Don Friesen
My grandfather was born on this day--May 18--and were he still alive he would be 152 today! As it was, he only lived to the age of 82, dying long before I was born. My grandmother, on the other hand, died just days short of her 93rd birthday. I remember her funeral. My relatives, being of independent spirit, had formed a church of their own, and it was in this humble church that we paid our last respects to her over thirty years ago. My brother, also of independent spirit, even got into an argument with a relative at the funeral lunch!
I guess my relatives' independence of spirit dwindled, because eventually the church closed and was purchased by a restauranteur. Actually, it was more of a greasy-spoon coffee-shop, and the owner didn't spend much on renovations. It still looked like a church, only the pews had been replaced by cheap tables, and the pulpit by a questionable salad bar. It was a little unsettling the first time I visited the restaurant, for there was a farmer slurping his coffee right about where my grandmother's casket had sat the last time I was in that building. I was never quite at ease with the change.
This week I had reason to rethink the matter after reading about Fred Craddock's experience. Fred Craddock is a well known and much-loved preacher in the Deep South, but he considered his first congregational charge a failure! He was the pastor of a small church in Tennessee in a town that was booming because of atomic energy development. Folks were coming from everywhere, living in tents and trailers and all kinds of lean-to's, making do with temporary and crowded quarters, ad hoc wash lines, little kids crying and running amok, and all the other inconveniences of a makeshift settlement. And Fred called the church board together and said, "We need to reach out to those folk; they've just come in from everywhere, they're living next to us, and so here's our mission!"
And the chairman of the board said, "No, I don't think so."
And Fred said, "Why?"
And he said, "They won't fit in. After all, they're just here temporarily, living in those trailers and all."
"Well, they're here temporarily, but they need the Gospel. They need a church now."
"Naw, I don't think so."
The discussion ended with a resolution offered by one of the relatives of the chairman of the board, and the resolution was this: "Members will be admitted to this church from families that own property in the county." Says Fred, "It was unanimous, except for my vote, and I was reminded that I couldn't vote."
Years later, Fred and his wife were on vacation and went by that little church, only it was no longer a church. It was a barbecue restaurant! They went in and looked around, and the pews were pushed back against the wall, and there was music playing, and people--a rough-looking crowd--eating and laughing, and Fred said, "It's a good thing this isn't a church anymore, because if it were still a church, these people couldn't be here." (David Guard, "Grits and Grace") Point taken! Perhaps the restaurant-formerly-known-as-my-grandmother's-church extends more hospitality now than it did in its former life!
What Could Prevent this Baptism?
The New Testament Church wrestled with the issue of hospitality, trying to determine who fit in and who didn't, and the Book of Acts is the story, or rather a series of stories, setting the tone for centuries of churches to follow. Today's story is one of those, the story of a drive-by baptism. Walking along a desert road, Philip, a Christian disciple, encountered an Ethiopian court official who happened to be reading the prophet Isaiah, which led to a conversation about its meaning, which led to the story of Jesus, which led to a request for baptism, whereupon Philip baptized the fellow, who, Luke tells us, "went on his way rejoicing." (Acts 8:39)
Nice story! I particularly like the question posed to Philip, "What is to prevent me from being baptized?" It sounds like a rhetorical question, but it's a disingenuous question, really, for I can think of at least five things that might have prevented this man from being baptized, and that doesn't include the fact that this man didn't own any property along that stretch of desert road!
1. They were in the desert!
Firstly, they were in the desert, according to verse 26 (NIV), an unusual place for a baptism by water! This may seem a trite reason block the man's baptism, but people have been refused Christian fellowship for lesser reasons, and I think that Luke is using a literary device early in the story to signal the improbability of this baptism. It shouldn't have happened! Where does one find water in a desert? Ergo, this is something happening in the wake of Christ's resurrection that even topography cannot prevent!
"As they were going along the road," writes Luke, "they came to some water; and the (Ethiopian court official) said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" (Acts 8:36) As if all other restrictions had been put aside and the little detail of water--logistics--was the only thing standing between him and baptism!
2. He was a foreigner!
A second reason that could easily have prevented this man's baptism is that he was a foreigner. He was a Gentile, a man excluded by the rules of membership in Israel and in the early days of the Church. Gentiles were only allowed in the outermost courts of the Temple. I won't bother to outline all the reasons foreigners were unwelcome, but ethnic ties were extremely important in Judaism and did indeed prevent many from coming to faith. Witness the Apostle Paul's own ethnic pedigree, which he outlines in Philippians (3:4-6) but which is worth zilch, he says, next to "the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (3:8)
It's not accidental that the Ethiopian eunuch came to faith out in the wilderness. It would have seemed more appropriate, given the eventual policy of the Early Church, to have the first Gentile convert be led to faith by one of the leading apostles in the capital city, but some of the leading apostles, like Peter, still had some issues to work through in this regard. (Acts 10)
