What is to Prevent? (midweek)

“What is to Prevent?” 

Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message

October 9, 2019

Friday is the feast day of St. Philip the Deacon or Evangelist.  He is one of the seven Greek speaking Jewish Christians called by the Twelve in Jerusalem to help in assistance to the poor, particularly Greek-speaking widows and orphans who felt that they had been neglected by the alms-distribution organized under the Hebrew and Aramaic speaking Church leadership (Acts 6:5).  He plays a major role in how the Book of Acts portrays the increasing spread of Christian witness: from Jews in Jerusalem and Judea, to Samaritans, and then to Gentiles as far as “the end of the earth” (i.e., Rome) (Acts 1:8).  After the martyrdom of another of the 7 deacons, Stephen, in Acts 7, but before the conversion of St. Paul (Acts 9), Peter baptizing the gentile Cornelius (Acts 10), or Paul’s missions to the gentiles in Acts 13-14 and 16-28, it is Philip who takes the Gospel to Samaria (Acts 8:4-25), and then baptizes the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39).  The Ethiopian eunuch represents an expansion of the scope of God’s grace:  though it is unclear in the story whether he is Jewish or a gentile attender of Synagogue, or whether he is actually a physical eunuch or merely a man who holds that name as a title for a court official, he is clearly seen as a foreigner beyond the pale of Judaism’s embrace, and thus is a key part of the expansion of God’s call to humanity.     

The story sees the eunuch reading a text from Isaiah.  Philip asks if he understands what he is reading, to which the eunuch replies in words that resonate to most of us who have been puzzled and stumped by Bible passages, “How can I, unless someone explain it to me?”  Using the passage, Philip explains the hope he has in Jesus, raised from the dead, and (presumably) mentions how baptism is the way we accept this grace: 

“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.”  (Acts 8:37-38)

“What is there to prevent me from being baptized?”  Philip could have pointed to many reasons for not baptizing the Ethiopian: there were many such possible impediments.  A foreigner was not allowed to eat the Passover without circumcision (Exodus 12:48), and castrated men were barred from ever becoming part of the Congregation of Israel (Deuteronomy 23:1).  But Philip, recognizing that God’s grace and welcome is bigger than any of our little rules, baptizes away.  And in so doing, he becomes part of that major theme of the Book of Acts: the increasing scope and spread of God’s welcome. 

The process was challenging and painful.  Acts 15 tells of how the early apostles in Council developed rules of minimal standards of behavior for all to help bring unity to the expanding Church, split by division over admitting “unclean” gentiles without following the scripture-given rules to make them Jews and rid them of their uncleanness.   Despite divisions, the Church thrived as it set aside the old ways of doing things and followed the inspiration of the Spirit. 

Today, many evangelicals take issue with what they call “turning away from scripture” in a whole range of areas:  women’s roles, gay and lesbian priests, and same-sex marriage.  But at heart, I think, their argument is a call to preserve the Levitical distinctions between clean and unclean.  And in this, they are wrong.  Acts 15’s call to “avoid fornication” almost certainly means avoiding marriage within forbidden degrees of kinship rather than a generalized set of specific rules on sexual ethics.   The Holiness Code of Leviticus 17-27 does not make a distinction between ritual and moral rules: weaving a blended fabric garment or sowing a field of hybrid grain are both considered “abominations” every bit as much as “a man lying with a man.”  Such efforts at holding the line and keeping “old time morality” looks to me very much like another impediment that limits and places human bounds on God's grace.   We are called to chastity, fidelity, and eschewing promiscuity, to be sure, but beyond that, I doubt the Bible really bears the weight these efforts place upon it. 

When we are asked “what is to prevent us” from sharing God’s grace and love, our answer should be “NOTHING AT ALL.” 

Grace and Peace.