Monthly Archives: May 2021

Named 05.23.21

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Singer Johnny Cash made famous, the words of Shel Silverstein,

“Well, my daddy left home when I was three and he didn’t leave very much to my ma and me except this ole guitar and an empty bottle of booze. Now I don’t blame him ’cause he run and hid but the meanest thing that my daddy ever did was before he left he went and named me Sue.”

Names are an interesting beast, they can be inspirational or they can be a burden. We can let a name doom us or use it can be the power that successfully propels us onto our path.

Marion Robert Morrison, is, among other things, famous for quotes such as, “Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway. All battles are fought by scared men who’d rather be some place else.” Nicknamed ‘Duke’ as a child by a local fireman who never saw the boy without his dog ‘Duke’. Marion was grateful that the name stuck  His first credited movie role, listed him as ‘Duke Morrison’ and then the studio  changed the name to ‘John Wayne.’  While this new name was a good fit, the name ‘The Duke’ nickname stuck with Wayne throughout his life.

Frank and Gail Zappa named their four offspring Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva. Gwyneth Paltrow and musician Chris Marten named their child Apple.  Names such as Rocket, Busy, Cricket, Racer, Gravity, and Rumor, leave most of us scratching our heads. As personalities form, names can be redefined by the named.  Nick names are frequently assigned when the name never adequately fits a persona.And, often, names are given out of hatefulness. 

When my dad got his first job he had to go to the local Social Security office.  When he told the clerk his name was Bobby Gene Anthony, she sternly corrected him saying, ‘You mean Robert!’.  To which he said, ‘Okay’.

Groups of people are given names as well, these unofficial names are usually formed from some identifying mark of this group – and, these names are often offensive and hateful. Sometimes, these unflattering or mocking names, meant to be and insult, become a badge of honor to the recipients This was the story in the city of Antioch where the believers were given the condescending name ‘Christian.’

A little history – The Greek Emperor on the throne 300 years before Jesus was named Seleucus I.  Selecus built 15 cities and named them all after his dad – ‘Antioch.’ The city of Antioch in Acts 11 was designated the ‘Syrian Antioch,’ and it was located about 300 miles north of Jerusalem.  It was here, in this Antioch, that the name Antioch, became synonymous with successful business ventures but carrying a strong taint of immorality.  

A couple of weeks ago we looked at the Holy Spirit descending upon a gentile leader named Cornelius, as well as his gentile community. This was a man, and community, who had been diligently seeking God. There was an intense desire in their pursuit of God. However, when the Spirit came to the gentiles in Antioch it was descending on a truly Pagan, immoral, and evil city.

This group of new believers in Antioch began to grow and the pagan community began to notice. There is a familiar thread between the community of believers in in the Holy city of Jerusalem and this new community of faith in Antioch, a city in which even the actual religious practices to worship the false gods was immersed in the identical immorality found elsewhere in the city. In both places believers were not considered ‘acceptable’ so thy kept a low profile, working not to bring attention to themselves individually or as a group.  Secondly, in both faith communities there was an underlying love for each other that consistently presented in acts of personal sacrifice and through their attention to the needs present within their faith community. There was also, in both churches, a fervent personal drive to know, understand, and apply truth to their lives, their opinions, and their beliefs.

The differences between the two groups is significant as well.  The believers in Jerusalem had a religious foundation that was instrumental in bringing them to an acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. They had absorbed the historical teachings about God from the books of Moses, and, they had the historical and prophetic words from the prophets about the coming Jesus.  Basically, they possessed the understanding of the road map that brought them from Creation to Promise to Deliverance to Hope to Redemption to Life. The gentiles, however, had been brought up with the ever changing and constantly evolving worship of false gods, rulers who saw themselves as divine, and religious practices which ranged from fleshly lasciviousness to fearful sacrifices to egotistical mandates to brutal practices. While their religious foundations were very different, both groups had to sort through past traditions, ungodly beliefs, and ingrained institutional manipulation and political agendas in order to find truth.