3. He was a eunuch!
A third thing that stood between this man and baptism was the fact that he was a eunuch. I don't know if there's a delicate way of describing a eunuch, except to say that it's a castrated male person. It was not uncommon in the courts of the ancient Near East to castrate male slaves. A student of Socrates (Xenophon, approx. 444-357 B.C.) reports that it was the belief of the Persian king, Cyrus, that emasculation yielded more docile and easily managed slaves who, undistracted by family obligations, tended to be loyal and especially reliable in the harem. (David Jeffrey, The Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature)
The Hebrew term by which a eunuch is designated is frequently rendered as "civil servant" or "bureaucrat". And I guess there were enough eunuchs in the civil service of many countries that it came to be a term used for a civil servant, whether or not he was castrated. Luke mentions the man's senior position in the Ethiopian civil service, so the several references to him as a eunuch would be redundant if not referring to his physical condition, a condition which had religious implications. The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy stipulates, in a rather specific and crude manner, that a eunuch shall not "be admitted to the assembly of the Lord." (Deuteronomy 23:1) Gentiles were only allowed in the outermost courts of the Temple, but eunuchs were not allowed in the Temple at all!
Now, eunuchs were not unknown in Israel. There are several references to eunuchs in the Old Testament book of Esther, and the prophet Jeremiah was rescued by a eunuch when his enemies left him in a cistern to die (Jeremiah 38:7-13), but among the Hebrews being a eunuch was not a coveted position; for example, eunuchs could not serve in the priesthood. (Leviticus 21:20; Deuteronomy 23:1)
Luke tells us that this man had come to Jerusalem to worship. (Acts 8:27) What happened in Jerusalem? Had he tried to enter the Temple, only to be turned away? Had he hung around the Temple, trying to fit in, trying to belong, only to be rejected? We don't know for sure, but that's the most likely scenario. We don't know what prompted the man to go to Jerusalem, but perhaps he wouldn't have made the trip had he known more about his status there, or lack of it.
Consider as well that in a society in which your worth as a person depended upon your ability to produce descendants, this man was worthless! In a culture in which the concept of family was central to one's identity, the eunuch was truly one of the forsaken.
As far as I know the Mennonite Church has never prevented anyone without property to join in fellowship, but as several studies have shown, the Mennonite Church in North America would dwindle to nothing if it were not for biological growth. Had there been a Mennonite Church in first-century Israel, I doubt any Mennonite missionary would have approached the eunuch with much enthusiasm.
4. He was an upscale eunuch
A fourth barrier to this man's baptism wasn't just that he was a eunuch and a foreigner, but that he was an upscale eunuch and foreigner. Luke describes the man as a "court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. (Acts 8:27) Luke reports that he was reading the book of Isaiah, perhaps out of a scroll he had purchased in Jerusalem--an expensive purchase!
The Bible portrays the ancient Ethiopians as wealthy. (Job 28:19; Isaiah 45:14) Moses' wife was an Ethiopian, which irked his siblings, Miriam and Aaron. (Numbers 12:1-16) They appear jealous of her, and the reason may well be that she was perceived as a member of the upper class, which may not have bothered Moses, who grew up in a palace, but it sure stuck in Miriam and Aaron's craw.
Added to Ethiopian wealth was their power. (Genesis 10:8-9; Jeremiah 46:9) During the time of the Old Testament prophet Zephaniah, who was himself half-Ethiopian, one of the superpowers in the Middle East was the nation of Egypt, which during this time was ruled by Ethiopians. (Dan Schrock, "The Ethiopians," July 15, 2001, Columbia Mennonite Church) Consider that when Jeremiah was stuck in a muddy cistern to cool off his political views, it took but a few words (Jeremiah 38:9) from Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch who had the ear of the king, to get Jeremiah out of the cistern.
An interesting aspect of today's story is Philip's chutzpah in approaching the Ethiopian official, for Philip, like most early disciples, was probably middle to lower-middle-class, more comfortable with fisher-folk than with people who travel about in chauffer-driven chariots! In contrast to Philip, the eunuch was a man of wealth and position. He may not have counted for much in the Temple, but in daily life he moved in circles quite alien to Jesus' first disciples. It leads me to conclude that there was something so compelling about the gospel that even class lines could not prevent its spread!
5. Property and Propriety
A fifth and final barrier to this man's baptism was real estate, and it wasn't because the man didn't own property! The story of the Ethiopian eunuch's baptism follows fast on the heels of the stoning of Stephen (Acts 6:8--8:1) and is an interesting commentary on one of the charges levelled against Stephen. He was charged with speaking against the law of Moses and against the "Holy Place." (6:13) "This man's speeches are one long attack against this holy place," said Stephen's accusers. (Phillips)
As they say in real estate: "Location, location, location!" The "holy city" and the Temple were very important to Jews and to the first Christians. The Ethiopian eunuch was neither from this place nor was he baptized in this holy place. Instead, he was brought to faith in an isolated desert place! A similar disregard for the sanctity of place is seen in the Gospel of John, chapter 4, when Jesus told the woman at the mountain well, "the hour is coming when you will worship (God) neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ...the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship (God) in spirit and truth.... God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:21, 23-24) Something new was afoot, and the propriety of a holy act was no longer tied to a particular property.
