When I first preached this Scripture – about 16 years ago – this story of the Ethiopian Eunuch[1] – I had been invited to preach it as part of a worship series on “cameo appearances” in the Bible. The preachers in that series were invited to introduce and to center lesser-known characters in Scripture. It was a lovely and bold invitation – to lift up marginalized voices in the Bible. Assigned this story of the Ethiopian Eunuch, I saw the truth in that. In the dominant culture – this Ethiopian Eunuch may indeed be a “lesser-known” character. The Ethiopian Eunuch is not Peter, Paul, or Mary.
And, even so, I was also aware that, in some communities, the Ethiopian Eunuch was and is better-known – even beloved – beloved, for example, for folks who are Black, or Queer, or Black and Queer. This is a moment in the Bible where – notwithstanding the dominant interpretations of Scripture – we see someone like us. And the dominant culture can’t say we’re not there.
· The Ethiopian Eunuch is Black. He is a Black African – serving a Black African Queen – in a position of leadership, authority, and trust.
· And, the Ethiopian Eunuch is someone who lives and thrives outside the dominant, binary understandings of gender and sexuality.
· And, the Ethiopian Eunuch lives at the intersection of those layered identities – at the intersection of (in the midst of) systems that oppress on the basis of those identities.
And, in this Scripture, we see this person like us claim the ever-expanding embrace of Resurrection – the ever-expanding embrace of God’s love for all people in Jesus Christ.
That is the Way of Resurrection in the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts – this ever-expanding embrace. In the Gospel of Luke, we see all the ways that Jesus invites in and welcomes those who have been cast out. And then, as the Book of Acts (the sequel) begins, the last thing the Risen Christ says to the disciples before he ascends into heaven is “and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
That’s the trajectory that unfolds from there. The Spirit comes upon all the people gathered at Pentecost – from every nation and culture and language. And then the experience of Resurrection – the experience of the Spirit radiates out from there – from Jerusalem – all the way to Rome, the center of Empire – and here, to this one from Ethiopia – to one who comes from what they would have considered to be “the ends of the Earth.”
We may start out by thinking of the Way of Resurrection as a straight-line path, from here to there. Or we may imagine it more like a Wander, like we talked about during Lent – like those little maps of the journeys of the Apostle Paul that we had in our childhood Bibles. But really, the Way of Resurrection as it unfolds in the Book of Acts is more like a pebble dropped into a still pond, radiating out in ever-expanding circles of love and grace and life.
But as this morning’s Scripture opens, we find the Ethiopian Eunuch on a wilderness road in a world that doesn’t feel quite so embracing and free. The Ethiopian Eunuch has travelled from Ethiopia to Jerusalem, and they are on their way home. We’re told that they serve the Candace – the Kandake – the Queen of Ethiopia.[2] Now what’s called Ethiopia here is likely the kingdom – or “queendom” – of Meroe, known later as Kush – covering parts of what we know as modern-day Ethiopia, South Sudan, and southern Egypt. The Ethiopian Eunuch is a high-ranking official entrusted with the entire treasury of the queen.
The Ethiopian Eunuch was likely castrated in their youth for this service. Eunuchs were not uncommon in royal courts. They were made eunuchs with the thought that they would not have families to support – no focus of their loyalty other than the Queen.[3] And, it was thought that, castrated, they could more safely serve female royalty.
The Ethiopian Eunuch travels to Jerusalem – perhaps on official, royal business – but Scripture tells us that they have also traveled to Jerusalem to worship. Indeed, we encounter the Ethiopian Eunuch on their way home reading, immersed in Scripture – still seeking, puzzling it all out.
But here’s the thing. We know that when the Ethiopian Eunuch arrived to worship, they would have been turned away. Deuteronomy 23:1 is very clear: “No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter into the assembly of the Lord – of YHWH.” The Ethiopian Eunuch arrives to worship – they are ethnically different – not from around here. They are outside the dominant categories of gender – thought to be unclean because of that. And they are turned away. As scholars have written, the Ethiopian Eunuch is a “double outcast,”[4] “the Other of others.”[5] They are “ritually far off.”[6]
They would have been excluded from worship and from full admittance into the life of community.[7] They would have been prevented from coming all the way in.