There was one major difference however that must be said.  The gentiles knew the names of all their gods and would learn the names of the new gods as soon as needed.  The Jewish believers had no real name for God, there were many references to God usually based on attributes, there were names that were not fully spoken out of reverence, but, when God was asked, ‘What is your name?’ God could only say ‘I Am.’ He was, he is, he has always been, he will forever be – GOD.

Up to this moment in Antioch there had been the Jews and there had been the Gentiles. Now there was the third group, a people who had no name.  The religious institution gave them the name ‘annoying and dangerous’, the gentiles saw them as a conundrum. Those that joined the group called them family, the gentile leaders called them suspicious.

Eventually, in Antioch, this pagan city known best for its immorality, the followers of Jesus were given the name Christian.  It was a name meant to be derogatory and shameful but to these newly named Christians it was perfect.

In latin, the ‘ian’ ending means ‘the party of…’, adding ‘Ian’ to ‘Christ’ you end up at the word meaning ‘the party of Christ.’  This was meant to be a name intended to be condescending and hateful, but to believers it was the opposite.  To have this city – Antioch, recognize this group in reference to Jesus, their Savior, was not only not taken as a slight or insult, but ironically it was seen by the followers as a badge of honor. This title of ‘Jesus People’ was not only accepted by the newly names Christians, it became a self identifier, ‘we are Christians – the party of Christ, Jesus people.’ It was the defining moment, in the defining place, where this people first became a ‘people.’

This people, these followers of the God who had no name because no name could define or fit, this people, now had a perfectly fitting name – ‘Christian.’

A name that…

· Fit the words of the prophets.

· Set the bar for their goals and aspirations.

· Rested on the perfection of their deliverer even in their imperfect state.

· Laid out the nature and character of God.

· Constantly placed mercy, compassion, peace, and hope within their reach.

· Voiced the expectations of a world toward a people immersed in grace.

· It affirmed the work of the Spirit in their lives.

So, what became of this group of people named Christians in a city most in need of the man named Christ? They sought out the former persecutor of Christians and trusted God’s transformation change to work in him.  These believers, in this pagan city, heard of a coming famine for the Holy City Jerusalem, and began strategizing how they could help. In the midst of ridicule and dismissal they pursued peace, love, mercy, grace, and hope. This people who were incorrectly defined by this name ‘Antioch’ were correctly labeled – ‘Christian.’ A name that set the bar for their lives in their world, the way they interacted with all, the way they walked the way that responded, the way they cared.  A name that defined their mercy, compassion, their hope, their peace, their Savior.

The famous early church historian Eusebius, described a believer named Sanctus from Lyons, France, who was tortured for Jesus. As they tortured him cruelly, they hoped to get him to say something evil or blasphemous. They asked his name, and he only replied, “I am a Christian.” “What nation do you belong to?” He answered, “I am a Christian.” “What city do you live in?” “I am a Christian.” His questioners began to get angry: “Are you a slave or a free man?” “I am a Christian” was his only reply. No matter what they asked about him, he only answered, “I am a Christian.” This made his torturers all the more determined to break him, but they could not, and he died with the words “I am a Christian” on his lips.

Eusebius

Those that were the first to receive the label ‘Christian’ probably embraced the name with a certain honor, humility, fear, and concern.  To be labeled is to be identified which was still dangerous.  To officially be recognized also usually led to the creation of an institution, the adoption of symbols and icons, and ultimately the corruption of the leaders and people. They were not wrong.  Within less than half a century the name of Christianity was used to attack enemies, to manipulate and control minds, and even to force interpretations of God’s word on believers. 

But, for that moment in Antioch, this unnamed and unbranded group, was named by those who had watched the ways the members of this group lived.  Their single minded focus on the crucified man named Jesus could not be ignored.  Their peace in the midst of fear, their unity in the midst of chaos, their mercy in the midst of subjugation, their compassion in the midst of attack, their love in the midst of hatred all revealed their God, the God of grace, the God of love, the God who does not have a name because no name can define or fully describe.

