Acts 8 - Part 2 - Outsiders Are In

Summary
On this week's podcast, Bert DeJong (Pastor Emeritus), Gregg Demey (Lead Pastor), and Caryn Rivadeneira (Director of Care) wade into Acts 8: 26-40, one of the wildest passages in the Bible (Eunuchs! Water in the desert! Holy Spirit promptings and snatchings!). Join them as they discuss the inclusiveness of our big God and what it means that the Spirit sent Philip straight to the eunuch.

Today's Hosts
Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor
Bert DeJong, Congregational Care Associate
Caryn Rivadeneira, Director of Care and Worship Planning

Note: Wade in the Word is a weekly podcast designed to take a deep dive into scripture for the weekend message. Join our pastors, staff, and occasional special guests as we reflect together.

Wade in the Word podcast is a production of Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church, located in Elmhurst, IL. Wade in the Word is produced and audio-engineered by Kyle Olson, Technical Director. For more information about Elmhurst CRC or to find out about other tools and resources to grow you and your family in faith visit elmhurstcrc.org.

Transcript

Gregg DeMey Speaker  0:00  
Hey friends, welcome to our weekly wait in the word podcast at Elmhurst CRC great way to dive into a chapter of the Bible, get yourself ready for Sunday worship. We're going to be in Acts chapter eight verses 26 through 40. This week and I am sitting with a couple of fresh young faces from Elmhurst CRC. To my right is Reverend Dr. Pastor Bert DeJong. That's me. Yeah, I've heard of you. Are you new here? I feel like I've heard of you before. I am new here, but I'm not new here. That is the perfect way of putting it, along with Caryn Rivadeneira. Hello, good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening, wherever you're listening to this. Yeah, we're recording this kind of early in the morning. So Caryn and Bert cleverly have some caffeinated beverages. I, on the other hand, have not been so clever. So if I get to talking slowly or just an average sharp this morning, we'll blame it on the lack of coffee in my life. But we have an exciting, dramatic, spiritually lively Chapter of the Bible to deal with today. So let's hop right in the story of Philip in the Ethiopian think is how my nav Bible gives a caption to the section; it is all of that. So would you be so kind as to kick us off, Caryn?

Caryn Rivadeneira, Speaker  1:24  
Sure, well. Now an angel of the Lord said to fill up go south to the road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

Speaker  1:33  
And so Philip started out, and on his way, he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the conduct a which means Queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship and on his way home was sitting in his chariot, reading the book of Isaiah, the prophet,

Speaker  1:51  
the spirit told Philip, go to the chariot and stay near it.

Speaker  1:57  
Alright, so already, just in these opening verses 26 to 29, there are very clear messages that God is sending Philips away. In verse 26, it says, an angel of the Lord or a messenger of the Lord. In the New Testament, the general word for messenger is often applied to angels. And then, in verse 29, it's the Holy Spirit who gives a second direct message to fill up. So I'd say this is maybe one of the recurring themes or recurring happenings early in the book of Acts that God gives words or directions. Yeah. Yeah. Does this still happen?

Speaker  2:44  
I think so. I hope so. What I appreciate about this, though, always is that it's just initially, at least it's so vague. I mean, he says, go south to the road. But, you know, I'm just struck by the fact that Philip seemingly is like, okay, and head south. Whereas I feel like, you know, when God gives the direction, usually we're like, Okay, so what's gonna happen there? What do we need? And do that, you know, and so it's just so like, head to head in this direction. And, and that Philip obeys that, and waits for their guidance is Yeah.

Speaker  3:17  
Your God certainly gives directions, but the question is, how does he give them? Or how do we receive them? What? What's the vehicle and communication? Where's that come from? And a variety of sources, right? Apparently, here. Philip heard something. It is like I hear your voice; you hear my eye. It hasn't happened to me. But that's not to say they haven't had a sense of having received direction or church hasn't or other leaders haven't. The question is, how does it come? And then, how do you evaluate that?