And, I think it’s important to note that the Ethiopian Eunuch would have been excluded... on the basis of Scripture. Now, before I point too many fingers at that act of exclusion, we should name some of the many ways, in Christian traditions, that folks have been excluded from church and community over the centuries on the basis of Scripture:
· We know that racialized readings of Scripture were used to justify the institution of slavery – ignoring the Bible’s primary narrative of liberation. We know that those racist readings are used to this day to maintain systems of racism that separate out and harm on the basis of race.
· We know that Scripture has been used – and continues to be used – to exclude LGBTQIA+ folks from the full life of the church – used to denigrate and disrespect our families, our marriages, our love.
· We know how Scripture continues to be used to support practices and policies that harm our transgender and non-binary siblings.
Across history, more often than we can name, Scripture has been misused to create false categories that separate us from each other – and even more fundamentally – that attempt to separate and prevent some of God’s children from experiencing the fullness of God’s love for all people.
Look how the Ethiopian Eunuch smashes through all that.
Look how the Way of Resurrection transforms all that.
We meet the Ethiopian Eunuch sitting in their chariot... reading Scripture. And Philip – one of the apostles, one of the first Deacons – Philip is summoned to come alongside the Eunuch’s chariot. Philip hears the Eunuch, and asks, “Do you know what you are reading?” And the Eunuch responds – I’m sure with more than a slight edge – “How can I – when I have no one to explain this to me? How can I when I come to the church-house door, and I am turned away?” But then, the Eunuch does something remarkable; they invite Philip into their chariot. The welcome they have not received, they extend to Philip.
Now notice what the Ethiopian Eunuch was reading. They were reading Isaiah – one of the “suffering servant” texts – “In his humiliation, he was denied justice. Who can speak of his descendants, for his life was taken from the earth?” And the Eunuch wonders: “Of whom is the prophet writing – himself or someone else?” And Philip explains how he sees the Good News of Jesus in that text – one who has come alongside us, and entered into our suffering, and brought us into life. But also remember, the folks Isaiah would have originally had in mind – the Hebrew people – their homes smashed by Empire and taken into captivity. Isaiah likely had all those who suffer in mind.[8] And perhaps, the Ethiopian Eunuch – rejected at the threshold of community – knowing their own hurt – might have seen themself in that Scripture, too.
And there’s this moment. There they are – riding down this wilderness road – the Ethiopian Eunuch turned away from community, welcoming Philip into this conversation – there they are talking about Scripture – and they come upon water in the desert. The Ethiopian Eunuch tells the chariot to stop – they look Philip in the eye and he says, “So, What is preventing me from being baptized?”
“If all this that you say is true... about this Jesus... what is preventing me... from coming all the way in?”
And the answer is there in the silence that follows:
Nothing. Not a thing. There is nothing that is preventing me, you, any of us from being welcomed all the way in.
And the next thing you know – what we see is the Ethiopian Eunuch – and Philip – in the waters of baptism – plunging all the way in. And we watch the waters rippling out in ever-expanding circles of embrace. This is the Way of Resurrection.
Now what changed? The Ethiopian Eunuch and Philip – this unlikely pair – drew close together -- and as they traveled along the way – this way of Resurrection – reading Scripture together and sharing the experience of the Good News of Jesus Christ – a new meaning rose up off the page.
Back in the early 1980s – during one of the many times Scripture was being used to argue who is in, and who is out – folks in our denomination tried to articulate some general approaches to Scripture that we might all be able to agree to.[9] Some baseline rules, grounded in our shared tradition. They are worthy reminders.
· There’s the rule of Jesus. We always read Scripture with Jesus in mind – and if our interpretation doesn’t reflect what we know of Jesus – we need think again.
· There’s the rule of text and context. We read the plain language of Scripture, but we also always seek to understand what it meant in its original context.
· There’s the rule of reading Scripture with Scripture. We never pull just one verse or passage and read it in isolation. We read it with what we see across the whole of the Bible. For example, slavery was justified based on passages of Scripture that describe slavery that happened in the ancient world. But you can’t read that as in any way normative – when you look at the whole of Scripture where everywhere, everytime, God is setting people free. “There is no male or female, there is no slave or free.”
· There’s the rule of love – and you know I love this one. Is our reading of Scripture consistent with love? Does it reflect love? Does it embody love?
Some basic guidelines – starting points – reminders.
