I said last week that following
Jesus in daily life would be noticed. This would lead to people being
impressed, or people bringing down the shutters, or a bit of both. We read at
the beginning of chapter eight about a “severe persecution” through which many
followers of Jesus were scattered. Regrettable in one way, but this
“persecution” can also actually lead to the growth of a movement, as it spreads
out across the country. Where there is no significant challenge to faith, where
it is quite comfortable to be a Jesus-follower, complacency can set in, and
eventually it is quite difficult to see who are true believers and who are just
‘cultural christians’.
It is fair to say that initially
the early church grew because of the goodwill they were held in; but then the
growth gained even more momentum when the early church were able to hold to
their faith under pressure. Wherever they went they brought joy ... the joy of
knowing the presence of Jesus. The context for the spread of the gospel was
that it happened in the face of the vision of an angry crowd stoning one of
their leaders Stephen to death right in the public domain. How could this
possibly happen?? How could these Jesus-followers be so brave??? They had the
Holy Spirit, and the Spirit was leading them forward against the odds.
Not only would the Holy Spirit
empower the believers with courage and effective communication in action and
words, but also the Spirit would lead them to the places they needed to be to
creatively engage with people (who God had already been preparing for such
connections). One such example of this is the meeting between Philip and an
“Ethiopian eunuch”. In whatever way the voice of God’s Spirit came to him,
Philip felt impelled to head down south to the road that led from Jerusalem to
Gaza. Philip knew that this was what God required him to do and he didn’t
hesitate. There was an immediate response!
This is even though we hear the
description of this road as a “wilderness road”, which would suggest both
loneliness and danger. For Philip, this call from God was both undeniable and
irresistible. In the brief yet definitive words of verse 27, Philip just, “got
up and went”! How often do we procrastinate?!? It would be as Philip followed
the leading of the Spirit that his encounter with a particular spiritual seeker
would take place. This does clearly beg the question about how we respond to
the promptings of God’s Spirit to us?!? Are we even open or attentive enough to
God to hear such leading?!? Do we worry too much about whether certain Spirit
promptings are convenient?!?
Being
identified as an “Ethiopian” designates that he was a dark-skinned African,
perhaps, given the geography here, from the region of modern-day Sudan. Being
described as a “eunuch”, doesn’t just raise the possibility of him having been
physically castrated, but also the cultural possibility that he was
metaphorically deemed castrated, as he was in a position of servitude to a
female ruler. Given that he had been worshipping in Jerusalem, and that he was
busy reading the book of Isaiah, he was either a convert to the religion of the
Jews, or one who was very much interested in their monotheistic beliefs (and
proscribed ethical standards), but may not have been accepted in their religion
because of his physical deformity.
It may have
been that due to being an emasculated and uncircumcised foreigner, this
“Ethiopian eunuch” did not feel that he could be accepted into the Jewish
faith, and thus experienced a sense of unsuitability. It could have been that
he was looking for a place where he fitted – somewhere to belong. How many
people would find themselves in just this position today! Many people feel that
they are too unsuitable to what at times may look like a very respectable
church community. Of course this would be more about pretence (and appearance
management) in the church than actual reality.
In any case, this “Ethiopian
eunuch” was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah and wrestling
with its meaning. This is when Philip, having been led to this spot by God’s
Spirit, was available just in the right place and just at the right time.
Philip now knew why he had been led in this direction, and so he ran over to
the chariot. Philip didn’t let anything get in the way, like the person’s
different racial background, or the fact that he was an important government
official (from another country). So Philip then heard the “Ethiopian” reading
Isaiah out aloud to himself, so he asks him a question.
Now we have to be careful
in similar circumstances what question we ask – the question, if we are to ask
one, needs to based around where the other person is at, rather than where we
are at. In Philip’s case, he would have had in mind that it would have been
difficult for someone without a Jewish background to understand Hebrew prophets
like Isaiah ... hence his (chosen/Spirit-led) question (in verse 30), “Do you
understand what you are reading” is quite reasonable. Philip may also been
observant enough to see a confused sort of look on this man’s face, leading to
this question. The words of this question were no doubt delivered with genuine
interest and care. There is a difference of course in responding to God’s
leading out of a sense of obligation as against responding with real compassion
for the lost.
This particular question very
happily opens up, not just a dialogue, but a whole relationship ... as the
“eunuch” replies, “How can I, unless someone guides me”. Philip, no doubt
understanding that he is here with Divine purpose, takes the time to sit down
and explain this scripture and “the good news about Jesus” to his new friend.
We might ask, ‘why Philip’? Philip may have asked this question himself.
Sometimes it will be the meeting of very particular personalities and persons
that will lay the groundwork for faith. This is why it is very important for
each of us to be open to God’s leading and responsive when it arrives. There
might be no one else with quite the same connectivity with a certain other
person. God’s Spirit is preparing in advance this other person for their
prospective meeting with us.
As Philip is invited to sit in the
Ethiopian eunuch’s chariot, he is welcomed into this man’s life. Conversation
continues, trust develops, then faith – culminating in Philip having the
privilege of baptising this new Jesus-follower. We should note that Philip was
able to effectively interpret Isaiah in how it pointed to Jesus. This is not
something that we would always find easy ... taking on board people’s diverse
questions and coming up with suitable, even life-changing, answers.
This is the reason that we have to
prepare well in advance for how the Spirit might lead us, and who the Spirit
might lead us to. When it comes to the crunch, we don’t want to feel inadequate
or ill-equipped. We need to become good interpreters of how the Bible interacts
with everyday life, and through this be able to draw people closer to a
relationship with Jesus. Sometimes this will draw us into another person’s deep
sense of brokenness, where such sacred trusts will have to be honoured.
Norman Grubb prayed: “Good morning
God, I love you; what are you up to today? I want to be a part of it!” We can
actually pray quite intentionally for opportunities to share our faith with
others ... both specific people we would like to connect with, and generally
for those God may wish us to connect with. We can pray for God to use us as God
used Philip. We can pray for God to place us or guide us or prompt us to be in
the right place at the right time. And we can pray that God will prepare the
other person for this interaction as well.
Sometimes there are people we know
who have serious reservations about the Christian faith ... roadblocks of
emotional hurt or philosophical objections or experiences of hypocrisy. We can
pray in these circumstances for some new way of communicating that unravels
some of the good news for them – perhaps we need to listen better, or be more
vulnerable in sharing our own story. As everyone we meet is inherently
different, our approach will need to be adaptable.
We can be
encouraged by those times when we have travelled out of our comfort zones into
someone else’s chariot, and found that God’s Spirit has given us the words and
the resources of time and compassion that we have needed. Just like at
Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is the intermediary that allows different people to
understand what each other is feeling and saying. God can be the interactive
third party within all our faith-sharing conversations.
No comments:
Post a Comment