Acts 8: 26 - 40 (cf. Isa. 53)
"Happy Easter!"
"Well, thanks, but Easter was a month ago." Thus many-- perhaps most-- Christians would reply. But they are mistaken; Easter Sunday is one day, but Easter is a season of seven weeks ending in Pentecost Sunday. In fact, for Christians, Easter ought to be a season of 52 weeks. Then Philip began and, starting from this passage, he told him the good news of Jesus. (35) [T]he eunuch... went on his way rejoicing. (39) The day on which this occurred was long after the resurrection, but for the Ethiopian, that day was Easter.
Is this why Luke told this story? Why is this person an Ethiopian? And why is he an eunuch? Both details are repeated in the text, so obviously they are meant by Luke to convey some particular meaning.
Why a person from Ethiopia? First, we need to consider the structure of the Evangelist's account. Earlier, the risen Christ told the disciples: 'you will bear witness for me in Jerusalem, and throughout all Judea and Samaria, and even in the farthest corners of the earth.' (1: 8) Luke's narrative follows this order, and in 8: 4-25, the Good News has come to Samaria. Now it must travel more widely. Ethiopia, then as now, lies south of Egypt and, in those days, was one of the extremities of the known world. Even Paul, in all his journeys yet to be related, may not have gotten so far from Judea.
Why an Ethiopian? Is racial prejudice an issue here? Perhaps; such bias may have been more prevalent among Luke's Gentile audience than it would have been among the Israelites, whose premier Prophet, Moses, had married an Ethiopian(1) woman. (Num. 12: 1) but from the context, it does not seem to be a significant issue. Rather, I think Luke is striving to enhance the connection between the good news of Jesus and Isaiah. For not only is the Ethiopian reading from the Prophet, but in the days of King Hezekiah, Ethiopia (Cush, Nubia) played a role(2).
Why does Luke insist that this convert was an eunuch? Why is it necessary to mention such a private detail? Apparently Deu. 23: 1 had been interpreted to mean that eunuchs (like others with certain physical deformities) were to be denied entry into the community of Israel. But Isaiah "spoke against" such exclusion(3); indeed, that prophecy includes both
the Ethiopian (foreigner) and the eunuch(4). Luke, by telling this story, is including the message of the Prophet: no-one is to be excluded from God's realm for any reason of their person.
A challenge: the Ethiopian was reading portions of Isa. 53: 7-8(5) from the LXX. [S]tarting from this passage, how would you tell an inquirer the good news of Jesus?
[You may wish to use v.23 as the introduction instead of v.25.]
- How can those who sleep in the earth do [God] homage,
how can those who go down to the grave do obeisance? (29)
But are they not also relevant to us, the living, who will eventually die? If we interpret them this way, then the following lines become poignant and personal for each Christian. Now we read "marching orders": But I shall live for [God's] sake (29) because 'The LORD has acted.' (31)
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is God's Son, God dwells in [that person] and [that person] in God. (15) Such acknowledgement is a model of repentance; it may be made by anyone without any other qualification or obligation, and will issue in the stated result. This is the Gospel of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let the thirsty come; let whoever wishes accept the water of life as a gift. (Rev. 22: 17) Perhaps the Church should read this as a commandment; let whoever wishes acknowledge Jesus as the Bible commends, without hampering them with human requirements, traditions or biases.
- Come for water, all who are thirsty;
though you have no money, come, buy grain and eat;
come, buy wine and milk,
not for money, not for a price. (Isa. 55: 1)
Come to me and listen to my words,
hear me, and you will have life:
I shall make an everlasting covenant with you
to love you faithfully as I loved David. (Isa. 55: 3)
I, John, give this warning to everyone who is listening to the words of prophecy in this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to [that person] the plagues described in this book (Rev. 22: 18). Are you listening?
Thus we have come to know and believe in the love which God has for us. (16) Sadly, many Christians fall short here. They add (at their peril) conditions and constraints to the Gospel; they require people to "pay a price", thus denying God's Word that grace is a gift, a free gift. Others emasculate the Gospel, failing to understand and accept the entirety and efficacy of the work which God in Christ has accomplished for us. By their thoughts, words and actions, Christians show that they neither completely know God's love nor faithfully believe God's Word.
This is how [God's] love has reached its perfection among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgement; and this we can have, because in this world we are as [Christ Jesus] is. (17) This may well be the most fantastic and liberating statement in the Bible about the results of God's salvation: in this world we are as [Christ Jesus] is. There is nothing, nothing, nothing that you or I can or need to do except to ask for it from the dryness of our souls, accept it on the basis of God's covenant promise, and drink it in: trust that 'The LORD has acted.' As Jesus said on the cross, 'It is accomplished!' (Jn. 19: 30) God has already done everything that is necessary to satisfy God's judgment and righteousness.
[God] sent [God's] only Son [Jesus] into the world that we might have life through [Christ]. This is what love really is (9-10). For God did not send [God's] Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (Jn. 3: 17, NIV) When will the Church understand?
[-11, my choice]'You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.' (3) Consider the immense import of this simple (and often overlooked because of the many other rich phrases in this passage) statement. 'You are already clean', Jesus said, so why expend so much effort and time trying to make yourself (or thrust such burdens on others) appear acceptable to God? Even the Prophet recognized the futility of such endeavor: all our righteous deeds were like a filthy rag (Isa. 64: 6)(6).
Do you still believe that you or anyone else can do anything to achieve cleanliness, to attain righteousness in God's sight? No, my friend, it cannot be done save by God alone, by 'the word I have spoken to you.' The Gospel records our Lord as having spoken that word to His disciples, to us. The truth of the matter is that 'The LORD has acted.' And God's Word is this: 'You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.'
- Come to me and listen to my words,
hear me, and you will have life:
- Thirty silver coins
were big money in those days.
How much must I pay?(7)
1. 1 The objection raised by Miriam and Aaron was more likely based on her being a foreigner,
not from one of the Hebrew tribes. 2 See Isa. 20: 3-5 and 37: 9 = 2Ki. 19: 9. 3 See Isa. 56: 1-8. Jesus cited v.7 when cleansing the temple. Did He have v.1 in mind when
He said "The Kingdom of God is at hand"? (Mat. 4: 17 et al.) Any connections here?
4. 4 Also notable is that Jeremiah's savior was an Ethiopian eunuch. (Jer. 38: 7-13)
6. 6 Much of the N.T., such as 2Cor. 7: 1 and James, speak to our behavior subsequent to and in
grateful response for God's salvation in Christ.
7. 7 Haiku poem by Phil Gilman. Please feel free to utilize anything from these pages; just give God the Glory, Praise and Thanks and me whatever credit may be due.
(comments to Phil at ENAPXH@aol.com )