Speaker  3:51  
Yes, indeed, it's hard to tell from the language here. Could it be that Philip had impressions, like in his own heart or spirit versus like hearing a, you know, audio voice from God saying these things? I mean, certainly, my experiences get those kinds of spiritual impressions on the regular, but there's only been a few times where I feel like, either God through another person or in my own circumstance like it has been as alarmingly clear as a, you know, an audio voice that I could audible voice and audio high,

Speaker  4:27  
so it's good. Yeah, no, right. It's interesting to think was it, you know, someone angel or messenger standing right before him saying this sort of audibly, yeah, in a way that he could hear was the impression I'm with you, Greg, I feel like I get those impressions often and just sort of, I don't know, quote, unquote, hear the Lord speaking in different, different ways all the time. But the best is for sure, sort of when you get, I think, another human sort of convicted or convincing you that what you heard was true, are kind of following up and speaking into that and so you kind of will All right, that was.

Speaker  5:02  
So notice in both of these things, these are not like huge major life decisions. Like, God isn't telling Philip like, Hey, move to Egypt. Like they're very, I don't know, kind of just like day to day leading, I mean, getting up, and I'm sure he had to pack up something to get on the desert road. God also does not give him any indication of what his plan or what the outcome is. It's like God has given him a leading. And I mean, to some degree, Philips obedience and responsiveness are being tested. But it's not like there's a carrot out there at the end that God has given, like, hey, if you do this, some amazing things are gonna happen. Yeah.

Speaker  5:48  
Yeah, so he started out, right. So he gets this impression to sense this, this word from God, and messenger of God, go and do this. And he starts out not sure where this whole thing is leading. That's us. That's a kind of odd situation. As far as I'm concerned, I'd like to, if I'm going to get an impression at all to be about something I'm supposed to do. Or a place I'm supposed to be or something I'm supposed to be, but not just as General. Hey, I gotta move in a direction there and

Speaker  6:20  
right, I want something more specific; we'd like some guaranteed results. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Also just want to recognize that for Philip, earlier in Acts, chapter eight, he had been north in some area, and this amazing outbreak and kind of grafting in of the Samaritans into the early church had happened. And I would think, having just had probably some incredible spiritual experiences, that everything in him would want to go from Jerusalem back north, right to get back there to help people take the next step to see what new thing is going to break out in the Spirit of God does send him in exactly the opposite direction, and not into the midst of people not into the midst of where the action is, but out on the desert road. So if I were to go up, I would have been like, that might need some confirmation here. Because that seems not the most exciting or fruitful thing to do right now. And even as reading it today, you know, my whole sense is that

Speaker  7:27  
the growth of Christianity out of Jerusalem to Judaism, marry the ends of the earth was northward toward Europe and the European direction, right. But this is going south. And now what's that about? And I know we'll talk about the Ethiopian in a moment. But it's a whole other thought, a whole other direction. and somewhat surprising from my perspective.

Speaker  7:48  
I think it's important for us to remember this, though, because I feel like we forget, we think that everything particularly is, you know, a reformed congregation, we feel like well, it's all from Germany exact spread. And you just realize how early I'm like, No, I mean, the African Church has been essential in the growth, you know, and we don't spend a lot of time learning about that even or considering that I mean when it's super influential, so even just this, this little reminder of the importance of Ethiopia, in our faith.

Speaker  8:17  
So yeah, this is totally true as North American Christians, you know, we, I mean, somewhat accurately trace our spiritual, historical lineage, like from the early church in Jerusalem through Europe. One thing I think we just maybe lack imagination don't really think of very often is that in Israel, in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq, there has been an unbroken Christian presence since 2000 years ago, since these earliest days. Whereas looking at you, Bert, I mean, you're born in the Netherlands. My grandparents were born in the Netherlands. I mean, our ancestors were still like, lighting evening fires and painting themselves Blue 1000 years ago, and all sorts of terrible things. No, I honestly. So just like we're, we're only like, halfway to, like, European pagan tribalism in the like, in a big part of my genetic lineage. And it's lovely to know in parts of the world. This really dawned on me in college; I had an Egyptian friend and her family, kind of like trace their roots back to the first days of Christianity. We have some Indian members of our congregation who literally can trace their ancestry back to the first century AD, right, right. And I was at an art installation at Hope College last year where there was some Ethiopian Christian art. They very much trace the history of Ethiopian Christianity back to this moment. Right and amazing to see, you know, African artwork, more than 1000 years old, that we have relates to the earlier days in the church than what the tradition that I serve in or grew up in, you know, it was didn't even exist at that point. Yeah.

