Acts 8:26-40
Philip and the Ethiopian
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptised?” [Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may. The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptised him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and travelled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Mark 1:1-9
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
It is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”—
“a voice of one calling in the desert,
Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
And so John came, baptising in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”
The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan.
Baptism signifies that the God-shaped void in our lives is being filled by Jesus
It’s a real joy to welcome Moses and his family and friends to this special baptismal Benefice service this morning. From our bible accounts we of course immediately think of another Moses floating in a basket amongst the bullrushes in the river Nile – but today we’re dealing with a rather different episode in water – the water of baptism.
Baptism features prominently in our scriptures, and in our two readings we’ve seen two different perspectives on baptism. We’ve read Mark’s account of the masses who came out to the desert to be baptised by John in the river Jordan; meanwhile our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles related the account of one man’s experience of baptism, happening not in the River Nile, or the River Jordan, but in an unnamed roadside stream or pool somewhere between Jerusalem and Gaza.
And today we’ll come shortly to baptise this Moses: not in a river, nor in a stream, but in water from an ancient font that’s half a millennium old, where countless others have been baptised down the centuries. So as we prepare to do so, let’s see what we might learn from our two readings.
I just have two headings this morning: something missing; something changing
Something missing
On his way [Philip] met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet … Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So, he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Acts 8:27-31
Our Ethiopian was a long way from home – around 2,500km, probably over a month’s journey in his chariot. He was a powerful and important man, in charge of the Treasury of Candace, Queen Mother of Ethiopia who effectively ruled the country. Why had he come to Jerusalem? To worship, we read. He lacked for nothing (well, he was a Eunuch, so almost nothing). He was rich and powerful. He had servants and a chariot. So, what was going on?
Well, quite simply, he was searching for something that was missing in his life. He was searching for God. He’d been up to the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem, and on the way home we find him on the desert road heading towards Gaza, and his search continues: he’s sitting reading and puzzling over his bible in his chariot.
Now let’s not imagine this to be a fast, Ben Hur style racing chariot – it’s more likely an oxcart, nicely styled, no doubt, ponderously making its way at little more than a walking place along the desert road. And our Ethiopian is confused – he doesn’t understand what he’s reading in his bible, and he’s frustrated. He wants to understand. And, prompted by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Philip comes to his aid. Overhearing him reading out loud, he runs alongside his chariot and asks him if he understands what he’s reading. The Ethiopian exclaims: ‘how can I understand unless someone explains it to me?’
So, Philip climbs up alongside him to unfold the scriptures. But more particularly, to explain how this particular famous passage is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We know from the scripture quoted that the Ethiopian was reading from the Old Testament prophesy of Isaiah, which explains how mankind’s greatest problem – yours and my greatest problem – is our sin; our rebellion against God.
If we were to turn up that passage ourselves, we would read this:
.. he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:5-7
The Ethiopian didn’t understand who the ‘he’ was, being referred to here. Well, as Philip explained, it’s none other than Jesus Christ. The passage prophesies how Jesus would bear our sin in his own body on the cross; that he would receive the punishment for sin that was due to us. How by his wounds we are healed – our sins forgiven, our relationship with God restored. Those are timeless truths.
Someone once said that we all have a God-shaped void in our lives. St Augustine wrote of God way back in 400AD
“Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”
That’s what the Ethiopian man recognised. His heart was restless, he was searching for spiritual understanding that the religions of his own country did not supply; he had recognised that God-shaped void in his heart, and he longed to fill it. He knew something was missing from his life, despite his great wealth and power. And as Philip explained the good news of Jesus Christ to him, sitting by his side in that rattling chariot on a dusty desert road, he finally understood that in Jesus, his needs were supplied. The missing piece was found. The void could be filled. So, what happened next?
2. Something changing
[Philip] told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. Acts 8:35-38
Our Ethiopian wanted to do something to mark his new understanding. In that moment he had found faith in Jesus Christ, assurance that in Christ his sins were forgiven, and that he was put right with God. So … Let me be baptised, he cries.
Because baptism is the Christian sacrament, instituted by Jesus himself, to mark the passage from darkness to light – from old to new, from faithless to faithful. Baptism is a mark of a turning point – a point of change where something new is beginning. In our reading from Mark’s gospel, baptism was a sign of renewal: that the Jews themselves were experiencing a revival – confessing their sins in preparation for the arrival of the Messiah in their midst. But as John the Baptist declared,
“After me will come one more powerful than I, [that’s Jesus] the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:7-8
Something was changing for those Jews as they came out to be baptised to mark their desire to draw closer to God and find forgiveness for their sins.
Likewise for our Ethiopian: he wanted to mark this discovery of faith in his life. Something major was changing for him. His life would never be the same again.
Two headings: something missing, something changing. What then of young Moses – how does all this matter to him? Well, that God shaped void is present in all of us from birth – whether or not we recognize it. And it’s a void none of the material things of this life can fill – not riches, not power, not status. It’s a universal problem we all face.
Our Moses doesn’t know that yet, because he’s too young – and so very wisely his parents have brought him to baptism in order to set him on the right path, to claim those promises of forgiveness and new life that Jesus offers in baptism. We make those promises in the baptismal vows on his behalf, trusting that as he grows, he too will come to know and to trust Jesus in his life, to find that God-shaped void is filled.
So it’s important that you as parents and godparents especially help and guide him in his spiritual journey. As he grows older there will be times when, like our Ethiopian man, he doesn’t understand – so it will be your job, and the job of the church community wherever he finds himself in the future, to help explain and lead him, just as Philip did that day sitting in the chariot.
Because this is serious stuff; this is, as the Ethiopian and many since him have discovered, life-changing stuff. For the good news that Philip explained to that Ethiopian man 2000 years ago in a desert on the way to Gaza, is still true for us in our time.
For you and me here today, Jesus still deals with our sin by his sacrifice for us, once for all on the cross. That’s the missing piece of the jigsaw: the Ethiopian’s, and yours and mine also. Have we taken hold of that gift for ourselves? Have we found Jesus in our own lives?
Because this is about filling that God-shaped void in our lives. About discovering, with St Augustine, that our hearts truly are restless, until we find our rest in Him.
And it’s baptism which signifies that this is the journey which little Moses, and we, have begun.