‘A new kind of empire’ by Owen Lynch, 21 April 2024

How far would this revolution go? Owen Lynch looks at the way scattered believers in the early days of the church encountered new believers who looked like they would not fit in. While the law, as people understood it, seemed to put them on the margins or outside the boundaries of acceptability, an African eunuch had not only found status in a royal household, but also found scripture which pointed them to Jesus. Why was their baptism so remarkable? How could it revolutionise religious people’s understanding - and ours - of the Kingdom of God?

Transcript

If you heard episode 5, you will know that we have reached the turning point in the book of Acts.

Things have got completely out of hand - the largely peaceful revolution led by the disciples of Jesus has turned violent with the first of many martyrs - a Greek Jew called Stephen.

The revolutionary movement for equality, inclusion and justice has been partially undermined by the corruption of two of its activists.

The authorities have cracked down and are going door to door arresting anyone associated with this movement, causing most of the activists to flee Jerusalem.

It looks like this revolution is going to end the way most do - with the leaders and activists meeting a violent and bloody end. Acts 8:1-3

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Judea and Samaria equate to what we think of as modern day Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. But the names Judea and Samaria conceal an historical conflict.

You might remember from the book of Joshua [that we are listening to this week as part of the Bible Boxset Binge], that the twelve tribes of Israel were allotted land that previously was settled by Canaanites.

However, in about 930 BC, the Bible describes how ten of the tribes in the north fell out with two tribes in the south Judea and Benjamin.

The northern kingdom of ten tribes was known as Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin was known simply as Judah - which was the tribe of King David.

However, 200 years later the northern ten tribes of Israel were conquered by the Assyrian Empire which destroyed the Israelite ethnicity through centuries of inter-marriage and cultural integration. A new capital city called Samaria became an alternate place of worship to Jerusalem which was situated in the southern kingdom of Judah.

Fast forward 700 years to the time of Jesus, who was born into the Kingdom of Judah, and the descendants of the cosmopolitan northern kingdom are known simply as Samaritans and they are despised by the Jews of Judah, because they are not considered ethnically and culturally pure!

As an example look of this in John 4:7-9. Jesus is travelling through Samaria and he comes to a well:

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

To the Jews, the Samaritans are simply foreign and outside the special relationship with Yahweh.

So the scattering of the revolutionaries to Samaria is a further indication of the radical expansionary nature of Jesus’ revolution.

Acts 8:4-8

4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.

First Jews from all over the known world join the revolution, then here we see Samaritans join the revolution!! Who’s next in this inclusive, expanding sect of Judaism?

Acts 8:26-38

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.

This short story is utterly remarkable and I’ll show you why.

First thing I want you to notice is that the person who is mobilised by an angel is another Greek Jew. You might remember that Philip was one of the seven non Palestinian Jews picked to join the leaders of the revolution to reflect the growing ethnic diversity of the movement.

The leading activists seem to be the non Palestinians including Stephen the first martyr, Barnabus - a Jew from Cyprus and Philip who we read about here.

The Palestinian Jews/the apostles - Peter, John and co stay in Jerusalem. We will see in future episodes that they lack the vision to see the revolution spreading beyond the Jews, even to the Samaritans.

But here we see that the Greek Jews like Philip have no lack of vision. Perhaps it is their cosmopolitan background that means they are more open minded.

So Philip meets this Ethiopian eunuch on the desert road that leads to Egypt and to the rest of Africa.

Let’s consider what Luke [who according to tradition is said to have written Acts] wants us to know about this person.

He’s from an area we know now as either Ethiopia or Sudan - the southern end of the river Nile. That’s a distance of 4000 kilometres! That’s four months of walking every day for eight hours!

The eunuch is a long way from home, but he has been to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of Pentecost and is on his way back.

Scholars don’t think he is a Jew, because eunuchs are not allowed to be Jews. He was what Jews called a God Fearer, someone who made the pilgrimage out of respect.

He is a sub Saharan African Gentile, he has black skin and he is a eunuch.

Eunuch is not a common term in our culture, but back then a eunuch was a type of male slave who was selected before the stage of puberty for service - usually of a woman.