We however have a name, a name given not chosen, a name that carries a huge weight, a weight that Jesus says, in the end, is light and not heavy.

How are you living out your name ‘Christian’?

Silenced

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 ‘We change the world not by what we say or do, but as a consequence of what we have become.’

Dr. David Hawkins

Acts is the story of the apostles, and followers of Jesus, attempting to catch up with the work of the Spirit.  It is a whirlwind of new experiences,  mysterious instructions from God, forbidden places, unexpected interactions, and the constant question of boundaries.  Acts is a story of Becoming, the apostles becoming the credible first hand witnesses of the life/death/life message of Christ, the Church becoming the avenue of God, the Spirit becoming the power of God, and consistently throughout, God remains the same while  revealing his multi-dimensional nature, a nature that is manifest Love. Their story is a journey, not so much about a group of humans weathered and ready to save the world from itself, it is the real life documentation of humans ‘Becoming’ in order to be the hands and feet of God.

A journey that no one in their right mind would have signed up for.  An experience that would have been overwhelming if they had known the itinerary before accepting. An endeavor that required moment to moment focus with open eyes and ears as well as willing hearts and minds. A journey which required  those involved to plant their feet firmly and commit to this life for the rest of their lives. It was a journey that never ceased to challenge how they perceived the world, how they recognized God, how they interpreted truth – a call to constantly reexamine their most deeply held convictions, opinions, beliefs, and even faith. 

It is a journey that is worthy of time, for their journey of Becoming is our journey of Becoming.

In recent weeks we have seen the apostles engaging with people from the remotest ends of the earth.  People known only by their labels. Labels that identified skin color, country of origin, gender identification, practices, sin, and religion. Humans from these remote locations filled with untouchable people collided with the ingrained hatred and fear embedded in the minds and hearts of the followers of Christ.

Our Acts passage today is one such collision moment, a moment that changed everything.

Three statements from this passage are essential to our understanding.

“Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” 

Acts 11:3

‘When they heard this, they were silenced.’

Acts 11:18a 

“God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

Acts 11:18b

It all began with…

“Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”

Acts 11:3

After the experience with Cornelius and the other gentiles Peter and his companions traveled back to Jerusalem where they were confronted by the Jewish, the circumcised, believers.  Their first question was not a faith issue, they actually did not seem to have an issue with the gentiles believing in Jesus and receiving the Spirit.  Their first and most powerful concern and outrage was that Peter had gone into the home of a gentle and eaten a meal with him and other gentiles.

As we saw last week, it was against the law for Jews to step foot into the homes of gentiles, nor were they to share a meal.  This, for the Jewish believers, was a major offense, a horrific violation of their faith.  However, this was  not a faith issue, it was actually not even a religious issue, it was a manmade issue.  No where in God’s Law was there a restriction against such interaction between Jews and Gentiles. Somewhere along the line it had become a thing, and, without really thinking about it, it continued to be a thing even for these who walked with Jesus. This bigotry and prejudice had been instilled within them which they probably did not even recognize. It was actually the opposite of Jesus’ words. This fervent dismissal of an entire people group who were a majority of the world population, had been intertwined with their faith and now the two had become inseparable.  It was the first thing that came to their mind when they heard the news of the Holy Spirit and the Gentiles. The unnoticed contradiction with Jesus words, had not yet been confronted. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

John 3:16

When something that is not a true faith issue is permitted to become a key issue of our faith, there must be a moment of Holy confrontation – without the moment of seeing truth our Becoming is stunted and stuck. These hateful attitudes regarding others who are also ‘so loved by God’ can often be instilled from birth, falsely affirmed in our faith, and then perpetuated from our faith contemporaries usually remains as an unnoticed and unchallenged reality of our life witness. Sometimes a traumatic event can create these unholy feelings. Here  we see our first truth.

