Sunday, May 3, 2015

Invitation of the Spirit

Invitation of the Spirit from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.



John 15:1-8
1”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide 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. 5I 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. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

Acts 8:26-40
26Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (this is a wilderness road.) 27So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” 30So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

33In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe this generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 38He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.

The church is beginning to grow in Jerusalem. The Easter excitement is catching, and the apostles are seeing the good news of God spread throughout the region. They've appointed seven new converts to act as helpers, making sure that their growing group following the Way are taken care of while the apostles can concentrate on teaching. 

Philip the evangelist was one of these seven helpers, the first class of Deacons, chosen from among the people for special service to the people. After one of the other seven, a man named Stephen, is stoned to death, the church scatters, like dandelion seeds on the wind. Philip winds up in Samaria, and begins his ministry baptizing and teaching in that region. His community is growing, it's lively, it's members receive the Holy Sprit and begin doing great things.

Then Philip is called away from his church-planting success story. "Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went." He got up and went, believing that the same Spirit of God that hovered over the waters at creation was going with him. He got up and went, trusting that the same Wind that carried him from Jerusalem to Samaria was still spreading the dandelion-like gospel. He got up and went, knowing that that the Breath that inspired him came from the God who raises the dead.

On his way, he encounters a surprising sort of person. "Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah." These two would never have interacted apart from their relationship with Christ. The Ethiopian Eunuch had wealth, power, and connections, but he was shut out from Temple Worship. Philip, on the other hand, was Jewish and closely connected to temple life. He was an insider who was chosen by the community to serve them as a deacon, but he was not the sort of man who would have met with diplomats from Ethiopia. "...In being obedient to the Spirit, preachers like Philip find themselves in the oddest of situations with the most surprising sorts of people." Odd sorts of people such as a foreigner, and one who is cut off from the covenant, who still worships in Jerusalem and studies scripture.

The Ethiopian Eunuch was a powerful and influential man, but the power, influence, and all the treasury of the Queen of Ethiopia could not bring him into the covenant. He was excluded because of who he was, not as a matter of his birth, but as a matter of who he served, and how he served. At the invitation of the Spirit, however, ”… the Eunuch's story of shame is refracted through the story of the cross and resurrection of Christ, [and] it becomes a narrative of redemption, restoration, and hope.”

“Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ 31He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.” There is power in his humility, his willingness to share his chariot with some street preacher named Philip. He can read the text, but he needs help interpreting, and the hope that he senses is just past his reach. But, the invitation of the Spirit is so powerful that he will not let his weakness keep him from it, and he invites Philip to help him understand. ”This is the true reverence of Scripture, when as we acknowledge that there is that wisdom laid up there which surpasses all our senses;...but, reading diligently, we depend upon the revelation of the Spirit, and desire to have an interpreter given us." So Philip, at the invitation of the Spirit, beings with what’s in front of him, a questioning Ethiopian eunuch, and through that single passage proclaims the good news about Jesus Christ.

This Jesus is one who was wounded also. He has been cast out by those he came to serve and they crucified him. He carries the wounds his hands, his feet, his side, even after the resurrection. Isaiah points to a suffering servant, and Jesus is the one to whom he is pointing, suffering servant, wounded Messiah, crucified God, all so that humanity could be made whole again through the crucifixion and resurrection. The Ethiopian Eunuch is a servant also, a powerful one, but still a servant to the Queen of Ethiopia. He too has been wounded, he is cut off from the covenant and unable to pass on his family name. Perhaps he feels connected to Christ in the shared shame of their different wounds, perhaps he feels the invitation of the Spirit to join this new body that will one day be called Christianity. Perhaps the gospel has given him hope that he doesn’t need to be defined by his shame, but can instead be claimed by baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. “As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’”

Some folks may have noticed that in our pew Bibles the passage goes straight from verse 36 to verse 38. There’s a footnote at the bottom indicating that some versions of acts add one more interaction before the eunuch is baptized. “And Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he replied, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’” This verse 37 was probably added by a later editor and not part of the original text, but that doesn’t mean it’s insignificant.

The presence or absence of verse 37 can make a great deal of difference to this text. Is a formal confession necessary for admittance, or is God's bringing two people together in a relationship centered on Christ enough? Is the fact that the Ethiopian Eunuch even asked to be baptized enough to admit him into this emerging community of faith? 

Seems to me that God’s action in this story is sufficient to bring the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip to this place together, and that everything is a response in faith. God’s already picked this servant and that diplomat, Philip and the Ethiopian, before either of them could confess what they believe. This isn’t a story about the importance of personal confessions, this is a story about the invitation of the Spirit extending to the farthest places and the unlikeliest people.

The Ethiopian eunuch’s question is the crux of the passage. It’s where the eunuch, risks rejection by this exciting and energizing new form of Judaism. As an Ethiopian, he was a foreigner, and the temple was for the people of Israel. As a eunuch, he was cut off from the covenant, and was forbidden from entering the Temple to worship. As a servant of a foreign Queen, he served interests other than those of the Promised Land. In every way imaginable, he did not fit. Yet he still has the hope that he can be included, that this wounded Lord called Jesus could bring him wholeness and belonging. Dr. Tom Long, who has taught preaching at some of the top Divinity Schools in the nation, summarizes this passage in a particularly beautiful way:

"'What is to prevent me from being baptized?' asked the eunuch. 'Absolutely nothing' whispered the Spirit, 'Absolutely nothing.' So the eunuch commanded the chariot to stop, and he was baptized right there on the spot. Walls of prejudice and prohibition that had stood for generations came tumbling, blown down by the breath of God's Holy Spirit, and another man who felt lost and humiliated was found and restored in the wilderness of God's grace in Jesus Christ."

The grace we have in Jesus Christ surpasses even the grave, what are a few social conventions in the face of that good news? Philip baptizes him in a roadside puddle and the Holy Spirit throws open the doors of the Church to a vast and mysterious world. The grace we have in Jesus Christ pushes past boundaries and breaks down barriers, and carries us to unexpected places and unexpected people. The invitation of the Spirit compels to open our hearts to God’s gracious good news, and to open our doors to all who need to hear it.

How wide do these church doors open? Do they open wide enough for the Ethiopian Eunuch? Do they open wide enough for us to go on our way rejoicing? Do they open wide enough for the poor, the downtrodden, the humiliated? How wide do these church doors open? Do they open wide enough to send us out into the world to proclaim the gospel? Do they open wide enough to send us out to interpret for those who do not understand? Do they open wide enough for us to hear the invitation of the Holy Spirit?


Let’s go find out.

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