Scripture Acts 8:26-40
Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Sermon “God Is Love”
I think, with very rare exceptions, it’s a universal experience: being the one left out. Don’t we all remember a moment when we felt or realized, we didn’t belong? On the playground, when sides were being chosen for kickball. In class, when we didn’t know what was going on, or we knew too much. At work, when the buzz around the watercooler quieted as we came near. For me, one evening in high school stands out—a Friday night when the girls I had gone to the dance with decided to leave early, and they were all clearly gathering at one girls house—but I wasn’t invited. Being on the outside, not belonging, leaves a mark on the heart, but not the good kind. Leaves memories that last, but not the good kind. Leaves Taylor Swift to write lyrics like, “Some day, I’ll be living in New York City. But all you’re ever gonna be is mean. Why you gotta be so mean?”
We have a story today about someone who, in the culture of the day, is considered an outsider, a gender anomaly. But because they are riding in one of the queen’s chariots, and are no doubt dressed in fine robes, one might not realize that at first. This person—whose name we are never told—is referred to as the Ethiopian eunuch, and they are a high-level servant to the queen, or Candace, of Ethiopia. They oversee her treasury. One scholar describes the Ethiopian eunuch as a ‘perfect servant.’
… “[The scholar] uses this term to refer to eunuchs as a third gender made so by castration and distinguished by certain patterns of dress, speech, physiological traits, and overall affect. They were highly revered and trusted as court officials, serving kings and queens. They were considered ‘perfect’ servants because they had no allegiance to family and could not jeopardize the dynastic lineage by their own offspring. They were able to move across gender and social boundaries and were often considered holy men because of their ability to access spiritual realms as well.[i]
This description, of one who could move easily across gender boundaries reminded me of the term adopted by some indigenous communities in our nation, “Two-Spirited folks.” One author writes,
The concept of Two-Spirit folks existed well before the arrival of European settlers on Turtle Island (a name for Earth or North America, used by some American Indigenous peoples). Indigenous individuals who identified as Two-Spirit folks were seen as gifted and honoured in their community because they carried two spirits with them, both male and female. 2S folks were often the healers, medicine people, and visionaries within their given community and they were foundational members of their culture. Much of this can be attributed to the “double vision” 2S people are gifted with, being able to see both through the masculine and feminine lens. [i]
This courtier is valuable to their queen. So, what have they been doing in Jerusalem, and why are they now reading the writings of Isaiah? The eunuch appears to be what Jews of that era would call a “God-fearer.” God-fearers were people who valued the scriptures and moral teachings of Judaism so much that they went to the Temple for worship, and they sought out Jewish teachings and writings. Still, according to the Book of Deuteronomy, this person could never be admitted to the faith of the covenant people, because of their physical condition. Their third-gender status leaves them forever on the outside.
And now, the story. Philip is one of the first deacons of the early church, and his work includes sharing the gospel wherever he goes. An angel sends him to a certain road, and there he encounters this person, riding in a chariot, and reading the scroll of Isaiah. In fact, they are reading from the very same chapter we use when we strip the sanctuary on Maundy Thursday, one of Isaiah’s songs of the Suffering Servant. As another scholar puts it, “The perfect servant who is revered in [their] own land of Ethiopia but cut off from the worshiping community of Israel is seeking to understand the suffering servant of Israel whom Isaiah talks about.”[ii]
Philip runs to the chariot, hears its occupant reading from Isaiah’s scroll, and asks whether they needs help in understanding it. The eunuch agrees: they need help, and they invite Philip into the chariot. The eunuch asks Philip, “Who is this?” referring to the scroll. Who is the suffering servant? Philip takes the opportunity to do what we did in worship: he identifies the Suffering Servant with Jesus and shares the Good News. When they come upon a pool of water—which is the really the downplayed miracle here, on this barren and dry Gaza road—the eunuch says, “Is there any reason why I can’t be baptized?” And there isn’t. Philip understands who is in front of him: A sexual and gender minority, a person whom the rules of the Temple would not allow… And yet, Isaiah, the very same prophet whom the eunuch has been reading would disagree. In another passage, Isaiah writes,
Do not let the eunuch say,
“I am just a dry tree.”
For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
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.
~Isaiah 56:3b-5
Both Isaiah and Philip extend a wide welcome to this person who was, to most people in their day, a kind of suspect and outcast. We live in a time when this Biblical welcome of someone who didn’t fit easily into the traditional gender roles seems to have been forgotten. Last year, three hundred and twenty trans and gender-diverse people were killed all around the world, the vast majority of them being transwomen, most of whom were black. Ten percent of these murders took place in the United States. These are the cases that were reported to the media. Actual numbers may be much higher. In February, a sixteen-year-old nonbinary student was badly beaten in their high school bathroom, so badly that they couldn’t walk. This followed a full year of bullying. The next day, they were dead; they died by suicide. Their name was Nex Benedict.
We must do better. The church has, at times, welcomed people only on the condition that they be quiet about the truth of their identities. In some churches now, thanks be to God, that is no longer the case. I’m so grateful that our denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), extends a wide welcome to our trans siblings—not only are they welcome into membership, but also to ordained offices such as deacons, ruling elders, and ministers of Word and Sacrament. In 2018, the General Assembly of the PC (USA) passed an overture that included the following language:
Standing in the conviction that all people are created in the image of God and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for all people, the 223rd General Assembly (2018) affirms its commitment to the full welcome, acceptance, and inclusion of transgender people, people who identify as gender non-binary, and people of all gender identities within the full life of the church and the world. The assembly affirms the full dignity and the full humanity of transgender people, their full inclusion in all human rights, and their giftedness for service. The assembly affirms the church’s obligation to stand for the right of people of all gender identities to live free from discrimination, violence, and every form of injustice.[iii]
Philip, as a deacon, did exactly this. He welcomed the Candace’s Secretary of the Treasury fully into the life of the church of Jesus Christ. He did not pause. He did not waver. “Can I be baptized?” the eunuch asked, and the answer was an instant, resounding, ”Yes.” And then, scripture tells us, the eunuch went on his way, rejoicing.
We all know what it can feel like to be excluded, to be unwelcome. But we don’t all know what it feels like to be in danger in our day-to-day lives. To know that there are people who will instantly feel that there is something wrong with us, perhaps see us as so wrong that we don’t deserve to exist. We all deserve to exist. No matter who we are. No matter how we understand ourselves. No matter the pronouns we ask others to use, or not to use. Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; God is love.. We all deserve the kind of love, care, and welcome that causes us to go out into the world rejoicing.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
[i][1] Katherine Ringrose, as summarized in Mona West, “The Story of the Ethiopian Eunuch,” The Queer Bible Commentary, eds. Deryn Guest, Robert E. Goss, Mona West, and Thomas Bohache (London, UK: SCM Press, 2006), 572.
[1] Isabella Thurston, “The History of Two-Spirited Folks,” The Indigenous Foundation, The History of Two-Spirit Folks — The Indigenous Foundation.
[1] West, Op. Cit., 573.
[1] Overture: On Affirming and Celebrating the Full Dignity and Humanity of People of All Gender Identities—From the Presbytery of New Castle.) 2023rd General Assembly of the PCUSA, 2018, St. Louise, MO.