March 24, 2023 | Be On Mission
Philip & the Ethiopian Eunuch
Scripture: Acts 8:26-40 (NIV)
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Devotional
A decade ago I traveled to Ethiopia for a mission trip. After a long overnight flight of several stops, I was thoroughly exhausted when our team of four men arrived. That first day there, we were at the headquarters of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. One of the rooms was filled with oil paintings depicting the long history of Ethiopia. Since I was the pastor in the group, the guide insisted that he show me the paintings so that I could appreciate their history. I’m not going to lie. I think I slept standing up several times as I closed my eyes to “meditate” on the paintings while the guide gave the history in English with a thick Amharic accent.
Still, I do remember two of the paintings. One was of the Queen of Sheba visiting Israel’s King Solomon a thousand years before Jesus. The queen gave the king expensive gifts. In return he gave her “all she desired and asked for” (1 Kings 10:13). The Ethiopians believe that she returned pregnant by Solomon, and that the King of Israel later sent the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia (they claim they still have it). Other scholars claim the Queen of Sheba was from Arabia. Who knows?
The other painting I remember through my eye-strained exhaustion was that of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. This man served as chief financial officer for Kandake (Candace), the title for the current queen of Ethiopia a thousand years after the Solomon story. The Ethiopians believe that this encounter with the queen’s chief treasurer set the country on a path toward Christianity, just as the Queen of Sheba had paved the way toward Judaism. Even today, nearly 60 percent of Ethiopians are Christian, the majority of whom are part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Yesterday we saw that Philip was the first to take the gospel of Jesus to Samaria. Today we see that he was also the first to take it to the Gentiles, the ends of the earth. This was not the apostle Philip. Rather he was one of the seven men “full of the Spirit and wisdom” who were chosen to head up the ministry to distribute food to the poor Christian widows (Acts 6:1-7). When Philip was flushed out of Jerusalem in a wave of persecution, he didn’t go into hiding. Instead, he boldly proclaimed the good news of Jesus to “Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). How is the Lord calling you to step out of your comfort zone?
Prayer
Loving Heavenly Father, as we continue in our mission to make disciples, may we always be responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Free us from fears of rejection and insufficiency as we are directed to witness Your love and grace to whoever and wherever Your Holy Spirit leads. Through our obedience to Your call, give us the confidence that You will guide us, sustain us, and enable us to bring others to You with joy and rejoicing. In Jesus name, Amen.
Poem
The Way To Go
‘Twas in a dream
I heard the call
“Go down now to the desert
A road you’ll find
The Way to go”
Attentive and alert
‘Twas on that road
I met a man
“Come here and help me take in
This message old
The Way to go”
Help him now partake in
‘Twas side by side
I shared the news
“Christ died and now is risen
He wants you, too
The Way to go”
Fulfilling now the mission
‘Twas water there
I heard request
“Can I now, too, be baptized?
The God I sought
The Way to go!”
New brother undisguised
‘Twas desert road
The Spirit spoke
Then Spirit sent me forward
My task that day
The Way to go
The Spirit blew me onward
