What an exciting day this was in the book we call the Acts of the Apostles. Our passage begins with an angel, not just any angel, for there are angels of various ranks in the angelic pecking order as well as angels who serve evil and angels who serve the Lord. Verse 26 says an angel of the Lord spoke to the Apostle Phillip.
It is no surprise that Philip heard the voice of the
Lord. Philip was one of the 12 disciples that Jesus called to spread the gospel
of repentance, forgiveness, healing and a clean life. Philip was so excited
about Jesus that he invited his friend Nathaniel to meet him, and Nathaniel
became one of the 12 as well. There are many stories about Bethel members
inviting family and friends to church who join and become enthusiastic workers
in the church for generations.
Philip was excited. He hung on Jesus’ every word. It
is no wonder that he could hear the Lord’s angel speaking to him. Philip was
one of those disciples that did not miss a thing. He was on the alert so he
could do whatever Jesus asked him to do. He was paying close attention to
Jesus’ directions. He could hear it in Jesus’ voice when he was troubled and he
cared when Jesus was concerned about something. Philip was a well-trained
disciple, so when the angel told him to, “Get up and go toward the south to the
road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” - a wilderness road. He did exactly
what he understood he was supposed to do.
Philip listened like Abraham did went when an angel
told him to leave his home and go to Canaan, like the disciples James, and
John, Peter and Andrew leaving their fishing nets to fish for men, like Noah
who was called to build a boat of refuge even though his neighbors were
laughing at him, like Henry Ford hearing the call to build cars, the Wright
brothers who flew a plane, prostitute Rahab called to hide God’s soldiers from
the enemy, Ruth Ginsberg called to judge, and Nigerian singer Osinachi Kalu
Okoro Egbu, whose song entitled Waymaker is off the charts because it elicits
our most heartfelt praise of our God.
Philip, like many others did what the angel asked
him to do and what God put it in their lives to do. Perhaps you have heard the
voice of an angel directing you to a certain place for a good purpose.
Psychiatrists tell us that there are all kinds of voices, some healthier than
others. In this Covid season of high anxiety and depression, we do well to test
the spirits as I John 4.1 tells us: Beloved, do
not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are
from God.” It is good to check our spiritual pulse for the
assurance and sound judgment that the voices we hear are worth listening to.
Just as there is a thin line between love and hate, there is a thin line
between health and harm.
You’ve heard the story of the man who fell off of a
cliff. He landed on a branch and holding on for dear life, he cried out, “If
there is anyone up there in Heaven, please tell me what to do.” He heard a
still small voice saying, “Jump. Jump.” After a brief pause, the man continued
to hand on and yelled up, “Is there anybody else up there.” Eventually he did
jump and found that he was a mere two feet from the ground and safety.
Philip followed the angel’s direction and went to a
certain wilderness road. There he saw a prestigious man, a man who had come all
the way from Ethiopia to worship God in the Holy city of Jerusalem – a thousand
miles away. This was a serious man of God practicing his Jewish religion. God
knows, as a eunuch he was not allowed inside the temple, so it would seem that
God was coming to him - through Philip.
He was reading the book of Isaiah as he rested in
his royal chariot on the side of the road. How marvelous that he could read in
a time when education was not widely available and every book or scroll of
parchment that was made was made by hand with great sacrifice and expense. He
was spiritually curious and we can tell by the way his conversation went with
Philip that he was hungry for the things of God. It makes us all think about
how hungry we are for Godliness.
For whatever reason, this man has remained nameless like so many others, though Luke describes him as an Ethiopian, an official in the royal cabinet of the Candace which was a title of a dynasty like the Caesars and the Herods. His boss was the Queen of Ethiopia. Women ruling countries in the ancient world had to be as precious as it is in our day. In 1988 we saw Benazir Bhutto become prime minister of Pakistan, a predominately Muslim country, though she was assassinated December of 2007. Working for a woman in an age of intense patriarchy, this unnamed man was not just any worker in her cabinet. He is identified as the secretary of the Treasury similar to our US secretary of the treasury Janet Yellin.
He was likely in charge of the gold, foreign trade of fine wood and fabrics, precious oils and exotic delicacies of food and fragrance, for entertainment. Perhaps he was even in charge of gleaning newest and latest ideas and intellectual property that could make life better.
Philip obediently arrived as the angel of the Lord directed. That was not all. Verse 29 says the Spirit of the Lord told him to go up to the chariot where this Secretary of the Treasurer was resting and reading the words of Isaiah. Philip not only went up to the chariot, verse 30 says he ran! Then the man invited Philip – a stranger- to join him in his chariot.
After the invitation was accepted, Luke’s story is
peppered with magical things happening. Aside from Angels speaking and the
spirit moving and directing Philip, and witnessing Philips trust and obedience,
this unnamed Jewish worshipper invited a foreigner into his chariot. He
listened to Philip’s testimony and then decided to become a Christian just like
that. His conversion even led him to be baptized by Philip. If that was not
extraordinary enough, verse 40 tells that Philip defied time and space and
disappeared into thin air and magically reappeared in a city called Azotus.
It may be easy for some to dismiss God’s word or be
mad at God for interjecting into the story things that are hard to believe.
Some scripture comes to us as hyperbole – dramatic exaggerations and wise story
telling that get our attention and stir up our vivid imaginations in ways that
help the medicine go down. At the same time, we all know that there is much
more to this world than we will ever comprehend. If Americans and Russians can
craft a space suit and a space ship, travel faster than the speed of light,
train and condition their bodies and minds for a space voyage, then perhaps
there is room to see that Philip can disappear in one moment and reappear in
another place and time, since he was spiritually equipped. Verse 40 says he
left in order to preach in all the towns up to Caesarea which happened to be a
harbor town rebuilt by Herod and in a harbor town there are all kinds of
different people and commerce. Being Roman territory, it was well policed.
On this communion Sunday, we are once again reminded
that God insists on getting the word out that there is power in love, a love
that inspires obedience and enthusiasm for committing our lives to God’s good
work. God insists on giving us opportunities to work together, to repent, to
forgive, to unite, to love God and to love one another. God is so good and
worthy of our praise and thanksgiving.
John 3.16 tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes should have everlasting life. We are here as proof that we believe. What we do tells the world what we believe. In some sense, we have also given our sons and daughters away. We have given them away tearfully in marriage – for better or worse, to college and jobs far and near - leaving our nest for a world of uncertainties. We have wept while sending them away to war, for there are battles that must be fought. Made in the image of God, we know what it is like to give our sons and daughters.
It is the love of God that is in us. It is the love
of God that keeps us and keeps us together in good times and in tough times. It
is love that enables us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. So we do well to
remember the cost of that love. Amen.
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