Fifth Sunday in Easter - May 18, 2003
By The Rev. Benjamin J. Newland
We have in these stories three short lessons on the Kingdom of God in the post-Easter world. In Acts we learn who belongs to the kingdom of God. In the first letter of John we learn how to act in the kingdom of God. And in the Gospel we learn how to worship the King of this Easter Kingdom.
In Acts we have the story of a Eunuch from Ethiopia who is returning from a visit to the Holy City of Jerusalem. It seems to me that he must have been a man of great faith, for he traveled a great distance to make this pilgrimage, and as he’s riding home he’s still reading from the scriptures, seeking their meaning. Yet his faith was not at peace with his life, for while he could afford to travel to Jerusalem, he was a stranger, and not a child of Israel. In addition, he had been maimed sexually as part of his service to his foreign government, a fact which put him permanently outside of the holy things of Jerusalem, or so he thought.
When Philip catches up to him, the Ethiopian Eunuch is quick ask for help, and it sounds to me like he’s almost desperate to understand what he’s reading. The passage from Isaiah describes a man who suffers in silence, who is given no justice, and who is eventually killed. For us it is easy to assume that Isaiah speaks of Jesus, but when the Eunuch asks Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this…?” I think he is wondering if maybe Isaiah wasn’t talking about him, for wasn’t he silent in the face of his unjust exclusion from the life of faith?
The Eunuch had probably read Deuteronomy , where it says that “A man whose testicles have been crushed or whose male member has been cut off must not be admitted to the assembly of Yahweh.” And, “No half-breed may be admitted to the assembly of Yahweh.” He was out on both counts, excluded by nationality and sexuality.
Then Philip tells him about Jesus the Christ, and Jesus’ friends who are all beginning to believe that the prophet was talking about him. And it was lucky that the Eunuch was reading Isaiah, because Isaiah has always been a good book for the Christians who’ve adopted it. I imagine Philip flipping forward to chapter 56 and reading, “No eunuch should say, ‘Look, I am a dried up tree.’ For Yahweh says this: for the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths, and choose to do my good pleasure, and cling to my covenant, I shall give them in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters…” And of foreigners who likewise come to love Yahweh Isaiah says, “…these I shall lead to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer…for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
The eunuch must have begun to understand because when they passed by a bit of water he impulsively stops the chariot and jumps out, and asks, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” The statement sounds like it is made half in challenge, but also half in hope. And Philip can think of no reason at all to refuse either. To the Kingdom of God belong even the outcast and the foreigner.
How shall we know those who dwell in the Kingdom of God? The author of the first letter of John says that we shall know them by their love. He writes to his fledgling congregation to tell them that the proof of their new life is simply the fact that they love each other. Their example in love is Jesus, whose love was so great that he laid down his life for us. The author then tells his readers that they too should lay down their lives for others.
In some ways this laying down of your life is almost an easy way out. Except that we come to that one unique crisis where the exchange of our life for the life of another is possible, none of us will ever know if we are capable of such an act. This heroic, once-for-all sacrifice has likely happened more often on the movie screen than in actual human history. But for those of us who will never face such a decision, the author of First John asks this question: “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help?” And thus the laying down of our Christian lives is not only a heroic gesture in the time of crisis, but also a constant giving to those around us, a building up of our families, our communities, and even those who are foreigners.
And then the author records a most potent line of spiritual advice. In verse 18 he says, “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” This thought is close to a favorite quote of mine, attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. “Preach the Gospel always. If necessary, use words.” These reciprocal thoughts are a constant challenge to preachers of any kind. You cannot preach your way into the Kingdom of God. You can only act out your love to show that you already belong.
The Gospel reading is short and succinct. Now that we know who we are, and know how to act here in this Kingdom, how do we honor our King? In two ways. First, the love of Jesus is utterly inseparable from the keeping of his commandments. Second, the continued presence of Jesus in this Kingdom and in our lives can be accomplished only by our continuing to do his work in the world. Doing the work that Jesus did during his life, and thereby showing our love of him, is the very thing that keeps him present and alive in this world. The question we have to ask ourselves is, are we growing his life, or merely providing life support?
Now that I think about it, these three lessons are really quite terrible lessons for increasing church attendance. If we are to let all the people into this Kingdom of God that Acts tells us to, then we have got to open the doors. And if we are to behave in this Kingdom of God like the author of First John tells us to, then we are going to have to go out those doors. And if we are to show honor to the King of this Kingdom of God, then we are going to have to stay out there, and work. AMEN.