Surprise!

They may never be a more unlikely setting for evangelistic outreach than the one described in Acts 8:26-40, the First Lesson appointed for the Fifth Sunday of Easter in the year of Mark.  The setting is a wilderness road from Jerusalem to Gaza.  Philip is plucked up from the hotbed of activity in Samaria, sent out to this lonely place and miraculously encounters an Ethiopian official, who equally miraculously, becomes one of the first converts that Acts 1:8 called for, who are from "the ends of the earth."  Surprises abound in this story.  It reminds us that we have a very surprising God, who is always working in ways that would have never occurred to us.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but have been formulated to get at some of the basic questions that Law and Gospel preachers have regarding the function of the Word.  For more on this unique genre of preaching, see my brief guide to Law and Gospel preaching, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The Spirit is the active presence in this story.  The Spirit sends Philip into the wilderness, urges him to join the Ethiopian in conversation, gives him the words to say that lead the Ethiopian to faith, and finally snatches Philip away while the Ethiopian goes on rejoicing.  What this story achieves is a testimony to the wideness of God's mercy, undoubtedly a Gospel function.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is no word of Law here, no word which exposes our need for Christ.  The Ethiopian asks the question, "What is to prevent me from being baptized?" and in that we might hear faint signs of our tendency to exclude some from the grace of God, but those signs are faint indeed.  This is a good news story.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  Since we are called to identify with the ones whom the Spirit speaks to, we could identify with either Philip or the Ethiopian.  If Philip, then we could reflect on how it is to have the Spirit leading us into surprising places to share the gospel with people we thought we'd never encounter.  If the Ethiopian, then we could reflect on those times that God has provided surprising people who inspire us and lead us into a deeper walk with Christ, or perhaps into the life of faith initially.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  A call to obedience always functions to invite us to live in a certain way in response to God's work.  There is no explicit call to obedience here, but at the end of the story we are told that the Ethiopian "went on his way rejoicing."  That is certainly our call as well.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Since the Law is absent in this story we will need to invent some couplets based on the gospel side of the story.  Some ideas: lost in the wilderness/found in the wilderness; confused/enlightened; outcast from God's people/joined with God's people.

6.  Exegetical work:  It's hard not to notice Luke's use of the word idou, (Look!, Lo and behold!) in this story.  Even though this word often goes untranslated, in the Greek it may signal surprise, and in this story, that is definitely the case.  The first instance is in verse 27 after we are told that Philip goes to this wilderness road.  The Greek text says, (literal translation) "And look! an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of queen Candace..."  This encounter is surprising to say the least.  How unlikely to encounter anyone, much less a foreigner, a eunuch, and a court official in the middle of the desert!  The second instance is in verse 36 where again we are surprised.  The Ethiopian says, "Look! water."  They are traveling in the desert.  Is it not surprising that there is water here, and even enough for the two of them to "go down into"?  God is definitely doing surprising things here.  Bede the Venerable, in his ancient commentary on this story, lifts up another surprise quoting St. Jerome: "'[The eunuch] found the church's font there in the desert, rather than in the golden temple of the synagogue.' For there [in the desert] something happened that Jeremiah declared was to be wondered at, 'an Ethiopian changed his skin,' that is, with the stains of his sins washed away by the waters [of baptism], he went up, shining white, to Jesus." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT, vol. V, p. 97)  The last surprise of this text has been argued about for centuries, especially by the reformers:  verse 37 is omitted in most manuscripts.  Only in a few manuscripts is it included, likely as a late addition.  It reads, "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.'"(NRSV).  It is not likely that Luke included this formulaic statement. For a God who is surprising us at every turn, is it not likely that the Spirit had already done its work within the heart of this official and that his desire to be baptized is evidence of this?

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  I like Cathy Lessmann's analysis of this text, lifting up the insider/outside theme with which we are so familiar these days.  The Ethiopian eunuch was considered an outsider, yet God clearly had other ideas.  We who consider ourselves insiders need to take heed, lest we too have false ideas about whom God favors.  See Lessmann's complete analysis at crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!