Speaker  10:15  
Yeah, actually, just last week, I can't remember what sparked it. But I was googling images of paintings of Madonna and Jesus paintings from around the world. And it is fascinating. It is a really good exercise, I think, to just to stretch your mind a little bit. And remember how like, I mean, some of them are more modern paintings, some are very, very old. But again, to kind of get ourselves out of this idea that like Christianity is European or it is this in just sort of how other people even imagine, you know, Mary, and Jesus and how they consider those images to look, I mean, it's just sort of a powerful fun. Exercise.

Speaker  10:52  
So is it always a good idea too when you're moving in a certain direction to ask, so is this where I'm being nudged to? Or are there other moments in the life of the church in the life of the congregation or denomination, Church of Christ? in which God says, No, you know what, you're going the wrong direction, we're gonna move you somewhere else. These whispers, sometimes more than that, right? Yeah.

Speaker  11:19  
So I'm convinced, like, in my own sense of calling or, like, when I heard about the way like pastors get called, it was always more about the destination. And the process, at least, that was my impression as a kid, like a pastor got called to a certain church or a certain location. And having been part of planting a few churches, it was like, you know, kind of the sense of being called to this place. But the destination is really a small factor overall; it's like your, perhaps God, is calling you to love or reach out to a certain group of people or to shepherd a certain group of people. But just because you're called to a particular location or congregation is no, no guarantee that great things are going to happen or that God's going to be in it from there on out or that you're going to be faithful to it to like the geography of it is relatively meaningless, really, in the whole thing.

Speaker  12:25  
I think it's interesting, too, that you said about the calling to a destination, because I think that was also so limiting of what a calling could be, again, it's the whole thing about like, it's more than the destination. It's the journey. But I mean, that is true. I mean, sometimes I feel like God just does say, in maybe we have no idea why but pointing us in a direction or calling us to do something that seems very vague and nebulous. And the point is obedience and not knowing what will happen when we get there. I mean, what, you know, if he would have gotten there, and nothing would have happened, amazing. Would that have been worth it? Yeah, cuz he obeyed God, we wouldn't maybe know why we wouldn't have the story. But we do get too caught up in the end goal. Yeah.

Speaker  13:08  
Yeah, I see parallels to this. And like, the search of young adults for the exact right college or university to go to, or sometimes in the language we use even to find, like, a partner, or like the one. So if you're a young person listening to this, like, that's, that's a lot of bunk. In my opinion, both of those things. Like, I don't know that God would necessarily be calling you to a specific like, college per se, like, maybe. But I mean, the important thing, like as you undergo college or university is that, like, you become like, a fruitful student, that you form relationships with significant professors, that you're a good friend, that you learn how to live with a roommate, that you're not a blood relative with. It's like, all of those things you could do at one of 400 different colleges. And like, God could use you and grow you and help you thrive in any of those situations. And all of those, like growth and character and in life, like totally transcends whether you're in, you know, South Carolina, or Texas or California.

Speaker  14:19  
That's super true. I'm just thinking, my own seminary journey with which kind of ties to this to have just. I'd probably had a sense for nearly a decade that I should go to seminary or that that was something I wanted to do. And every couple of years, I'd sort of start googling, and where should I go? Should I do this and whatever? And everything just seemed so difficult and overwhelming, and the choices and I remember at some point, praying and saying to God like if I'm supposed to do this, and I use these words, you need to make it easy and obvious. And then this is the part I know I've told, but in a conversation with Sam Hamstra, who's a member of this congregation, we were talking about seminary. He used those exact words about going to my current seminary, and he said, You know what, I just think it's The easy, obvious choice for you. And I was like, oh, my goodness, you know, it was just whatever. And so yeah, we're you know, so I'm at Northern Seminary because of that. And it was, indeed, the process has been relatively easy and obvious. I don't know that that means like, this was like, super God-ordained place, but it was like, just make a decision and go and do this thing. Could I have gotten an amazing, you know, had an amazing experience and education and going to University Chicago Divinity School or McCormick or any of these other places around here? Sure. I'm sure that would have been great too. But to Greg's point, sometimes it is just, there's any number of good things and you know, kind of be faithful to God and that.

