The Holy Spirit must have been alive and well as this account in Acts 8:26-39 unfolds. There is reason after reason that most of us would have turned away before the Spirit’s work was done.
(All references are to the eighth chapter of Acts.) Would I respond if I thought an angel spoke to me? (v. 26). I’d think I was dreaming. Would I willingly go to a deserted road by myself? (v. 26). I prefer to stay where the streetlights are. How would I relate to someone of a different race? (v. 27) How comfortable would I be talking to someone who was in big-time high finance? (v. 27) Am I at ease with persons who are sexually different? (v. 27)
Do I trust the religious motive of everyone who has worshiped? (v. 27) How do I feel about someone I find reading the Bible? (v. 28). Maybe they are a fundamentalist! Now, what if I am led to go and get with this strange dude? (v. 30) It doesn’t get any better. This fellow asks for help. (v. 31). What if he wants to ask a question about something I don’t understand myself? This could be embarrassing! Well, you get the idea. There is talk of Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (v. 35). And this baptism thing. How do I know that the eunuch is a good candidate for this? (v. 39)?
There are multiple places in this story where I am afraid I would have bailed out. Thanks be to God that the Spirit is stronger than our human mutterings and sputterings.
So, I am left to ask if there are encounters like this possible in my life? Are there certain kinds of people I had rather not been seen with? Am I missing God’s call to me to be available to “the least, the lost, the lonely”? When have I left my “home turf” to be a witness in some “different” place?
Not only as individuals, but as congregations we need to explore how we measure up to the example of Philip as an instrument of the Holy Spirit. One way to do that is to read the story and substitute your own name or the name of your congregation every time the text mentions Philip. Does the account continue in the same flow? Where does it tilt in another direction? Come, Holy Spirit! Help us!
What Someone Else Has Said: Walter Brueggemann (Truth Speaks to Power: The Countercultural Nature of Scripture Westminster John Knox) says: “The surge of the Spirit generates social upheavals that entrenched power cannot negate and social possibility that entrenched power cannot halt.”
Prayer: As you prepare this lesson, let your prayer begin: “Where do you send me, O God?...”
