| July 26, 2009
You are welcome to reflect on this message
Luke tells a compelling story in the Book of Acts, about a man who’s hearts desire it to be an insider. He’s a second class citizen with three strikes against him: Strike #1 – he’s a foreigner. Strike #2 – he’s not white. Strike #3 – he’s a eunuch. In this world, “Three strikes and you’re out!” The story of Philip and the Ethiopian is sandwiched between powerful events that overshadow it, like 3000 conversions on the heels of Pentecost and miraculous occurrences in the early church. It serves as an interlude to the famous conversion of Saul of Tarsus.
The major character of the story has no name, simply called by Luke “an Ethiopian.” And the star of the story doesn't hold the elevated rank of apostle or even a deacon. Philip was an uncredentialed layman. t’s a story without a conclusion and ends abruptly with no further details about what happened to either Philip or the one who, by the grace of God finally found access to something he wanted to belong to. It’s an up-to-date story about profiling, for minorities; illegal immigrants and all social, political, or religious outcasts of our world. I tell it in hopes that we might be more compassionate toward the downtrodden for reasons not their own.
Tradition calls him “Juda,” the proper name for a Jewish black man. This guy grew up knowing his place; experiencing discrimination because of his genetic code. Consequently, while others were allowed to enter the temple in Jerusalem to worship, he was forbidden to go no further than the outer court -- the place reserved for folks like him. Nevertheless, this eunuch kept on coming back to Jerusalem hoping to worship with all of God’s people, even though he suffered stigma of having been neutered. We can only imagine the injustice inflicted on the poor guy’s masculinity because he’d been physically mutilated and publicly noted. But the Mosaic law specifically barred him membership in the house of Israel (Leviticus21:20). Deuteronomy 23:1 is also pretty nasty stuff. The only reason I mention it is in case somebody can’t Google “eunuch.” “He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member is cut off shall not enter the assembly of God.” I don't know how you enforce that today, maybe some of them can still slip in! It's not a high priority here at the Meeting House since we don’t do sex checks on visitors!
But it's understandable how one who was thus disfigured, was open to considering a fresh word from God. It shouldn't surprise us that he’s found reading from the Bible, continuing to hold out hope against hope. So after yet another experience of almost-being-able-to-get-in-to-worship, Juda was on his way back to Africa through the Gaza desert. Philip pulled up in his chariot and noticed him reading from Isaiah, chapter 53, obviously attracted to the content. But he wanted to be sure he understood it, so he invited Philip to explain the meaning. Philip graciously obliged and interpreted to Juda God’s good news for outsiders. Then Philip pointed out how even God’s Son Jesus was an outsider, being as how “There was no room for him in the inn.” He was born “outside the inn,” coming through a back door stable. Jesus grew up and got himself tatooed on a Roman cross. O yeah, God can identify with people who’ve been mangled. Even eunuchs! It was the first time he’d ever heard anything like that!
No doubt the life of a eunuch may be something we have a hard time identifying with. But the symptoms are still around. And God’s attitude toward outsiders is too. Heaven’s greatest disapproval is reserved for those on the inside who isolate others on the outside. When Jesus selected heroic characteristics in people, he chose from those on the outside, like a Roman Centurion, who “had faith greater than that in all Israel.” Or a Samaritan half-breed, while “the priest and Levite walked by on the other side.” Or a tax collector who admitted his needed of mercy, while a self-righteous Pharisee needed none. There’s a sizable number of scriptural examples, where Jesus reaches out to outcasts, as he frequently devastated the smug arrogance of exclusional religion. After hearing about Jesus, what else could Juda do but stomp on the chariot brakes? He wanted to be a part of that so badly. And be baptized and embrace this stranger who talked of a God who accepted society's rejects? “What’s to prevent me from being baptized?” “Nothing at all” said Philip. That's the story.
The first thing that strikes me about it is, why would somebody travel more than 200 miles just to worship God? Here’s a guy crossing international borders as if being driven to do so. That’s a whole lot of trouble, to come such a great distance to an inhospitable place, where he’s expected to stay in his place. Why would anybody go through all that just to worship? It sure puts folks around here to shame; who won’t even get out of bed after a tough night at Waterfire to walk across the street to worship. I guess if you want something bad enough, you’ll do whatever it takes. But it speaks volumes about our powerful instinct to be included. He's read the Bible. And he knows it says, “The eunuch shall not be allowed in the assembly of the people of God.” He knows that.
It takes only once to be religiously profiled and it’s always there. The eunuch can't get in! Period. But he stubbornly persists, with so many cards stacked against him. Why would a person devote himself to miles of travel, to keep knocking on a door where he isn't wanted, and is seen as an impairment those present who are whole? Why place yourself in a position before people who’ve said it a hundred ways, “We reserve the right to refuse service...” Peering through the lattice, wondering what’s going on. His only recourse is to ask the insiders as they come out, “What was it like in there today? What scriptures did they read? Was the choir good? Could they understand the preacher?” Second hand stuff! Why would a man, travel to another country, with a Bible in his lap that said, “There is no place for you here!” All I can think of is there must be something in his heart that knows, that if there’s a God, then there must be a place for him. That is the strong human desire to be included.
