[Thurs, 6 June] Acts 8:26-40 (751 words; 3/14)

Here we have another amazing story which is also groundbreaking. Philip first brought the Gospel to the Samaritans, and now technically this is the first Gentile to be saved. Of course, there may have been other proselytes in Jerusalem who were saved in the first days and weeks of the new church (cf. Jn 12:20-21), and Luke has not narrated any of these. The real cross-over point of the Gospel to the Gentiles is still to come with Peter and Cornelius. For that moment, God made special preparation for the revelation of the mystery of the inclusion of the Gentiles, which includes Peter's vision and other remarkable features, plus his debrief in Jerusalem, where the leaders accepted and celebrated God's sovereign mercy.

Where was this eunuch from? Luke says Ethiopia, but he does not mean the country we know as Ethiopia. Rather 'Ethiopa' referred to the region south of Egypt, and was regarded as mythically distant. The capital city of that empire, Meroë, was about a hundred miles north east of Khartoum (Sudan), and was so powerful that Rome decided not to tangle with it, instead making a treaty with them so they could trade. This eunuch was himself a very powerful man, but was likely to be in Jerusalem not for business, but because he was a proselyte to Judaism. The fact that he is reading Isaiah—presumably in Greek—is the main clue. However, being a eunuch, he could not be a full proselyte (Dt 23:1).

Normally those who could read at all read aloud, which is why Philip can hear him (v. 30). The passage the eunuch is reading is Isa 53, which speaks of the servant who was pierced for our transgressions (Luke quotes from vv. 7-8, though the 'song' runs from 52:13-53:12). Although this is now one of the best OT texts for us to understand who Jesus is and what he achieved, this 'servant' figure had not been previously identified with the Messiah. It was probably Jesus himself who made that link for his disciples (note 1). 

The eunuch wants to know who the prophet is talking about. Starting with that text, Philip goes on to proclaim to him the good news about Jesus (v. 35). The eunuch believes and asks to be baptised. The way he asks is, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptised?" His question refers to the fact that his physical condition prevented him from being baptised into Judaism and becoming a full convert. But a little way on from where he was reading in Isaiah, it says:

Do not let the foreigner joined to the LORD say,
        “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”;
    and do not let the eunuch say,
        “I am just a dry tree.”
4     For thus says the LORD:
    To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
        who choose the things that please me
        and hold fast my covenant,
5     I will give, in my house and within my walls,
        a monument and a name
        better than sons and daughters;
    I will give them an everlasting name
        that shall not be cut off. (Isa 56:3-5)

Where there was no way before, Jesus has now made a way. So the eunuch is baptised into the name of Jesus, and goes on his way rejoicing.

(1) There were probably a number of ways that the apostles and other original Christians came to reread the scriptures and see how they referred to Jesus. One of them, of course, would have been that Jesus explicitly told them (Lk 24:27; but also e.g. Mt 16:21; Mk 9:12). Another one would be remembering the ones he used in the course of his ministry (e.g. Mt 21:13, 16, 42; 22:43-44; 24:29-30; 26:31, 54, 64; 27:46). Others might have been through study or church prophecy. Jesus promised in John’s Gospel that the Holy Spirit would teach them everything and remind them of all that he had said to them (Jn 14:26). And in the narrative, John sometimes says that the disciples did not understand what was going on, but later remembered and understood (Jn 2:22; 12:16 cf. 16:4 and perhaps 2:17).