The male child was castrated to reduce the production of testosterone in his body, so that when he grew into an adult his physical strength and libido would be diminished and he would represent less of a sexual threat to women of the royal court.

Given the lack of competitive threat to the King, eunuchs were often senior royal servants with significant responsibility. In this case, it says that the eunuch was responsible for the Queen of Ethiopia’s treasury. In other words, highly regarded and trustworthy.

In current culture, this Ethiopian slave might call themselves non-binary and use gender neutral pronouns like “They/Them/Theirs”.

Jesus has something significant to say about non-binary people. He is commenting on marriage and divorce and suggested that if a man wants the freedom to divorce his wife, he should not get married in the first place. Jesus then said this, recorded in

Matthew 19:11-12

11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

So according to Jesus there are some people who are non-binary who were born that way, others who were made non binary by others and still others who choose to live that way.

The current debate in gender identity is a complex and sensitive one in mainstream society and amongst Christians. But it would seem here that Jesus didn’t seem too troubled by questions of gender identity and readily accepted that some people were born with a different gender from their biological gender, some changed their gender due to social reasons and still others simply chose their own gender identity.

I think this must at least help shape the debate amongst Christians about gender identity.

So back to the conversation between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. The royal slave is reading Isaiah 53:7-8

“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.

In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.”

The conversation continues in Acts 8:34-36

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?”

If you didn’t know the rest of the story, what do you think Philip said?

Maybe he said:

“Erm, that might be a bit tricky, because Leviticus 21:20 says that a man with damaged testicles is unable to be fully in the presence of Yahweh. They can be blessed, but not fully included because they are not God’s best.”

“Also it’s not just you - it says in Leviticus 20:13 that gay men are also not living God’s best and they can only receive a limited blessing, they cannot be fully included - so you’re not on your own!”

“Also the Torah is clear - we cannot change it even if we wanted to. You’re a eunuch, you’re not a Jew and you’re not even a complete man. If you were at least a man, that might help!”

The eunuch may have responded, “but sir, have you not read Isaiah 56:4-5:

4 For this is what the Lord says:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose what pleases me
    and hold fast to my covenant—

5 

to them I will give within my temple and its walls
    a memorial and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that will endure forever.

“Have gender and sexual others, once excluded by the Levitical code, been included in the Kingdom of God?”

Philip might have been unsettled by this, but may have continued his objection to the request to be baptised with something like:

“It would be easier for traditional Jews who are older and more conservative if you stayed away. It’s their culture, they are bit dyed in the wool. We don’t want to upset them out of respect for their age and their money and for the unity of the Jewish community.”

The eunuch’s eyes may have started to fill with tears saying:

“Philip, I’m a slave, a foreigner, a gentile, a non-binary eunuch. Sent away from your temple, but just wanting to be in the presence of God. What must I do to be baptised?”

Is that how the conversation went?

I imagine if the eunuch was talking to a leader of an evangelical church here - now in the UK, it might well go like that. Or at least, they may be told that they could get baptised - but only if they committed to their biological birth gender and embraced heterosexual marriage as God’s best for them.

Is that how the conversation went?

No it didn’t! They stopped the chariot by some water and Philip immediately baptised them as a sign of their inherent holiness as a human being. Of course Yahweh loved them, of course Yahweh accepted them. No one is excluded from Yahweh’s family that is the human race.

As a footnote, Luke says in Acts 8:39

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.

Did Philip send a discipleship pastor 4000km to disciple this eunuch into a well behaved orthodox Jew? We don’t know, but I think that was unlikely.

I think that this story of Philip and the eunuch is a fundamental turning point in the story of this revolutionary Jewish movement. It is the start of the vision of Jesus for a movement that in his words to his disciples Acts 1:8:

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

This Jewish revolutionary movement for inclusion, equality and justice that Jesus called ‘The Kingdom of God' will spread to the ends of the earth like a new kind of empire.

But it will not be like other empires that assimilate and destroy indigenous cultures, replacing them with a dominant culture. Instead it will preserve and celebrate diversity and difference, whilst uniting humanity in love.

This is what we see in the story of Philip and the Eunuch.

As an act of reflection and celebration - let’s share bread and wine together, that remind us of the love of God that unites us and celebrates our diversity.

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