Faith is Seldom the True Core of our Offense.

This confusion of non-faith and non-faith, our failure to fully recognize those things that are cultural more than spiritual, is not a thing of the past, it is alive and strong even our time.  Painful divisions exist, they are even instilled in our faith communities, faith communities built on the truth of God’s boundless love.  If anything, we see them emboldened in our present reality.

In Matthew 7 we find a very uncomfortable story of a gentle woman and Jesus. The woman comes to Jesus begging that he heal her daughter. Jesus’ response is quite shocking. Ppreachers and commentators have spent a great deal of  effort in covering up the offensive response of Jesus….

“Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

Mark 7:27

It is a very uncomfortable story of Jesus referring to a gentile woman, and all gentile, as a small dog.  Of the many explanations given by commentators, preachers, and experts, it remains offensive. However, we see Christ respond to the woman’s confrontation not with a theological treats or condensation, instead he is silent, he listens, he considers, and he responds to  the request of the woman.

What if racism itself is a human reality and not a sin, however, it becomes sin when we are confronted with our bigotry but refuse to be silent and listen?

The Jewish believers had been indoctrinated in the belief that they were truly superior and that all others were inferior.  It was a wall of isolation between the Jews and anyone, and everyone, who was no Jewish. 

Our second statement is

‘When they heard this, they were silenced.’

Acts 11:18a

After the believers in Jerusalem heard the words of Peter they are silent. Now, let me assure you that for the room full of religious men, who have just been confronted with the own offense, silence is a momentous work of the  Spirit.  Nothing was said, no defense given, their mouths were shut.

Silence may the be the biggest challenge in Becoming.

It is very human for us to defend oneself.  When our human nature reacts with words, voices, excuses, and denials – God calls us to respond with silence.  A year ago the Spirit confronted us with our own prejudices as we watched the Black Lives Matter protests and riots going on around our country. We were given an opportunity to be silent, to consider, to attempt to understand the pain of these who were using their usually muted voices, we had a chance to accept their struggle and their pain.  Instead, we responded with statements like ‘If they just wouldn’t protest,’, ‘Well, I’m not racist, I don’t see color,’ and, ‘The racism they are claiming doesn’t really exist.’ State lawmakers have reacted with laws prohibiting such protests and even denying the pervasive reality of supremacy and racism.

We were given an opportunity to be silent.  As we watched these protests in American streets, as we saw the hoards of immigrants at our borders, as we heard the stories of harassment from women, the cries from the LGBTQ communities.  We have been given opportunity after opportunity to see our own deep seated, and often invisible even to us, prejudice and instead of being silent we usually come to our own defense.  God calls us to be silent, to recognize and consider that these are loved by God also, to accept, to ask the ‘why’ instead of verbalizing the ‘they shouldn’t.’ We may not ever understand, but we are never promised understanding here on earth.  I’m sure that many of those believers in Jerusalem were still scratching their heads in confusion at the time of their death – but still they were silent.

This brings us to our third dynamic.

‘Peter began to explain it to them, step by step’

Acts 11:4

Peter everything with the Jewish Jesus believers.  He detailed for them how God led him to recognize that their prejudice towards others was not God’s law, how God led him to go to Cornelius and how Cornelius affirmed this through his own experience before God, and then how the Spirit moved among the gentiles the same as it had in him.

The response of the Jewish believers is very interesting, they praised God for  this movement of the Spirit at the same time they express surprise.

“Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

Acts 11:18b

Your Bible may use the word ‘also’ instead of ‘even’, and there are other interpretation choices.  The actual wording is a very tepid response to a new reality they were not expecting.  They do not doubt the story of Peter, nor do they refute the experience of the Gentiles receiving the Spirit – however, it is still uncomfortable and they still do not fully understand it.  This does not hinder their acceptance, they still are committing this change in their mindset and will be altering their reality going forward. 