Speaker  15:42  
Yeah, well, I think of the moments in my life, when I've had a really clear sense of God's leading and probably the clearest moment that came when I was facing a decision about where I should go and what I should do. And it stemmed from the fact not that there was a place to which I was called, that felt better than where I was. It was rather this deep, profound sense. And I can even feel it when I'm talking about it, then, if I stay where I am now, I am too happy, it is too good. And it's not good. For me that is as profound sense that this isn't good for me. I need to be somewhere else where I'm going to be challenged, grow, or whatever it is. And certainly, that happened, I think, got thrown in way over my head as a matter of fact, but neither here nor there.

Speaker  16:28  
Yeah, not to tell your secrets. But I believe pastor Byrd is alluding to the moment where God nudged him from a lovely spot in Wisconsin to Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church. Yeah, there

Speaker  16:39  
you are. But it was very much like that. And it wasn't because Elmhurst has appeared so attractive at the moment it was rather than my life I didn't, I had a sense was not what it should be. In a very, very lovely place. Well, hopefully gods are making you profoundly uncomfortable ever since? Absolutely, yes.

Speaker  17:03  
So just as for the proof that the deep spiritual things are not about geography, primarily, we get this character from Ethiopia, which we ought not to confuse with the modern nation of Ethiopia. Still, a region sort of in South Egypt,, toward what is modern Ethiopia, toward the Horn of Africa. And, probably, it's good for us to remember that just earlier, an X and X chapter two, there's this laundry list of Jewish folks who descend on Jerusalem from every corner of the Roman Empire, including provinces of Africa. So, to some degree, Jewish identity, had already made the jump from being just a racial, ethnic, religious, cultural thing to because of the Jewish dispersion, even the ancient worlds kind of welcoming in converts and grafting in different, different Gentiles. So for sure, that movement of God that started in Judaism sort of catches fire, and goes to a whole new level in the early church. So again, in North America, many of us probably had the experience of growing up in a, perhaps a denomination, maybe a congregation, if you grew up in a Christian family, that probably just because this is how we roll in North America, probably was mostly people who looked like you or your family. And that's true, whether you're Korean or African American or European heritage. Still, the picture that the book of Acts sets forth really from the beginning days is that it's this international group of people that shares Jesus in common. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker  19:04  
Yeah, I mean, it's super remarkable. I want to talk about the fact that this guy's a eunuch too. Are we just gonna leave that one because I also find that interesting um, what does that even mean? I'm wondering if people know Would you like me to explain it? I did do some reading you know what I was interested A unike is a person if you don't know who it's a man I guess what's the horse equivalent a gelding? They've been castrated Yes. So then they are right and trusted they're usually high level courtiers or something right there because they are quote unquote safe I guess particularly about women and would be their concern. Although I just I don't anyway but it's it's it's sort of a horrifying and yet in this day a little bit better lot in life is what I was reading. I mean, the don't maybe google it the way I did the process of how people became Unix back then. It's pretty brutal. However, family What often sell their sons into slavery to become eunuchs because it allowed them to get like an education and to be higher level and to survive. So I think it also just brings us into again, like just, I mean, the world was a rough, rough place back then. I mean, it's a rough place now. But lest we think like the world is so much worse, anyway, so that I guess that part of it also sort of touches me a little bit to that Jesus's for people who've been brutalized and you know, are very, very different. And I don't know, there's something interesting about that to me, too, that this guy's you? Anyway, there's that sorry.

Speaker  20:44  
This is a little bit of a side, but in my musical education, there's also a whole. Yeah, the castrati of it Italian singing history where, I mean, before he could become a celebrity or beyond like America's Got Talent. I mean, a fast track to fame for a few centuries. And Italy was a if he had a young boy who was a really great singer, to perhaps castrate them just before puberty, so that their voice wouldn't change. So whatever, you have the voice of a woman, but yet they grew enough and would still grow then into the size of an adult man. So this practice lasted long enough that we actually have some vinyl records of some of the last castrati from the earliest 20th century. So it's a crazy sound. I don't know if I'd encourage you to Google that as well. But I think the last record was a guy named Farah Nelly. So I remember listening to this in college and be like, wow, the world is a rough place.

Speaker  21:51  
Yes. I mean, it's still us are still brutality everywhere. I don't want to act like this was the last thing of it. But yeah, it's strange what we do.

