Acts 8:26-31 (Common English Bible)

An angel from the Lord spoke to Philip, “At noon, take the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.)

So he did. Meanwhile, an Ethiopian man was on his way home from Jerusalem, where he had come to worship. He was a eunuch and an official responsible for the entire treasury of Candace. (Candace is the title given to the Ethiopian queen.)

He was reading the prophet Isaiah while sitting in his carriage.

The Spirit told Philip, “Approach this carriage and stay with it.” Running up to the carriage, Philip heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah.

He asked, “Do you really understand what you are reading?”

The man replied, “Without someone to guide me, how could I?”

Then he invited Philip to climb up and sit with him.

_____

I was 16 years old. I was brand new in the faith. I had met a group of friends, mostly older than me, with whom I clicked and whose faith was the faith for which I yearned.

We all were children of the Jesus Movement and our theology and lifestyles were heavily influenced by that movement.

We believed that Jesus would return any moment.

We described our faith in Jesus as a personal relationship.

We believed the Holy Spirit was real, and at work in us.

We listened to Jesus Rock. I replaced Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, and Alice Cooper with Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, and Petra.

We were critical of the institutional church, but we didn’t reject it. We still attended our different churches on Sundays and when things were happening.

We believed that Bible Study and Prayer were essential elements of the Christian life.

We understood that our mission in life was to tell others about Jesus. We did this with our words and actions and even our attire. I wore a jean jacket everyday with a iron-on decal that covered the entire back of the jacket. The image on the decal was of a hand with the index finger pointed up, beside the index finger was a cross and beside the cross the words “One Way.” We regularly stuffed evangelistic tracts under the windshield wipers of cars sitting outside bars and we read and discussed all the popular books about effective witnessing.

We hung out with each other every minute we could. If I wasn’t at school or at work, I was with them. We met together for Bible Study and Prayer meetings 3 or 4 times a week. We had no leader, per se, except, we would say, the Holy Spirit. We studied, we prayed, and we believed that what the Bible said was meant to be acted upon.

One Evening, in a Bible study, we studied this passage about Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. The thrust of the passage, we decided, was that we should always be in a position to listen to God and share our faith. We prayed that God would open doors for us to share the good news of Jesus with others.

The morning after that Bible Study, I was walking to school. It was a little over a mile from my house on Sims Street to the high school out on Maish road and I didn’t like riding the bus. So, if I didn’t have a ride, I walked. As I was walking down Clinton Street, I saw a girl walking about a block in front of me.

I felt this strong impulse, an urging I would have called it, that I should hustle up to her and tell her some Good News. Up to this moment, I had never approached a complete stranger to share the gospel. But, hoping to be obedient, I jogged up to her and walked beside her.

I didn’t know her. I think she was older than me, a Junior or Senior. Strangely enough, I don’t ever remember seeing her again after our encounter.

As we walked, I said, “hi.”

She said hi back.

I walked in silence for a moment and then I said, “I have some Good News.”

She said, politely, “Really.”

I then said, “Guess who is coming back?”

She said, somewhat hesitantly, “Who?”

I responded, “Jesus.”

She did not respond, we walked in silence the rest of the way to school.

Awkward!!!! And sadly, not my most awkward moment. Probably not even in the top ten.

But, I was just trying to follow Philip’s example.

One day, As he was leaving Samaria and entering into Judea, Philip sensed the Lord telling to him to take the Gaza Road. The Gaza Road was a popular route south of Jerusalem to the city of Gaza where it intersected with the Via Maris, a road that went south into Africa and north into Syria. It was a primary trade route in the Ancient world. And the best way to get to the Via Maris from Jerusalem was the Gaza Road, which is pictured on the front of your bulletin.

So Philip set out on the Gaza Road South. While he walked along the road, he met up with a man from Ethiopia who had been to Jerusalem to worship (there was a large population of Diaspora Jews in Ethiopia and it was a life goal to pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple).

He was traveling to Gaza, and there he would pick up the Via Maris and head south to Africa where family and friends would undoubtedly be waiting to hear about his journey.

It appears that the man was an official in the Ethiopian Queen’s service and was riding in a horse drawn open air carriage reading a scroll. Noting his position in the government, he may very well have had a driver and security.

Philip sensed the spirit urging him to go up to the man, so Philip went. As he came within earshot, he heard the man reading out loud. The scroll from which he read was a portion of the Hebrew Bible’s Isaiah. It was the passage in which the prophet talks about the Suffering Servant.

Philip approached the man and offered to explain the passage to him. With that, the Ethiopian invited Philip to ride along side him. Philip did, and with more eloquence than I had displayed in my efforts on Clinton Street, told the man about Jesus, the suffering servant.

Philip must have been convincing as the man from Ethiopia said to him, “Hey look, Who would have guessed but there is a pond of water beside this desert road. Take me to the water to be baptized.”

And because Philip kept his eyes open on the road, the Kingdom grew by at least one that day, and maybe the man’s servants and security as well.

As I heard that story in bible study, I took it to heart and understood it to say I should be ready, always and anytime, to share the good news.

I gotta tell you, some 47 years later, I don’t think I was that far off.

Of course, I understand the good news differently now than I did back then. In 1974, the good news as I understood it, was about accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, and that is good news. But I believe that the good news embraces much more than personal salvation.

The good news also includes

caring for the struggling,

working for justice and equity,

addressing systemic failure like hunger and poverty,

rejecting racism, bigotry, and hate,

showing mercy,

standing with the oppressed,

affirming and accepting all people as God’s beloved,

embracing the stranger,

practicing kindness,

providing second chances,

turning the other cheek,

going the second mile,

loving unconditionally.

With this understanding of Good News, the message of the story of Philip and the Ethiopian is still relevant and meaningful.

Philip was obedient to God and responded to the need he saw. He walked on the road with his eyes open and engaged the person he encountered.

Is it silly to suggest that all of us, everyday, are traveling on roads that lead us into encounters with others- family, neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, subordinates, those in authority, acquaintances, strangers? And is it silly to believe that God allows us to travel these roads precisely because we might be in position to react with Good News to those we encounter?

The words we say, the actions we take, the kindness we show, the encouragement we offer can make a positive difference in somebody else’s life. In fact, our willingness to live out God’s love and grace can make all the difference in the world.

Perhaps each day should begin with a simple request, “Lord, on this day, when I am on the road, allow me to see and respond to the needs around me.”

Amen.

_____

Pastoral Prayer

One Way by Larry Norman

One way, one way to Heaven

Hold up high your hands

One way, free and forgiven

Children of the Lamb

Two roads diverged in the middle of my life

I heard a wise man say

And I took the one less traveled by

And that's made the difference, every night and every day

So I say one way, one way to Heaven

Hold your heads up high

Follow, free and forgiven

Children of the sky

Children of the sky, halelu

Children of the sky