Understanding Others is not a first step to Accepting Others. We do not have to understand to accept. The idea that we first have to understand is a damaging misconception on our part. Our first act of acceptance and embrace is the choice to love as Jesus  loved us.

God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

Burdened

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05.09.21

In an article that Billy shared with me this past week, Atlantic Senior Editor Julie Beck, guided a discussion between two coworkers, Amanda Mull and Katherine Wu.  Mull, a self described extrovert, and Wu, a self described introvert. Both described the burdens, or relief of burdens, they experienced during Covid pandemic.  For Mull it was a nightmare where those crowded spaces, hugging, and mindless small talk discussions that usually gave her energy were taken away.  For Wu, it was her perfect and ideal scenario, 

I like being able to set aside alone time and know that for these next three hours I don’t have to deal with anyone else. I think small talk is the tax that God exacted for the privilege of human speech.

Katherine Wu, science staff writer at The Atlantic

We are a society with an overflow of burdens, truth is, burdens are a reality of humanity.  They are fully individualized, one person’s burden is another’s energy.  Our outlook on life is largely influenced by our burdens as well as our perceptions of the burdens that others carry.  As I shared last Sunday, those burdens on the backs of others, the struggles, known and unknown to us, are a key factor in how we embrace, distance, accept, or judge others. The apostle Paul was speaking to this when he talked about a thorn in his flesh, a burden that he had to carry, he had asked God to remove it three times but it remained with him and he continued to struggle – he admitted his powerlessness against this burden which forced him to rely on God’s power in the midst of his weakness. We see throughout the book of Acts as well as all four gospels – Jesus  came to address our burdens as well as our future eternity.

For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

I John 5:3

As we hit the 8th chapter of Acts last week, the apostles had already begun their initial impact in Jerusalem, Judea, and in Samaria and were now looking forward to the remotest parts of the earth.  Just how to do that was their dilemma, God however, came with the solution.  Sending the apostle Philip to his remotest place, he also sent an Ethiopian to his remote place, and there the two men met.  Philip was not just there to ease the burden on this man, but in the process, God would ease the burden for Philip. The geographical nature of this remotest place, for both men, became secondary to the inner burdens both men carried with them. Philip brought his burden, the labels that he carried often without even recognizing them, to him they had become ordinary and acceptable.  Burdens such as judging a person by skin color and ethnicity, condemning them because of personal burdens they carried that he did not understand or approve of.  The Ethiopian carried the reverse of those burdens, he lived a life of rejection and dismissal, and even emptiness, because of those same factors that shaded every other person’s perception of him – and probably his own hatred of those who looked at him that way.  There, in that remote place, God showed both men that none of those factors, none of those labels, mattered.

This brings us back to our question from last Sunday,

“What will it mean for all of us if the gospel is indeed good news for all people, without exception?’

Dr. Matt Skinner, Acts: Catching Up With The Spirit

Let’s Be Honest – At first hearing, ‘Obey God’s  Commandments’ sounds like the literal definition of  Burdensome!

However, what if the Good News of the Good News is that God’s commandments indeed, are not a burden?  

How would such an enlightenment reshape and reorient our perception of the good news, the gospel, to better align itself with the life and teachings of Jesus, and, then, what if that realignment changes how we filter the teachings of the apostles throughout the New  Testament?

This is the question that sparked the journey of the New Testament Church, as we see in Acts – this spark, this question, this journey, of the church today – continues to be the challenge for us. 

“What will it mean for all of us, all our world, if the gospel is indeed good news for all people, without exception?’

Let’s revisit this statement,

For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

I John 5:3

The epistles of John point us to an understanding of the foundation of Love.  God is love, Jesus lived out that love, the Spirit leads us to manifest love in and through our lives. This word ‘Commandments’ automatically solicits thoughts of burdens not the absence of burdens.  The word commandments is the hiccup for us to grasp the truth of verse 3.  To better understand, we go directly to the words of Jesus. 

‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that  your joy may be complete. 

This is my (the) commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.’ 

John 15:9-12

So, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were correct when they created the tag line ‘All You Need Is Love.’ All we need to survive this world, all we need to relate to others, all we need to carry your burdens, all we need is Love.  Love tapped into THE SOURCE of LOVE.  Abide in that Love, Know the one who is that Love, follow the one who lived out that Love in the flesh, Follow the one who guides us in and by that Love in our reality. All We need is love.

Love like Jesus’ Love wipes away the labels that we, as humans, permit to keep us from loving others, especially others with certain labels.  We saw the Spirit began teaching this lesson to the apostles last Sunday as labels disappeared as Philip shares with the Ethiopian Eunuch.  Even though Jesus has taught and demonstrated what it meant to love and embrace all people, the actually doing of this did not automatically become comfortable for the apostles.  Theoretically it made sense but actually practicing it was still uncomfortable and they were uneasy – for the Holy Spirit, just like for Jesus, this came automatically.

In chapter 10 of Acts we see another apostle go to a remote place, not so much geographically but to a place that was just as difficult, a place in Judea but a place with a gentile majority.  Peter was called to go to the home of a man named Cornelius, a man loved by God just like all peoples, however, this man was a gentile, he was not a Jew.  The fact that there was actually a law that Jews could not enter the home of a gentile, Peter still followed God’s call.  There he found that Cornelius has assembled a great crowd of people, who happened to be gentiles, to listen the truth of love to be proclaimed by Peter.  Peter, like Philip, had to release his own burden of carrying labels, of not loving those that were different, those that who’s upbringing had instilled a false and hateful narrative, he had to let go and love those who God loved.  So he began to speak and before he could even finish, the people had already believed in Jesus, and, as a result of their belief the Holy Spirit noisily made his way into their lives.  They accepted, embrace, and followed Jesus there just as the Ethiopian man had done. To this day, this event is often referred to as the gentile Pentecost.

Those Jews there with Peter were astounded.  These people had been able to accept and follow Jesus without first being Jews, without first going through the system of Judaism, without first incorporating all the religious practices in their life, they had simply believed and received through faith. Then, even more that the Holy Spirit ascended on this group also before they had been baptized.

These people who, just moments before had received their scorn, now these people were of the same faith, they followed the same Messiah, they had received the same Spirit.  Their eyes were open in profound surprise, this was a very unexpected and even more unimaginable development, one that they had not seen coming. 

Like the Ethiopian, the people wanted to physically identify with other followers, they asked ‘Why Not Now?’  They wanted to be baptized.  Peter turned to the Jewish believers present and asked, 

“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

Acts 10:47

I am sure that they looked uncomfortably at each other, not knowing how to respond, but also knowing that they could not think of a reason to deny the act.  So the people, these previously unacceptable people, were now brothers and sisters.  God had called all the Jews to love all because Jesus loved all, now that calling was calling them to be act and to love.

We live in a world that needs love, needs to be plugged into the source of love,  – the love that Jesus exhibited and the love that we are called to – so, 

“What will it mean for all of us if the gospel is indeed good news for all people, without exception?’ 

Now, Let your mind run free and consider….

What could happen if we honestly said ‘yes’ to the ‘whatever and wherever’ reality of God’s path in our day to day reality?

Cleansed 05.02.21

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 ‘[The book of] Acts, like Easter, urges you to put cautious rationality on the shelf and follow an unrestrained God into the world, wondering as you go what else might be possible.…. [our] passage about an Ethiopian court official who has a divinely orchestrated discussion with Philip is outlandish,…It provokes a question upon which the church still ruminates: …what will it mean for all of us if the gospel is indeed good news for all people, without exception?’

Dr. Matt Skinner

Chapter eight of the book of Acts brings us two pivotal moments for the new testament church.  One good the other frightening. Chapter 8 presents a moment in time when God’s basic instruction to the apostles is almost accomplished and, ironically, in that same moment this new faith community of enters into a season of great darkness. 

