Pastor Nate Hosler, Phd
Acts 8:26-40 John 15:1-8,1 John 4:7-21 (scripture texts at the bottom)
A surprise meeting on a desert road. When I think of a wilderness road, I think of the road from Yola to Mubi. Going from central Adamawa state to the northern part of the state is a four-hour drive through often minimally populated semi-arid countryside. There are some vehicles, a few nomadic herders with their cattle (and occasional camel, and some small villages and the occasional town along the way.
A year ago I traveled back to Nigeria and went north the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria’s headquarters (Eklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria). Speeding back to Yola in a small convoy of 3 cars through this wide-open landscape and farms before the rainy season made everything green, we suddenly stopped. Quickly jumping out of our vehicles we had an impromptu and surprise meeting with most of the Church of the Brethren’s top-level leaders. I was with the President but most of the other leaders were in two cars traveling north. We happily chatted and noted that they could conduct much of the church’s business there, along that dusty road with no buildings in sight.
Philip met a high official on a road in the wilderness.
Included:
The narrative flow of Acts is this: The Gospels end with Jesus’ resurrection and appearance to the disciples. Acts, formally called, “The Acts of the Apostles,” opens with the promise of the Holy Spirit and then Jesus’ ascending into heaven. Just before departure Jesus asserts, “[Y]ou will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (v8).
The disciples then begin to regroup by choosing a replacement for Judas who had betrayed Jesus. After the coming of the Holy Spirit, the fledging group starts off strong. There are the first converts and “Awe came upon everyone because of the many wonders and signs being done through the apostles.” Not only this but the community freely shared resources so that all were cared for. Powerful ministry, rapid growth, and rich community life—things were going well. However, this dramatic success and expansion catches the attention of the authorities and opposition begins to mount. None-the-less growth continues, and the apostles realize that there is too much work for them to do alone so, they call trusted workers from within the community so that they can focus on their primary calling.
And then things really escalate. Through false witnesses, Stephen (who was “full of grace and power”), is killed. And from that day a “severe persecution” begins and scatters everyone except the apostles. Echoing Jesus’ words, they flee to Judea and Samaria. The scattering and persecution led to continued growth and ministry. Philip, one of those who fled, goes down to Samaria, a place usually avoided, and powerfully preaches and heals. But, in the midst of this raging success, the Spirit instructs Philip to leave.
Philip was sent to a road that was lonely. The text parenthetically notes (It was a wilderness road). In a place like this, a meeting with anyone would be unexpected. It would be more efficient to go to a city-a town center -like back in Samaria. A place where his preaching could be heard by many, have the greatest reach, have the biggest impact. However, the Spirit sent him to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza—a road through the wilderness. And there, he sees a chariot. With a high-ranking official. As an Ethiopian, he is a foreigner headed back to a distant land—what was considered the “ends of the earth.” A eunuch, his gender identity did not fit the common binary.
It says that he was in Jerusalem worshipping. So, he may have been Jewish, but minimally was participating to some extent in Jewish worship and reading a Jewish prophet—Isaiah. Traveling down the wilderness road, Philip accosts him and offers to help explain the scripture text he is reading. As Philip explained the good news of Jesus, they came upon a body of water and the eunuch asked to be baptized. Philip agreed, baptized, and then was immediately whisked away to another location by the Spirit.
The church in Ethiopia, one of the most ancient churches, traces its origin to the meeting on the road to Gaza. Not only was this person, formerly excluded, now included, but they were entrusted with the good news to fully participate in the work of ministry.
The Court Official joyfully accepts the Good News of Jesus and then takes a visible step to mark his transformation.
Covenanting-marking-joining:
Baptism with the Ethiopian eunuch was immediate. While he was a worshiper of God, Philip had only just explained to him the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Philip didn’t require him to know everything or have a full understanding but simply to joyful hear, receive, and begin his walking of the way of Jesus.
Early anabaptists, through their study of scripture, asserted that baptism should be as adults who made the choice and could “count the cost.” The Church of the Brethren started by the baptism of 8 individuals in the Eder River. This was a spiritual act of civil disobedience that marked their transformation and put them at odds with the religious/political authorities.
While spiritually important and significant, it did not represent a culmination or having arrived but an intentional step in the walk of discipleship. It was a public marking and act along way on the journey to and with Jesus. A public step of faith and joining in.
Remaining connected-abiding:
6 years ago, for Earth Day, we planted a fig tree in front of the Washington City Church of the Brethren.
We are in zone 8a, which means that not every fig tree can grow here, and that we weren’t entirely sure it would survive the first winter. This is now the 3rd year of harvest and the second year of pruning and the first year that I pruned. Pruning does some obvious things—one being that it keeps the tree to a manageable size for our recreational after-church picking. It also helps to concentrate the growing power of the tree to the fruits. Perhaps stranger to me is that by thinning the center of the plant it allows air flow—which apparently is important for tree and fruit health.
Listen as we read from the Gospel of John [text below]
What I notice—apart from the primary imagery of vine, branches, and vinedresser—is the repetition of “abide.” This past Monday morning, as I began reading the lectionary passages for this coming Sunday, I noticed this repeating word. The passages were John 15:1-8 and 1 John 4:7-21. In the 8 verses in the Gospel, the word abide (or abides) shows up 8 times. In the 1 John passage we will read, “abide” appears up 6 times.
Some of you are fairly literary, so perhaps you say abide. I feel like Julia, our poet preacher would likely say abide. I don’t typically. It is the sort of slightly uncommon word that I would expect our almost 6 year old to start using and to find it surprising and delightful.
Abide. Abide.
I was a biblical Greek major in undergrad—and while my Greek is pretty rusty, I remain curious about the nature of language.
The recurring presence (the abiding presence?) of abide is in fact a consistent use (of the different forms) of μένω (ménō).
Abide.
The First Nations Translation uses “stay joined.” In this version, verse 5 reads, “I am the vine and you are the branches. The ones who stay joined with me will grow much fruit. For without me nothing grows.”
Abide with God. Abide in community. Stay joined. Our fellow sojourners may not be immediately obvious. Community may not automatically happen. The centrifugal forces of isolation, busyness, discord, and weariness often pull us from the center, which is God—the source of life. These forces often pull us from the community which we need to thrive.
The early community extended to include the Ethiopian eunuch.
This new follower of Jesus then was baptized as a visible sign and entry into the community of Jesus and life of God.
And we abide with God and our fellow travelers—staying joined, remaining connected to the vine that is Jesus.
Abiding is intentional and active. Both with God and with our fellow travelers. Abide with God. Abide with Jesus, the true vine.
I’ll read the 1 John passage now. Pay attention to the other word, that, in this passage, shows up even more than abide—It is love. The love of God and love of neighbor bind us into deep abiding.
John 15:1-8
15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.
15:2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
15:3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.
15:4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
15:6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
15:8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
Acts 8:26-40
8:26 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.)
8:27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship
8:28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
8:29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.”
8:30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
8:31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.
8:32 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.
8:33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”
8:34 The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”
8:35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.
8:36 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?”
8:38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
8:39 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.
8:40 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.
1 John 4:7-21
4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
4:9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
4:11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.
4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
4:13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.
4:15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.
4:16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
4:19 We love because he first loved us.
4:20 Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.
4:21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