Speaker  22:03  
Yeah, just. So hopefully, that can also make us grateful for the world that we live in. So we're not perfect in our sympathies and empathy. But just that that thought would be, I think appalling to almost every North American at this point, rather than just take it for granted that like, yeah, some family struggle enough that you have to like, sell a kid and have them castrated, because that's like the best path forward for that kid or that whatever we're not going to eat next year, or other six kids aren't going to eat next year, unless we sell one of them. Like, thank God, we live in a world where

Speaker  22:42  
ya know, exactly, it's it. It makes me grateful, at least that it does break our hearts, I hope. I don't know. You wonder back then if that would occur to them, but feels redemptive, though.

Speaker  22:53  
And having said everything about how this Ethiopian differs from others and would have been an unusual character, probably in his own day, as well as certainly in ours. It's exactly to that sort of person that God directs his attention says, I want you to go after that guy. That's the guy I've got my eye on. There's something wonderful about that is and challenging. Yeah, sure.

Speaker  23:20  
Yeah, so very kind of God, I think to put this character in because all of us, at some point, whatever feel like an outsider feels strange or, and it's curious to me, we don't know this person's name. And sometimes when the Bible does that, I think it's an extra invitation for us, no matter what kind of outsider you are, no matter where you were born to get to, like, put herself in this person's shoes. Yeah, for sure. Alright, Shall we continue? Let's pick it up at verse 30. And see what happens in this interaction. So,

Speaker  24:01  
spirit told Philip to go to the chariot stay near it. Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. Do you understand what you're reading? Philip asks,

Speaker  24:12  
How can I have the Ethiopian said unless someone explains it to me, so he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of scripture, the unit 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. In his humiliation, he was deprived of justice, who can speak of his descendants, for his life was taken from the earth. And that's a passage from Isaiah 53 seven through eight. Yeah,

Speaker  24:43  
so I think in my head when I was a kid, I always imagined that he had, like a nice leather-covered Bible like my family had and he's just cruising in this fancy chariot just like flipping through the pages of his Bible. That probably is not an accurate picture of how the scene went down in the ancient world. Books were not a thing yet, paper would not be in use in Europe for like another 13 or 1400 years. Chinese inventors would invent paper, I think not too much longer, like around this time. But the way of writing things down in the ancient world and around the Roman Empire was to use pirate scrolls. So in all likelihood, the Ethiopian is traveling with a scroll that would have been 10 meters long, maybe even longer, and on unrolling this not flipping through the pages of a book.

Speaker  25:37  
Yeah, the Isaiah scroll that was found in Qumran and 46. The Dead Sea Scrolls, the desert scrolls measured at 24 feet long, and it's 10 inches high. So when you go to Jerusalem, the museum that celebrates that incredible moment of discovering these scrolls, has one of these scrolls that you can walk around and see, it's quite amazing. But I imagined this guy sitting in a chariot fumbling with a 24-foot document, finding the right place, and rolling one side enrolling the other. Yeah.

Speaker  26:14  
Additionally, there would not be chapters and verses marked out on a scroll. So if you did lose your place,

Speaker  26:22  
finding exactly where you left off could be a challenge. This is why of course Phil did not say Oh, you're in Isaiah 53. Right.

Speaker  26:31  
Yes, exactly. So I always picture them holding a squirrel. Like, you know, here, you sort of I'm trying You know, one hand my left hand is up. Hi, my right hand. Right? Would they have been holding it this way? And then was it Yeah. Laterally, laterally? And then? Yeah. So that's funny. I just now when you did that when you're doing this? Yeah, like an interesting like it just gets. That was just

Speaker  26:57  
so how about this passage that he's in? Like, if you could pick a passage for a random Ethiopian? Traveling from Jerusalem? Not too long after Jesus' death and resurrection? Could you pick a better passage?