What Is Luke Trying to Tell us?
The Ethiopian eunuch asked, "What is to prevent me from being baptized?" (Acts 8:36) What indeed! The prospects were rather dim for this particular prospective believer. Baptism by water in an arid desert! A foreigner! A eunuch, unfit for the priesthood or the Temple! A disciple ill-equipped to relate to this man's social circle! And a baptism in the wrong place at the wrong time! What was Luke trying to tell us?
Well, one clue can be found at the beginning of the Book of Acts. Luke writes, in Acts, chapter 1, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (1:8) The King James Version reads, "...and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Another version reads, "...to the very ends of the earth!" (Phillips) In Luke's day, educated people regarded Ethiopia as the southern edge of the world. Homer, in The Odyssey, wrote about the "far-off Ethiopians ...the furthermost of men". (1:22-23) Other Greek writers (Herodotus; Strabo) agreed. People of that day had no knowledge of what we today call Kenya, or anything else south of Ethiopia. (Dan Schrock, "The Ethiopians") For them Ethiopia was on the edge of the world, at the end of the world! Ancient Ethiopia was located in what is now northern Sudan on the Nile River north of Khartoum. The ancients thought Ethiopia to be on the furthermost edge of the earth, and modern translators and compilers of the Bible haven't helped us much, for Ethiopia is rarely included in the maps at the back of our Bibles. Invariably the maps in our Bibles, Bible atlases, Sunday school curricula and the like, end at the southern edge of Egypt! This, despite the many Scriptural references to Ethiopia.
The story of the Ethiopian eunuch's baptism serves Luke's theological purpose, however, for he set out to show how the good news about Jesus became a universal gospel, starting in Jerusalem and spreading, rather rapidly, to many other parts of the world, including the southernmost part of the uttermost part of the known world!
What was Luke trying to tell us? Why did he include the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in his book? I think a second clue is found at the beginning of the first of his two-book series. In Luke, chapter 1, we read, "Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses, ...I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus...." (Luke 1:1-3) Luke was writing to a man with a title, no doubt a senior official in the Roman government. Theophilus would recognize in the Ethiopian court official, Chancellor of the Ethiopian Exchequer, a man much like himself!
Theophilus was also a Gentile and it is clear that Luke wrote his Gospel with an eye for Gentile readers. For example, Luke provides dates with reference to the reigning Roman emperor and the current Roman governor. Luke doesn't spend a lot of time showing the life of Jesus as the fulfilment of Jewish prophecy. Luke seldom quotes the Old Testament. When using Hebrew words Luke tends to provide the Greek equivalent. And there are various other signals that Luke provides to establish that faith in Jesus is not the prerogative of a backwater Jewish sect! Luke is trying to liberate the gospel from its geographical and ethnic constraints.
It's not unlike challenges Mennonite churches have faced throughout our history. In the early years of our history many Mennonites in the Netherlands joined the Reformed Church (Cornelius .J. Dyck, An Introduction to Mennonite History, page 154), perhaps in part because it was easier than having to explain yourself. We still face the same challenge; I have answered numerous phone enquires:
The baptism of the Ethiopian is only the first of a trilogy of conversion stories that occur in three successive chapters of the Book of Acts. The foundation of Christianity as a world religion is laid by Philip's ministry to Samaria (Acts 8:4-25), to be followed, first, by the story of the Ethiopian in chapter 8 (8:26-40); second, by the conversion of Saul in chapter 9 (9:1-31); and finally, by the baptism of Cornelius's household by Peter in chapter 10. (10:1-48) The Book of Acts tells the incredible story of the phenomenal expansion of a splinter sect of Messianic Judaism to a faith for the nations far beyond its Israelite roots. A faith for the world! Perhaps the Ethiopian had read ahead in Isaiah, where God says, "...my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (Isaiah 56:7), "...a house of prayer for all nations." (NIV)
The message is simple: anyone, regardless of social status, gender, race, ethnic origin, or family of origin can choose to respond to and accept the Good News of the Risen Christ. The message is simple; the implications for the Church are far-reaching, for the Ethiopian eunuch stands in for all the people who stand outside the walls of "fortress" churches that keep fringe people on the fringes. One shouldn't have to feel less at home in a church than in a restaurant!
It's important that the gospel not be encumbered by misconceptions. One can send out the wrong signals. This week the evangelical magazine, ChristianWeek, told the story of a faith healer from Oklahoma scheduled to hold a healing rally in Toronto who cancelled the event because of SARS! ("But seriously, folks," ChristianWeek, May 13, 2003) Cancelling a healing event because of disease sends the wrong signals! It's like the story I told last week, in which Mahatma Gandhi was encouraged to go worship with "his own people," not just an inhospitable signal but a racist one!
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.