All of life is about this. Being born is to belong to a family; going to school – kids never stop looking for an entrance; getting married, couples want to be attached to somebody; getting a job, is about being accepted as much as a paycheck. Everybody’s looking for some entrance to something, searching for a place to fit-in. Which makes our question so poignant: “Is there anything to hinder me from getting baptized?” Yeah there’s always something. In a Balkanized world that majors on who gets in and who stays out, I’m proud of this church’s reputation to take folks in. We reserve the right to accept everybody.
So it’s a good thing Juda kept at it. Even though the Bible’s against him, “Stay away from God’s people!” Leviticus and Deuteronomy has little to offer to people like Juda. In his case the Bible is a detriment. But it’s also his salvation, because this time he hit the jackpot! This time, he ran into Philip, which was no accidental meeting by the way. And Philip shows him that even the Bible argues with itself! Anybody who’s read it knows that and is not offended by it. Yeah there’s this ghastly word of exclusion, “Like a sheep being led to the slaughter, as a lamb before his shearers is dumb, who will declare the family tree of the eunuch?” That’s in the prophet Isaiah, the most “Christian” book of the Old Testament. “Who is this talking about, Philip? He's been emascualted; he has no family tree. He sounds just like me!” And liberation happens, not in the temple, but out in the desert. “Let not the foreigner who’s joined himself to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people,’ and let not the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’” For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep the Sabbath, who hold fast to my covenant, I will welcome to my house and within my walls a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which shall not be cut off” (Is. 56:3-5). That’s in the Bible too.
“Philip, who is this?” And Philip integrated the Ethiopian's chariot in a day when overt racial profiling was the name of the game “and preached to him Jesus!” Jesus? So that's who it is! Does he have a big family? O yeah, sons and daughters all across the globe. They stopped the chariot and Juda said, “I really wanta hear more about this guy Jesus. I know it’ll put a lot of pressure on you with the boys over at the temple. But is there any reason why I can't get baptized?” Why would anybody wanta do that. I don’t know but they still do.
Judson Armstrong is a friend and colleague from my radical Birmingham days. Judson was always starting funky churches with biblical names like “Fellowship of the Carpenter,” or “Matthew’s Party.” He had a lifelong quarrel with the institutional church. He started an outdoor Bible study in the posh Southside section of Birmingham. They met on a wall under some trees right next to an upscale outdoor restaurant. It didn’t take long before the clients complained to the owner to have them removed. They made them feel uncomfortable slicing their tenderloins. Sure enough the police showed up and gave Judson and his crew of street people an ultimatum. Either vacate the premises or get tossed in jail. Judson said, “I ain’t leaving.” And he got socially profiled! Profiling is nothing new, according to Luke in the Book of Acts. Yeah, there’s always those around who scorn inclusion; who fear it, and see it as their duty to remind you that you “ain’t from around here,” that your skin is dark, that you’re deformed, that you are different, so you can't belong. That's the ugly side of religion. We set up strict rules intended to keep people out. And may God hasten the day when we're rid of any semblance of it!
When I first started out in the church, I used to pray that I’d be a good minister. I’ve tried hard to be myself and still be good at what I do. That ain’t easy being me! Or any preacher, you know. But that was my heart's desire when I got ordained in my hometown church. Once we made the decision we wouldn’t let anything stand in our way. So my wife and I resigned from good paying jobs to sell our new home and moved back to the poverty of being a college student. We both worked hard to keep our heads above water, preparing myself in college and seminary to be a competent minister.
But after I've been at it over 40 years, I don’t want to just be a good minister. I’d rather be a Christian minister. For I learned right early in this line of work that you could be a good, successful minister, and still keep eunuchs in their place! But you can't be a Christian minister and do that. Ever since I came up out of the waters of baptism and heard the Lord God say, “There’s nothing to prevent you from being baptized!” How I love to preach that message! Church is for everybody or it’s for nobody. This Meeting House doesn’t belong to us. We are just stewards of it for awhile. The family of God must remain open to all takers. The only exclusion is self exclusion. That is always an option. And we must make sure there’s no religious profiling at our place. Because God is that kind of God, I trust we’ll always be that kind of place. For then we'll not only be living in the fine tradition of Philip, but we'll also be living up to our name as “Christians!” “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
Providence Prayers: (7/26/09)
We pray for those struggling with problems of their own making, and keep remaking. For others carrying around brokenness too deep for telling. And especially the ones who’re excluded by our systems, whose unacceptability upbraids our respectability. Give us more like the Ethiopian, who keep on searching until they find entrance. Drive us by a gnawing hunger for the real, that always lies outside the inn, where we’re most likely to find Jesus and our souls made tall again, bathed in Thy inclusive love.
And for this church that would never exclude a single soul for any reason, save their own willfulness. We remember those around us who rarely pray or seldom open a Bible. Forgive us for being in love with a past that can never be again; or for trying to create a future yet to come. May this hour of worship allow us to gain a better self-understanding, lest we think of ourselves more highly, or lowly, than we ought. Grant us a sense of what is vital in life, so that we don’t squander the time allotted to us, to leave this earth better than we found it. Remind us of our unity with all people and keep us from tribal patterns of thinking and acting, so that we forget that thou art Lord of all the earth. All of which we pray in faith and thanksgiving, through Jesus Christ our Lord...
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