Let’s look first at the Locational Elements of this pivotal moment seen in the first 3 verses..

‘And Saul approved of their killing Stephen. That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem… All the believers that had been together since Pentecost now fled for their lives, only the apostles remained.’

Acts 8:1-3

Two parallel events, both very different and yet both very similar, mark this new season for the church.

In Luke’s account of Jesus ascension, Jesus gave his apostles the instruction to testify to all they had seen in, and learned from, the Messiah – a challenge to be the first hand account of Jesus to those who had not witnessed God in the flesh, Jesus, and a second opportunity for those who  had rejected Jesus.  The logistical specifics of this command was to ‘go to those in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and even to those in the remotest part of the earth.’ The apostles have  now ‘gone’ to the people of Jerusalem, of Judea, and of Samaria, they were now facing the remotest parts of the earth – the only known obstacle was the ‘how, who, and the where’ of the remotest parts?’

Two simultaneous moments provided the path to speak to discover their plans.

The arrival of a young sincere and faithful young man named Saul, who we known him as Paul.  A coming new star in religiosity and highly regarded politically as well.  He endorsed the killing of Stephen, followed by a full scale effort to stop the spread of the Jesus movement going house to house weeding out Jesus followers.  This sent the followers, who up to this point had remained in Jerusalem since Pentecost, to scatter back to their home.

The second logistical moment took place as the apostle Philip was sent by God, to go to a remote section of the road connecting Jerusalem with Gaza – a road in the wilderness. Soon, here on this ‘remoteish’ road he met a man who was of  ‘the remotest place on earth.’ What a logistical plan! – scatter those near, back to their homes in Jersusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and then, bring a person to the apostle from the remotest place on earth!

This is the way God works, he uses the good as well as the bad to remove the obstacles so we can continue with God’s intended purpose.

Now, we see the Practical Elements with which God works.  At this place, a distant destination for both men, a monumental moment takes place. In the wilderness, on this remote piece of the road,  Philip meets a man who has three outrageous labels that God’s practicalities eliminate. He was…

  1. Ethiopian
  2. Eunich
  3. Powerful

The first is an obstacle for everyone in the non-remote places on earth, the second is an obstacle for the religious people of the non-remote places on the earth, and the third is an opportunity for the implementation of God’s Good  News everywhere.

Ethiopian, brings us to God’s Geographical Practicality.  Ethiopian is a word that in the Greek language literally means ‘Burnt Face’ referring to the color and hue of his skin, which leads to judgements and condemnations of his culture, heritage, basically to this man. Greco-Roman literature often referred to “Ethiopians” as being a ‘people who lived on the fringes of the inhabited world’, judging them as inferior beings.  The presence of a Greco-Roman xenophobia should not surprise us even thousands of years later.

This was a meticulouslyorchestrated outrageous moment engineered by a God who is not daunted by skin color, culture, heritage or any other obstacle.  God brought this remotest man to another man’s remotest place for an impossible encounter.  As God gave Phillip a nudge, he approached the man and heard him reading from the Book of Isaiah, 

‘He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.’

Isaiah 53:7-9

Philip asks the man,‘Do you understand what you are reading?’

The man answered,‘Who is the prophet Isaiah speaking of?’

Philip addressed question knowing that none of the obstacles were of any consideration. 

The second practicality inhabited in this encounter – an Outlandish Practicality, particularly outrageous to the religious people and to the religious leaders – the man was a Eunuch.  This meant that he had been castrated as a condition for his position in the queen’s court. The castration had taken place for one, or more, of the following reasons,

  1. The decision to be castrated had been made by others, possibly even by parents when he was a child or as an adult by his masters and employers, to theoretically give him the credibility required for a better future and better employment.
  2. The decision to be castrated was made personally by the man for the same reasons.
  3. The decision to be castrated was a very personal decision made by him, for himself, for his own personal reasons – reasons that few people would understand or accept.