Speaker  27:15  
I don't know that I could have picked a better passage, I'm struck by the fact that God sort of orchestrates the whole event so that all of these things come together at the right time in the right place, which is kind of the way he works seems to me

Speaker  27:30  
like yeah, I mean, obviously, the connecting to Jesus is his teeing it up quite well for Philip. But just also, I mean, I just the words, as I read it this time, you know, in his humiliation, he was deprived of justice. And so then you go back to the unit, and what he was deprived of in his own humiliation, and so again, that just how Jesus speaks to them, and talking about a line that speaks to you today. Wow, in our world,

Speaker  27:55  
he had that exact same thought, I think, yeah, as a younger person, just thinking of Jesus Lamb of God. And as the Good Shepherd, like the line that he was led like asleep to the sheep to the slaughter as a lamb before it's Shira silent, he did not open his mouth. Like that was always the memorable and compelling part to me. But reading this in 2021, those later lines and humiliation he was deprived of justice, Oh, boy. And then I mean for the sky, who is not going to have children to recognize that Jesus as a single person, did not leave earthly descendants, and then the closing line of this particular part who can speak of his descendants where his life was taken from the earth, like just this point of connection to Jesus, but then recognizing, like, wow, God does something way more amazing or transcendent than the biology of human procreation? Yeah, so not to diminish, like the high calling of parenthood or the love and sacrifice that it takes to raise kids. But God's Parenthood, God's fatherhood, and motherhood for human humanity is on a whole different level.

Speaker  29:14  
And how that must have been heard by the unit who himself is incapable of course of producing descendants, right? So this whole sense of what that must have meant to him.

Speaker  29:29  
Yeah, I mean, I just again, it's like this is why the Scripture is so great, not that we should read everything like it was written just for us or it's a deeply personal thing but just again, like how the spirit moves and how the Word of God can just speak to us and connect and in light up our minds and be that voice of God us. And again, we can it doesn't say for sure that the unit bueno is touched by this, but it would be hard to miss I think in hearing.

Speaker  29:56  
Well, let's read the next couple of verses. We do. Get A little insight here so the eunuch bursary for asked Philip, Tell me please, who is the Prophet talking about himself or someone else? Then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. Yeah. So I think it can confirm whenever we do follow up on these leadings from the spirit or impressions that we give, it's almost guaranteed that there will be some like spiritual conversation or experience or interaction that breaks out. Which again, is no guaranteed of an outcome, no guarantee that we're going to cross paths with somebody Exactly. But like God has something that needs to move or get engaged some way. And that's exactly what happens here. So I'm remembering years ago here at Elmhurst CRC, when we did a little book study this thing called the 10-second rule, which I think has a little overlap with a story. 10-second rule, basically being like God still speaks, the Holy Spirit gives impressions, especially for folks who are eager and kind of have their senses open to receiving them. And if you get an impression, it's best if you lean into it within 10 seconds or less, because if you don't, your brain, your reason will kick in and inevitably tell you a number of ways in which that would be awkward or uncomfortable or fruitless or just would be the wrong thing at this time. And Philip, to his credit, seems to lean into both of these impressions. Like right away, I mean, he's walking down the road, he immediately goes to the side of the chariot. And again, no guarantees where this is going, but something is immediately stirring, and probably before he can blink twice, all of a sudden, he's in the scroll of Isaiah and getting questions from a seeker.

Speaker  31:54  
I love the way that he opens the conversation, right? Do you understand what you're reading? I mean, he's not gonna tell him anything, he opens with a question that allows a guy to kind of reflect on where he is, what's going on in this life. And the ability to ask those kind of questions seems to me, serves us well if we want to follow up on the Spirit's impulses in our lives.

Speaker  32:19  
It would be awesome to build a ministry around good spiritual questions, if someone could do that would be something like, yeah, we're alluding to a thing called alpha rain, which is a whole series of great, honest spiritual questions that then get addressed and kicked around,

Speaker  32:39  
right. So what I'm struck by too, is like, had Philip made this connection before. I mean, we take for granted that we've been hearing this, you know, we've connected, you know, prophecy and Isaiah to Jesus for a long time, or, you know, through the Messiah or whatnot, or wherever we've heard about this. But for these early Christians, I would think each time they went back to their scriptures, like they were making new connections, is well, so you wonder even I mean, Was this something that Philip had studied a lot? Or was this kind of a regulatory moment for him to that he was like, oh, my goodness, I never thought about that. You know, so I think that sort of on because it would have been new for them. I mean, they wouldn't have had this full, they wouldn't have connected all those dots, I don't think immediately, or maybe they did, but I sort of like that. It's sort of that thing that happens when you have a spiritual conversation, how even the quote-unquote more expert person learns during those.

