Spiritual Hiccups - Breaking Barriers

Growing up in the Church, I heard today's reading from Acts many times.  Philip is directed by God to the Wilderness road where he meets an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading Isaiah.  Apparently this fellow is drawn to Judaism in some way as he has been to Jerusalem to worship.  The Spirit directs Philip to talk with the eunuch and the result is another Christian convert, baptized on the spot in some water beside the road.  Then Phillip, his work done, is magically whisked away.

As a child the images that caught my attention were Philip running beside the chariot, the exotic notion of an Ethiopian, and of course that moment when "the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away."  As a young child, I don't think I had any idea what a eunuch was, or why that might matter.

Eunuchs were forbidden from entering the Temple.  The Law of Moses clearly considered them unclean, right along with "those born or an illicit union."  And so this fellow Philip meets - better, who Philip is introduced to by God - has a couple of strikes against him.  He's a Gentile foreigner, and he's a eunuch.  What is to prevent him from being baptized?  Quite a lot actually.

It seems no coincidence that Isaiah is the prophet who envisions a new day when the foreigner and the eunuch will be welcomed, when the old religious barriers will be gone.  And this story in Acts announces that this promised day has arrived.  The Kingdom, God's Dream, the Beloved Community has broken into this world, and it is made visible in the life of the Church as those formerly excluded are now called brothers and sisters.

The image of Philip being snatched away by the Spirit of the Lord seemed wildly incredible to me as a child.  But I have come to realize that even more wildly incredible is when the Spirit helps Christians to see every one they meet as brothers and sisters, those whom God loves and calls us to love in order for the Beloved Community to be seen by all.

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