Any one of these reason is as likely another reason; we can be assured that this purposeful condition of his body was a major reason for a lifetime of judgement and rejection.  He did not fit the norms for conventional gender definition, he was not consider male or female; this put him outside the boundaries of masculinity and virility subjecting him to never-ending scorn and hatred.

The man was literate, he had the most influential ear in the queen, and he was trusted with her treasury, and subsequently he was rich.  He owned a rare and expensive scroll of scripture, he traveled on his own, with his own staff, and he had personal access to a chariot. While not accepted socially by his own countrymen, he was definitely feared and respected.  He had great influence at the remotest place on the earth – much more than Philip or any of the apostles. He would enthusiastically become a voice of witness to the remotest place on the earth. He would become the avenue for the good news that acknowledges worth and dignity – the good news that thwarts the prejudices that religions and societies easily fall into.

As Philip shares the ‘who’ of the Isaiah passage with the Ethiopian, the man meets and trusts in Jesus.  He recognizes that Jesus is the one spoken of by the prophet and that this same Christ is the promised Messiah, the fulfillment of the  Law. This realization is automatically met with a personal acceptance and embrace. His immediate response is to follow Jesus, he excitedly asks, 

‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’

Acts 8:37

Philip in a wilderness place, probably the most foreign place he could be, here in this remotest place, a place where God brought the ends of the earth to him.  Here Philip began to share the Good News with the remotest parts of the earth. There was no think tank, no missionary strategy, no confab of the most persuasive evangelists, here there was Philip in a remote place not far from his home, addressing a question of a man who was far from his home at the ends of the earth.  Philip addressed the question, and did just as Jesus had instructed, he began to teach this pupil who the prophet Isaiah spoke of and proceeded from there to teach everything that Jesus did and everything that Jesus taught.  Everything that Philip had witnessed and experienced. The man became entranced in learning of Jesus compassion and mercy, his grace, his teachings of hope and deliverance, his life validation of Love.

He was reading from the scroll of Isaiah so it is proper to assume  that he was a Jew, although probably on the periphery of Judaism.  He would have been familiar with the cleansing and religious aspects of baptism.  He had an urgent need to express the cleansing from his sin and total immersion into the faith of following Jesus. Previously a seeker now he was a pupil, a disciple, a follower, and soon, a teacher; now he knew he was accepted, cleansed, loved. Now he  was asking, ‘why not now?’

‘The Ethiopian reminds us that we are inclined to expect too little from the good news or to underestimate its capacity to bless and include others.’

Justo L. González, Latin American Theologian and Historian

The Ethiopian has recognized something that we, in our evangelical comfort, have forgotten. He understands that faith is being a part of something Holy, an unexpected turn that brought him to an immersive experience into this faith and understanding.  He is ready to plug himself in the source, to live the full life in Christ, dependent on Jesus.  To thrive and grow, it is about a faith that we jump in with both feet. It is not about a new list of dos and don’ts, it about new life that writes truth on his heart, that leads him to strive to be like his source, like Jesus. Why wouldn’t he want to start now?

Jesus explained this to his followers as he said,

‘You have already been cleansed by the word, the truth, that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:3-5

Good News is a call to abide, it is a call to remain fully connected to the source of life, Jesus, the source of strength, the source of rejoicing, the source of perseverance, the source of confidence, the source of hope, the source of peace. The Source.

While we, years after Martin Luther’s proclamation that salvation is not a ‘how to’ journey, it is a faith journey, we have settled for a distant future in heaven and  ridged oversight of our actions and thoughts. Faith leads us to the same question as the Ethiopian,‘Why Not Now?!

Let’s return to our original question, ‘What will it mean for all of us if the gospel is indeed good news for all people, without exception?’

It is a question for all of us, What would it mean if we were to respond by saying, ‘Why not now?!’