I think the Ethiopian Eunuch – out of their experience of the Way of Resurrection -- gives us one more. I’ll call it the Rule of Expansiveness – or we could call it the Rule of No Separation. The Ethiopian Eunuch has been turned away on the basis of a reading of Scripture that separates us one from another, that says some are in, some are out. But the Ethiopian Eunuch and Philip discover and embrace a more expansive reading. Travelling in the Way of Resurrection, they come to an understanding of God’s love with a broader embrace than they have ever imagined: “What is preventing me from being welcomed all the way in?” “Not a thing.” In Resurrection, there are no longer any separations – if ever there were. God’s love for us in Jesus Christ embraces us all, always has, always will. And to the extent our understanding imposes limits on that – we need to think again. We need to learn more, to see more, to love more.
When I was first invited to preach this text – well, you may have figured it out – Rev. Dr. Joanne Whitt was the one who invited me to preach it. She invited me when our denomination as a whole said that people like me couldn’t and shouldn’t be allowed to do things like this – shouldn’t be allowed to enter into a full experience of the Word or the Sacraments. But Rev. Dr. Whitt saw things more expansively – a broader horizon – a deeper love.
I couldn’t find the sermon that I preached back then. But I know that there are things I’m saying today that I didn’t say back then. Because I didn’t know. I am pretty sure I centered the experience of gay and lesbian people. I am pretty sure that I didn’t mention the experience of transgender siblings – though they may have been a letter when I said LGBTQ. I left them out. I know that I didn’t mention non-binary understandings of gender because embarked on that learning since then. I’m so grateful to have Trans and non-binary friends and colleagues who have invited me up into their chariot – and helped expand my heart.
I know the ways the heart of this church has expanded over the years – and where we still work and struggle to live into the expanding embrace the Spirit calls us to – our steady work to use folks’ proper pronouns – such a vital way of seeing them, and welcoming them all the way in.[10] Our commitment to do the work of anti-racism, even when it calls us to account and calls us to change. I wonder, 6 years from now, 9 years from now, when this Scripture comes up again in the 3-year cycle of scripture readings – I wonder what new things the Spirit will have showed us – what new expansiveness of Spirit we will have experienced – as we travel together farther along the Way of Resurrection. What more do we have yet to learn?
On the dusty, wilderness road of their world, the Ethiopian Eunuch discovers that no one can put them in a box – no rigid categories of separation. And we can’t and shouldn’t do that with this story. So let me make clear – this story – though it may be particularly meaningful – is not only a story for folks who are Black or Queer folks or Black and Queer. It is a story for everyone. It is a story for you.
I don’t remember everything I said 16 years ago. I know there are things I didn’t say. But I know one thing I said that I say now, believing it even more deeply:
This is a story for everyone. This is a story for you.
If anyone has ever told you that you are somehow less than
that you somehow don’t belong.
If anyone has ever tried to prevent you from coming all the way in.
They were wrong.
God loves you. God created you to be you. God created you to bless the world as only you can – as only we can, together. God welcomes all of us – God welcomes you – all the way in.
That is the Way of Resurrection. Oh, thanks be to God.
© 2024 Scott Clark
[1] For background on this Scripture and the Book of Acts generally, see Wil Gafney, Black, Jewish, and Queer: The Ethiopian Eunuchat https://www.wilgafney.com/2012/05/04/black-jewish-and-queer-the-ethiopian-eunuch/ ; Jin Young Choi, Commentary in Connections, Year B, vol. 2 (Louisville, KY; Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), pp.249-51;Mihee Kim-Kort, Commentary in Connections, Year B, vol. 2 (Louisville, KY; Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), pp.251-53; Mitzi J. Smith, Commentary on Working Preacher, at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-of-easter-2/commentary-on-acts-826-40-2 ; Robert W. Wall, “The Acts of the Apostles,” New Interpreters’ Bible Commentary, vol. x (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002); Paul W. Walaskay, Acts (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998);
[2] See Wil Gafney, supra; Wall, p.142.
[3] See id.
[4] Wall, p.142.
[5] Kim-Kort, p.252.
[6] Smith, supra.
[7] Id.
[8] See Gafney, supra.
[9] These rules/guidelines for interpretation are summarized in Jack Rodgers, Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), pp.52-66.
[10] For good reading on the expansive and inclusive use of pronouns, and the history of the singular “they/them” in English grammar, see Dennis Baron (he/him/his), What’s Your Pronoun: Beyond He & She (New York/NY: Liveright Publishing, 2020).