Speaker  33:32  
So amazingly, just a little way down the scroll of Isaiah, so using our English chapter in verse markings these days. The latter part of Isaiah, I think, is Isaiah 56. And to read these few verses, because there are not too many times in the Bible, where eunuchs are specifically mentioned, but this is one, and it's in such close proximity to where this Ethiopian man was reading like, it can't be coincidental. So here's what Isaiah 56 says, Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, The Lord will surely exclude me from his people. So here we have a foreign guy and let no unit complain. I'm only a dry tree, quite a euphemism there, for this is what the Lord says to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant 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 so it's both a forerunner and a eunuch. too maybe have recently read these words or to have maybe Phillip Phillip, just couple turns of the scroll over to find these words and Possibly to let this man know like, hey, in the kingdom of God, it's not about genetics. It's not about what country you were born in. It's not about your number of sons and daughters. Like it's about your connection to God, through Jesus, who, by the way, also didn't have any children but is the Son of God. And like, even as someone who's never going to have children, like you get to participate in this thing, and the possibility of connecting to God's kingdom, like connects you to something eternal, and lasting, and you know, a significance that totally transcends the passing of generations. That's super cool to me.

Speaker  35:47  
This is super cool. Yeah, and how it must have sounded to this man who's dealing with his own circumstances, right with his own life story. Struck by the fact that, according to Deuteronomy 23, there's this passage, it says that no one who's emasculated by cutting should enter the temple. So he lives with that on the one hand, and he's got this Isaiah passage that says, No, there's another side to this story. And there's more than can be said to you. And then he's introduced to Christ, who was the fulfillment of the promise, and it must have been profoundly liberating and affirming for a man in his circumstances. Amazing story.

Speaker  36:40  
Well, I think it just gets back to Jesus and who Jesus came for and what Jesus did, I mean, because that was his whole ministry was people yeah, who were not fit to be in the temple who are not you know, who are unclean. And so to just continue this pattern with the disciples, or sorry, with Philippa, see Deacon, Deacon deacons, one of the big seven, I realized, when I said that he's not a, he's not a disciple, but the Yeah, just that that emphasis continues on people who have been so excluded. I mean, some of those verses in Deuteronomy are rough to read, you know, like, you're really God, you're not gonna let them in, you know, something, that's no-fault. But just the inclusiveness, I think of Jesus. And that carries on, I mean, we're, like we were talking about before, is huge. I also am just thinking too, about, you know, as obviously children are important in our culture today. But back then, they were everything a woman without children was in deep trouble. And, you know, we read in the Old Testament too about just God's heart for barren women. And then here, I guess, the heart for the barren man as well. I think this was probably the only time they knew men were barren or whatever. Otherwise, you don't really hear about that much. They always assume it's the women. But yeah, it's just really powerful that there was that, again, a deep love and God seeing your hurt in your shame and all of that. Yeah.

Speaker  38:10  
So I love this picture of the early church just as an international and kind of multi-ethnic entity that, like, That's God's vision. So it's one of the features of this new show called The chosen that I think they actually like try to get their arms around of just portraying the first century Palestine has probably, I think the portrayal is more multi-ethnic and racial than it actually was. But it speaks to this, I think, the longer-term vision of what the church is and who Jesus followers are.

Speaker  38:54  
Yeah. But later in the story, as we're going to find out, right, as we move on, and coming week, you find out the kind of issues the church had to sort through as it worked through all of those. What are we becoming, and who belongs here? And where are we headed? All those kinds of questions. And part of that stems from encounters like this with these unusual folks brought into the Kingdom who are nothing like they had experienced before. Yeah, yeah, it's some issues,

Caryn Rivadeneira Speaker  39:26  
but I'm just thinking as I'm looking at my blond-haired, blue-eyed myself, although I'm quickly becoming gray-haired, we would have been the most unusual-looking people in this culture. Like if Gregg were to pop into this, they would have been like, Whoa, what do I think again? That's a nice thing for us to remember that that would have been the much weirder rise this barian was come to. Yeah. Anyway, just a barbarian. Absolutely. That's what we say when you come to

Speaker  39:57  
having a daughter who lives in Spain. She has the experience all the time, like, at least once a week somebody will ask her like, how do you do that to your hair, actually a super blonde hair and lives in a very sunny part of the world. So it's she's like now this is just kind of the way it is now, Seriously?