This week’s scripture (Acts 8:26-40) is the story of an Ethiopian eunuch’s encounter
with the Apostle Philip. The Ethiopian was a spiritual seeker and wanted to know what the scriptures meant. Philip taught him the gospel, and the Ethiopian was so excited that he wanted to be baptized. He wanted his new life as a disciple of the Lord of Love and Hope to start immediately!
Consider this: The Ethiopian wasn’t a member of the same ethnic group as Philip
and the other apostles. In modern lingo, we’d say he was of a different race. Not
only that, but he was also reproductively different. A “eunuch” was a man incapable of
fathering children. According to Jesus in Matthew 19, one was either born a eunuch, or “made” a eunuch (surgically and against one’s will) or chose to become a eunuch.
Eunuchs were often employed by powerful or important women because they were no threat to father children by them. This Ethiopian was the treasurer for his queen.
To be clear: The main character in this passage, an Ethiopian eunuch, is both racially
and sexually different from the other protagonists in the Gospels and Acts. Yet, he isn’t a second-class citizen; he’s a valued worker.
Far too often in Christian history, the answer to the question, “What is to prevent my
being baptized?” has been, “The Church,” or “The Pastor,” or “The Book of Discipline.” Jesus makes no distinctions between the people he calls to follow him, but we seem to make it our number one issue.
Are there still eunuchs today? What does this strange story have to say about life in
2024? Join us Sunday in worship and find out.
Addressing Disinformation in the United Methodist Church
Please read this recent letter from Virginia Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson to the pastors and laity of the Virginia Annual Conference. Disinformation continues to be spread to undermine the United Methodist Church.
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