the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. There is no evidence that the eunuch went home and successfully evangelised his country. The conversion of the Ethiopians had to wait another two hundred
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odd years, and then the action of the bishop of Alexandria in the north of Egypt resulted in the formation of the southern Coptic Church. But Philip was spirited off to Azotus. Slide map of Israel. Who said teleporting was just a science fiction idea. Azotus was a long day’s walk from Gaza. Philip then preached through all the towns on the coastal road until he came to Caesarea. This is Caesarea the port not the inland city Caesarea Philippi or the one in central Asia that is in modern Turkey. Slide blank Egerton Young was a missionary to Indians in the USA and he recalled this story: On one of my trips I camped beside a lake-like river. There were well wooded hills next to my camp but I noticed that every third tree had been cut down. I turned to one of the Indians with me and asked “Why do you make idols?” He records that the reply was never to be forgotten: “Missionary, the Indian’s mind is dark, and he cannot grasp the unseen. He hears the Great Spirit’s voice in the thunder and the storms; he sees evidence of his existence all around, but neither he nor his fathers have ever seen the Great Spirit, and so he does not know what he looks like. Man is the highest creature he knows of, so he makes idol like a man.” Suddenly Egerton has a thought flash across his mind as he remembers Philip the Apostle saying “Show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us” and the answer that Jesus gave. He opened his bible and began to teach beginning with Philip’s question. For two weeks he needed no other theme; and as a result they applied these truths to their hearts, they burned their idols, and on that spot now stands a little church, while the Indians were transformed by the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mr Young recognised that God provides the field for us to sow, just as Philip responded to the reading from Isaiah by the eunuch. Egerton Young had to be visiting that place with a local Indian and Philip had to be on the road to Gaza.
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When we respond to the Spirit, we are used in God’s plan for his kingdom. However as with the eunuch not every conversation leads to mass conversions.
Let us just wonder at the provision God made through this passage in Isaiah: Isaiah 53: 3 ‘He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…’ Isaiah 53: 4 ‘Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.’ Isaiah 53: 5 ‘But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought peace and with his stripes we are healed.’ Isaiah 53: 9 follows on from the passage the eunuch was reading: ‘and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.’ Isaiah 53: 12b ‘…yet he bore the sins of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.’
What a wonderful prophecy. To us it makes so much sense but to the eunuch he had to have Jesus explained to him, first. Do you know the scriptures well enough to pick up on the opportunities when they arise? Philip and Egerton did. Or rather they had a connection with God deep enough to respond to the Spirit’s prompting. Is your time in bible study and prayer preparing you for the day when God will lead you to share the gospel? Has your faith matured to form a deep relationship with your Lord?
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Although, this is not the first century and Philip is not here and many things have changed, God has not. His Spirit is still active, are you cooperating with Him in the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ?
Let’s pray that we all are! AMEN