Have you ever gone to see someone who was really different from you, perhaps from another land or culture? A few years ago a delegation from this parish travelled to hear an address by Mikhail Gorbachev, who had been the leader of the Soviet Union -- second most powerful nation on earth.. While attempting to reform an inefficient system, he was ambushed by forces within and without the country and forced to watch the collapse of the nation and theft of her resources by persons in former positions of public trust. We thought an encounter with one who was leader during such a heart-breaking period would be interesting, and indeed it was.
The apostle Philip, having serving as a missionary to Samaria, received a call to head back south, where he had a meeting with a very exotic figure we usually call the "Ethiopian Eunuch." He was exotic for several reasons. First, he was Ethiopian, and the Graeco-Roman culture envisioned anything from south of Egypt as mysterious and exotic. Also, they were not used to see black people who were not enslaved. Second, he was a eunuch -- a castrated male. Likely he never had a chance to develop male characteristics and, so, would have stood out as effeminate.
Additionally our character is in charge of the royal treasury, so a very high-ranking person. Often eunuchs (who were castrated and, hence, no threat around the harem) rose to positions of prominence in foreign courts. This eunuch was also obviously very rich. Just note that he had the influence and resources to take leave of office and make a journey that would have required at least three months just to get to Jerusalem and back home. We also see that he has his own carriage and driver, a strong sign of status. (Remember, the Holy Family made pilgrimage to Jerusalem on foot.)
It is interesting that he went to Jerusalem to "worship." The Ethiopians were polytheists with their own panoply of gods; there's no evidence of Judaism there. Likely our man was what we now call a religious seeker. The Roman road system allowed for a lot of importation and exportation, and that included religious movements that spread to new areas. Finally, the eunuch was very clearly well- educated. He is reading aloud (normal practice) from a bible manuscript (an expensive item.) We know of no biblical texts at that time in Ge'ze, the language of Ethiopia, so he must have been fluent in Hebrew and would have needed to know Greek to get by on his journey. Impressive, indeed.
Well, how did Philip evangelize this amazing person? He would have used the traditional three-fold method of interpretation: peshet, the literal, daresh, the applied, and sod, the mystical. I suspect Philip would have unpacked the "Suffering Servant" portion of Isaiah in the following way: At the first level, he would explain that the text refers to King Josiah who suffered for attempting to reform nation and cult. At the next level, he would have taught that the passage is interpreted to refer to the Jewish People as a whole. Finally, he would share that the nascent Church had now applied the text to the Jesus story. So Philip had the perfect opening to share about theChrist experience, of how he lived in full compliance with God's will and died to show us God's love.
From this enchanting story, I raise two comments. Our ministry must include sharing our faith story with others, being sensitive to God's reaching out to all sorts and conditions of people. Also, let us ask ourselves whether we are ready to head the Spirit's call when something radically new is afoot.
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