Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards 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, 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.

Reflection

Found on the “wilderness road”, an Ethiopian eunuch – a most unlikely character – learns the good news from Philip. He is devout. He is desiring to know the Hebrew Scriptures. But he is Black. He is a eunuch, which means that he is ritually impure according to ancient traditions. This is someone deemed illegitimate in every way, but nonetheless, one who is strategically part of the one unfolding Christian story begun in Acts.

When we consider the history of Christianity, it is easy to forget how it has Black and marginal beginnings, and how Black and African wisdom and insights have formed it through the writings of Tertullian, Abba Moses, Augustine of Hippo and many others. The Christian church had been established in Ethiopia for over a thousand years when the European missionaries we mentioned yesterday arrived – supposedly – to “Christianise” Africa.

Take note of your reactions to the importance of Africa to the Early Church.

for a deepening openness to the Spirit’s movements in all people and places.

Copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2024.